Awaab's Law is usually described as a set of deadlines. In practice it is just as much a record keeping law. When a case reaches the Housing Ombudsman or a court, the question is rarely "did you do anything?" It is "can you show what you did, and when?"
GOV.UK's guidance strongly advises landlords to keep clear records of all engagement, investigations and communications with tenants, including where information came from a third party such as a managing agent or contractor. This article turns that into a working list.
It is general guidance, not legal advice. The authoritative source is the GOV.UK guidance for social landlords.
Why the Record Matters So Much
A landlord has a defence if it can prove it took all reasonable steps to comply but could not for reasons genuinely beyond its control. That defence cannot be argued from memory. It needs dated evidence of each attempt, each contact and each decision.
The record also drives the deadlines themselves. The written summary is due 3 working days after the investigation concludes. It can only be written quickly if the findings are already in one place, in a usable form.
1. The Report
The record starts on day zero, so it has to capture:
- The date the landlord became aware, which starts every clock
- Who reported it: the tenant, an operative, a contractor, a managing agent or another third party
- How it was reported and what was said, in the reporter's words
- The property and, where known, the room
- What is already known about the household, including any vulnerabilities
- Any previous reports about the same home or the same problem
2. Access Attempts
Access is the most common reason a deadline slips, and the most common gap in the evidence. For each attempt, record:
- The date and time, and how the tenant was contacted
- The appointment offered, including any flexibility on times
- The outcome: accepted, declined, no answer, or no access on arrival
- Any reason the tenant gave, and any adjustments offered, such as a representative being present
- That the tenant was told delays in access may delay the safety work
3. The Investigation
The inspection record is the core of the evidence. It should show:
- Who investigated, and why they are competent to do so
- The date and time of the visit, or that the investigation was remote and what it was based on
- Each finding, against the room and location it was found in
- Photographs of each hazard, ideally marked up to show the affected area, with measurements
- Readings such as moisture and humidity, and the conditions at the time
- The likely cause, and what it was based on
- The conclusion: significant hazard, emergency hazard, or neither, and why
- The household's circumstances as they bear on the risk
- The work needed to make the home safe, and any further preventative work
- Whether the home can be made safe within the deadline, or whether alternative accommodation is needed
The detailed on-site version is in the damp and mould inspection checklist.
4. The Written Summary
- A copy of the summary exactly as sent
- The date it was sent and how it was sent
- Evidence that the content meets the requirement: the hazard found, the action and target dates, or the reasons for no action, and contact details
5. The Works
- The works order, when it was raised and who it went to
- When the relevant safety work was completed, with photographs of the finished work
- For supplementary preventative work: when it began or when steps were taken to begin it, and if it could not start within 5 working days, why, and when it did start
- Contractor correspondence, especially about availability, materials and approvals
6. Alternative Accommodation
- When it was offered and what was offered
- Whether the tenant accepted it
- If nothing suitable was available, the search that was made
7. Anything That Delayed the Work
Every delay needs its own record, made at the time rather than reconstructed later:
- What caused it, and when you found out
- What you did about it, and when
- Who was told, including the tenant
What Good Records Look Like
A record that stands up later has four properties. It is dated, so every entry shows when it was made. It is attributed, so every entry shows who made it. It is located, so every finding is tied to a property and a room. And it is contemporaneous, recorded at the time, not written up from memory a week later.
The most common failure is not missing information, it is information that has become separated from its context: photographs in a phone's camera roll with no property or room, a note in a van diary, an access attempt made by phone and never logged.
How SiteSurvey Helps
SiteSurvey is built to capture the investigation part of this record on site, in its final form.
- Findings are recorded against the room, on a floor plan of the home
- Every inspector uses the same form, so records are consistent across a whole housing stock
- Photographs are marked up and measured where they are taken
- Walk Cam films the inspection with live voice notes
- Every entry records who captured it and when
- It works with no signal, which matters in tower blocks and basements
- The inspection exports as a PDF report
It does not track the legal deadlines, and no software makes a landlord compliant. Your housing management system and your processes still own the case. See the damp and mould inspection app for detail.
