Awaab’s Law launches today, at first for social housing landlords and then at a later date for private landlords.

It requires landlords to respond to “significant” and “emergency” hazards within specified timeframes. From today this applies to all significant damp and mould hazards and all emergency hazards.

However the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health says it’s concerned that the enforcement of Awaab’s Law will depend, ultimately, on the ability and willingness of tenants to take direct legal action against their landlords. 

The organisation says it is often difficult for tenants to take legal action themselves. It suggests that taking such action will be particularly challenging for the most vulnerable tenants, who are likely to suffer the most as a result of poor housing conditions.

CIEH is also concerned about a lack of clarity over what constitutes a significant hazard or an emergency hazard and over who is competent to conduct the required investigation of these hazards. 

It says the resulting ambiguities and loopholes are such that tenants will be able to obtain clarification only through litigation and caselaw. The organisation suggests the lack of clarity will reduce the impact of Awaab’s Law and the potential of this law to protect vulnerable tenants.

Another concern of CIEH is the absence of any clear requirement for those carrying out the investigations to have been trained in the use of the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which is the risk-based evaluation tool used by local authorities to assess housing hazards.

CIEH notes that, given the wide variety of forms in which hazards can arise, the problem of lack of clarity over what constitutes a significant or emergency hazard is not removed by the inclusion of examples in government guidance for landlords.