Kirklees Council formally adopt Awaab’s Law into building safety policies
On Tuesday 13 January Cabinet members received an update on the implementation of Awaab’s Law into the councils Damp Mould and Condensation (DMC) and Repairs and Maintenance Policy.
Awaab’s Law was implemented on 27 October 2025, introducing new statutory responsibilities for social landlords across England.
The legislation requires social housing landlords and providers to respond promptly and effectively to issues of not only DMC, but other emergency hazards within tenants’ homes. This was established to ensure that tenants are protected from the health hazards associated with poor housing conditions, following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.
To be able to meet the requirements in phase one of the implementation of Awaab’s law, Kirklees has already introduced additional resource and staffing into the DMC triage and inspection teams, supporting quicker case resolution times and given all staff additional training to help ensure efficient working practises.
The report that cabinet will review, shows that operationally the councils’ homes and neighbourhoods service is already adhering to the standards outlined in Awaab’s law and to inform cabinet that the council is ready to implement the legislation formally into more of the councils’ building safety policies moving forward.
The council’s backlog of damp, mould, and condensation cases has already reduced by 90% over the past year, thanks to service transformation, ahead of adopting the key principles of Awaab’s Law. The council expects this caseload to decrease further as it continues to improve services and deliver essential repairs through the new capital investment programme, while remaining compliant with legislation.
Councillor Moses Crook, Deputy Leader of The Council and Cabinet Member for Housing and Transport said:
‘’Tenant safety is paramount to us, and I am pleased to see that the principles of Awaab’s Law have already played a huge part in our repairs and reporting process in Kirklees, helping to tackle cases of DMC and other hazards across our housing stock and ensuring tenant health and safety is maintained at the forefront of our approach.
Our teams have already made colossal improvements in tackling damp, mould, and condensation since March last year. In addition to the backlog of around 1800 we have dealt with an additional 2932 cases and are now consistently in a business as usual position. We are aware that this is an ongoing issue across the sector, but I am positive that with our approach, we will be able to stay on top of any hazards as they arise and remove them at the root cause quickly and efficiently.
It’s that time of year when we would expect reports of damp, mould and condensation to rise due to the cold weather and I would encourage tenants to report anything that they are concerned about in their home to their housing officer or through our online reporting system as soon as they see it. We have allocated additional resources to ensure we are able to meet any increased demand in these colder seasons.’’
Tenants can raise a damp or mould repair request by emailing dmc@kirklees.gov.uk by calling 01484 414800 and report any other hazards online via our website customerservice.kirklees.gov.uk/Housingrepairs
All of Homes and Neighbourhoods’ policies are available to view on our website: kirklees.gov.uk/beta/council-housing/policies-and-procedures