Social Housing Compliance, London

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the Responsible Person for the common parts of a multi-occupied residential building is the person or body with control over those parts. For a Registered Provider that typically means the RP as a legal entity, with senior compliance leads carrying day-to-day duty on behalf of the Board.

s.156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (in force 1 October 2023) reinforced that where more than one RP exists on a site, each must take all reasonable steps to identify the others, cooperate, and share information. For social-housing stock this most commonly matters where an RP block sits within a freehold-leased tower or mixed-tenure estate.

Awaab's Law came into force on 27 October 2025 via the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, which operationalise section 10A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (inserted by Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 s.42).

It requires Registered Providers of social-rented housing to investigate any tenant-reported damp or mould hazard within 14 days, provide the tenant with a written summary of the investigation findings, and commence remedial works within a further 14 days where a hazard is confirmed. For emergency hazards presenting significant and imminent risk to health or safety, the landlord must investigate and make safe within 24 hours.

Phase 1 covers damp and mould only. Phase 2 (date TBC) will extend to excess cold, excess heat, falls, structural collapse, fire safety, electrical safety, explosions and CO. Phase 3 will cover the remaining HHSRS hazards.

Phase 1 of Awaab's Law (in force from 27 October 2025) applies to social-rented tenancies held by registered providers of social housing. The statutory response timescales are directly enforceable on that tenure.

Affordable rent tenancies held by RPs are generally treated the same as social rent for Awaab's Law purposes where they sit within the social-rented sector definition under the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. Shared ownership tenancies sit in a more complex position: the shared-owner holds a long lease and the RP remains landlord under the tenancy agreement, so where damp affects the building fabric the RP's repair obligations under the lease plus the FFHH Act 2018 typically apply.

Regardless of tenure, the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code 2024 applies to every complaint from every RP or council tenant. In practice HSE recommends running one Awaab's-aligned workflow across all tenures to avoid the differential-response trap.

A missed deadline exposes the RP to three separate escalation routes:

(1) Housing Ombudsman complaint, the tenant can escalate to the Ombudsman, who under the CHC 2024 can make a maladministration finding and order compensation (typical awards for severe damp-related service failure range £500–£5,000+ depending on circumstances). (2) RSH enforcement escalation, a pattern of Awaab's Law breaches is a consumer-standards breach and can escalate from advisory engagement through formal enforcement notice to civil penalty to regulatory downgrade or, in extreme cases, removal from the register. (3) Tenant disrepair claim, under s.11 LTA 1985 and the FFHH Act 2018, the tenant can bring a direct disrepair claim in the county court, typically resulting in an order for works plus compensation plus costs.

Practical mitigation: document the reason the 14-day clock was missed, commence investigation the day you become aware, communicate transparently with the tenant, and evidence the catch-up in the Ombudsman response pack.

The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025 are the secondary legislation that operationalises Awaab's Law. They prescribe the statutory timescales landlords must meet on damp and mould hazards (14 days to investigate, 14 days to commence works, 24 hours for emergency hazards) and define the information landlords must provide to tenants during and after the investigation.

The Regulations also define what counts as an "emergency hazard" (significant and imminent risk to health or safety), require landlords to keep the tenant updated throughout the investigation, and require the written summary of findings to cover the hazards identified, the remedial works proposed, the expected timescale and the reasons if no works are required.

The Regulator of Social Housing's enforcement toolkit under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 runs through a progression: advisory engagement, regulatory notice (published and on the public register), enforcement notice (mandating specific action), performance improvement plan, and civil/criminal enforcement where the breach is serious.

For Registered Providers over 1,000 homes, the RSH carries out planned inspections at least every four years, with additional reactive inspections where triggered by Ombudsman upholds, tenant referrals, board self-referrals or specific regulatory concerns. The four consumer standards (Safety & Quality, Transparency Influence & Accountability, Neighbourhood & Community, Tenancy) are assessed holistically and a weak position on any single standard can trigger escalation.

Effective from April 2024 the RSH publishes four consumer standards that apply to every registered provider of social housing:

Safety & Quality Standard, fire safety, electrical safety, damp-and-mould, asbestos, legionella, carbon monoxide, lift safety, repairs responsiveness, and decent homes. Transparency, Influence & Accountability Standard, clear information to tenants, meaningful engagement, complaint handling aligned to the Ombudsman CHC, and tenant involvement in major decisions. Neighbourhood & Community Standard, antisocial behaviour response, cooperative working with partners, and managing local environment. Tenancy Standard, allocation and letting policies, tenure management, ending of tenancies.

For under-18m general-needs stock, the Safety & Quality standard is where fire, damp and HHSRS evidence comes under scrutiny; the Transparency standard is where the Ombudsman CHC alignment and TSM evidence pack comes under scrutiny.

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures are a mandatory framework introduced by the RSH in April 2023 and fully operational from April 2024 for Registered Providers over 1,000 homes. Providers must measure and publish performance against 22 measures across 5 themes: keeping properties in good repair, maintaining building safety, respectful and helpful engagement, effective handling of complaints, and responsible neighbourhood management.

Ten of the 22 measures are perception measures (tenant-survey scores on satisfaction with landlord, repairs, building safety, communication, complaint handling, ASB response, neighbourhood, tenant engagement, ability to make a complaint, and treated with respect). The other 12 are management information measures (percentage of homes with gas safety check, EICR, FRA, asbestos management, water safety, percentage meeting Decent Homes, repairs timeliness, complaint handling timeliness, ASB cases, etc.).

RPs publish TSM data annually and return to the RSH by 30 June. The RSH uses TSM data as a primary input to its 4-yearly inspection judgement.

The Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code (CHC) 2024 is the statutory code governing landlord complaint handling for all member landlords, Registered Providers, councils, ALMOs. It has been statutory (ie mandatory, not best-practice) since 1 April 2024 under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.

CHC defines a complaint as "an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents". It requires a two-stage internal process, Stage 1 (response within 10 working days, extendable once) and Stage 2 (independent review within 20 working days, extendable once). Failure to comply is itself a service-failure finding and a RSH consumer-standards red flag.

Stage 1 is the frontline landlord response to a tenant complaint. Under the CHC 2024 the landlord has 10 working days to acknowledge, investigate, and respond substantively. The response must address the specific complaint, explain what has been done and what will be done, offer a remedy where appropriate, and set out the escalation route to Stage 2. The 10-day window can be extended once (by a further 10 working days) with the tenant's agreement and a clear explanation.

Stage 2 is an independent review by a different, more senior officer. Under the CHC 2024 the landlord has 20 working days to complete the Stage 2 review. The Stage 2 response must address the issues not resolved at Stage 1, include a clear resolution, and explain the route to the Housing Ombudsman if the tenant remains dissatisfied.

Either stage can be escalated to the Ombudsman by the tenant after 8 weeks if the landlord has not issued a final response.

Yes. The Housing Ombudsman can make findings (no maladministration / service failure / maladministration / severe maladministration) and orders against landlords. Compensation orders are awarded against a published remedies guidance: £100–£600 for service failure, £600–£1,000 for maladministration, £1,000+ for severe maladministration, with additional uplift where the tenant suffered particular distress, inconvenience or loss (e.g. damp-related health impacts on children).

In cases involving sustained failure to respond to damp and mould under Awaab's Law timescales, the Ombudsman has in early 2026 signalled that compensation in the upper (severe maladministration) band will become routine.

No. FS(E)R 2022 Regulation 10 fire-door duties (quarterly common-part checks, annual flat-entrance door checks) apply only to multi-occupied residential buildings over 11m in height.

For buildings under 11m the general duty remains: the Responsible Person must maintain fire doors in efficient working order under FSO 2005 Article 17, which industry guidance interprets as a minimum of annual inspection by a competent person. Your FRA will typically set the appropriate inspection interval for the specific building, do not drop below that without a written risk-based rationale.

BS 9792:2025 defines four FRA types for blocks of flats. For under-18m social-housing stock the relevant ones are Type 1 and Type 2:

Type 1, common parts only, non-destructive. The standard default for well-documented, modern general-needs stock where compartmentation is evidently intact. Walks common corridors, stairs, service risers.

Type 2, common parts plus a non-destructive sample of flats, typically 10–25%. Used where access to a sample of flats is available and a fuller view of internal compartmentation, flat entrance doors and escape provision is helpful.

HSE typically runs a Type 1 annually with a Type 2 at 3-yearly intervals for general-needs social-housing stock. Older conversion blocks or stock with damp-and-mould incidents typically escalate to Type 2 earlier.

For blocks over 11m, FS(E)R 2022 Reg.10 requires quarterly checks of fire doors in the common parts and annual checks of flat entrance doors on a best-endeavours basis. For blocks under 11m, industry guidance under FSO 2005 Article 17 is annual inspection by a competent FDIS-certified person.

Every inspection must produce a dated register: door number, construction grade (FD30 / FD60), condition of intumescent seals, smoke seals, self-closer function, glazing, ironmongery, and any remedials triggered. HSE's quarterly programme produces a single cross-portfolio register updated in real time for RSH evidence.

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (Housing Act 2004 Part 1) scores 29 potential hazards on a points-based algorithm reflecting likelihood and severity. A hazard scoring 1,000 or more points is Category 1, the local authority has a statutory duty to take enforcement action. A hazard scoring between 400 and 999 points is Category 2, the authority has a discretionary power to act.

For social-housing stock, damp and mould is the leading Category 1 trigger post-Awaab. Other frequent Cat 1s on the under-18m stack: excess cold, falls on stairs, fire, overcrowding, electrical hazards and carbon monoxide. Awaab's Law Phase 2 will import Cat 1 obligations on these hazards into the statutory response clock.

The existing Decent Homes Standard (last updated in 2006) requires social-rented homes to meet four criteria: (a) meet the statutory minimum standard (no Category 1 HHSRS hazards), (b) be in a reasonable state of repair, (c) have reasonably modern facilities and services, and (d) provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.

Most RPs and councils measure DHS compliance through a stock condition survey on a 5-yearly rolling basis, with capital works scheduled to close non-decency. The RSH measures DHS compliance as part of the Safety & Quality consumer standard and includes it in the TSM data return.

Decent Homes Standard 2 (DHS 2) is the proposed updated standard, with government consultation running April 2026. Expected implementation is 2027–2029 on a phased basis.

DHS 2 is expected to raise the bar on: thermal comfort (tighter insulation and heating adequacy thresholds, alignment with the Warm Homes Plan and the proposed 2030 EPC Band C minimum for social rented), damp and mould resilience (building-fabric measures aligned with Awaab's Law objectives), kitchen and bathroom quality (modernisation thresholds), and energy efficiency (alignment with the decarbonisation trajectory).

Most RPs are using the consultation window to refresh stock condition data and scope a capital works roadmap. HSE's DHS 2 gap-analysis service provides this scoping on a unit-by-unit basis.

The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 established a non-delegable landlord duty to keep residential homes fit for human habitation throughout the tenancy. "Fit" is assessed against specific criteria: repair condition, stability, freedom from damp, internal arrangement, natural lighting, ventilation, water supply, drainage, sanitary conveniences, facilities for food preparation, and crucially, absence of any HHSRS Category 1 hazards.

Enforcement is via a tenant-direct disrepair claim in the county court. Remedies include specific performance (order for works), compensation and costs. For social-housing RPs and councils, the Act layered directly on top of the FSO, HHSRS and Awaab's Law to create multiple overlapping tenant enforcement routes.

HHSRS (Housing Act 2004 Part 1) is the hazard assessment framework, it scores 29 hazards including damp and mould and determines whether they are Category 1 (mandatory enforcement) or Category 2 (discretionary).

Awaab's Law (Hazards in Social Housing Regs 2025) sets response timescales for specified hazards reported by tenants in the social-rented sector. Phase 1 covers damp and mould; Phase 2 will extend to other HHSRS hazards.

In practice the two frameworks operate jointly: a tenant report of damp triggers the 14-day Awaab's Law investigation clock; the investigation itself is an HHSRS hazard assessment; if the damp scores as a HHSRS Category 1 the remedy is both a local-authority enforcement trigger and an Awaab's Law statutory works commencement within 14 days. HSE's workflow bakes this dual pathway into every damp-and-mould response.

The RSH's inspection methodology is outcomes-focused rather than prescriptive on record-keeping. However in practice every inspected RP needs evidence across the following: current FRA on every asset with actions closed or in-flight, fire-door inspection register, fire-alarm/EL/smoke-CO service logs, asbestos register and re-inspection data, legionella RA, EICR and PAT records, stock condition data against Decent Homes, HHSRS hazard scan, Awaab's Law investigation log with clock adherence data, Ombudsman CHC complaint register with Stage 1/2 response timing, TSM return and underlying survey data, tenant engagement evidence, and Board compliance reporting cadence.

HSE's estate evidence pack (see the audit file) covers Groups A–D on an always-current basis, so the RSH sees one folder per estate rather than five from five different vendors.

The Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing are separate bodies with separate powers but a coordinated working relationship. The Ombudsman deals with individual tenant complaints and makes findings and orders against specific landlords. The RSH regulates providers against the four consumer standards and can take enforcement action at an organisational level.

The two bodies share information under a memorandum of understanding. Patterns of Ombudsman upholds against a single RP are a primary trigger for RSH reactive inspection. A severe-maladministration Ombudsman finding typically prompts an RSH engagement even on a good-standing provider. Conversely, an RSH-identified consumer-standards breach can prompt the Ombudsman to revisit historic closed complaints where the pattern is relevant.

For compliance teams the practical consequence is that every complaint response you write is simultaneously an Ombudsman exhibit and an RSH evidence item.

HSE's indicative BS 9792 Type 1 FRA pricing for social-housing general-needs stock Oct 2025–Mar 2026 has been:

Small block (4–10 flats, under 11m): £450–£850 per block. Mid-rise (11–25 flats, under 18m): £850–£1,400. Larger block (26–60 flats, 11–18m): £1,400–£2,200. Portfolio-level discounts kick in from 5 blocks on and from 2,500 units on.

A Type 2 FRA (common parts plus 10–25% sample of flats) typically runs 1.4–1.8× the Type 1 price for the same block. The bundle builder above gives a real-time estimate across an RP's full programme.

BS 9792 FRAs are fire-safety risk assessments. They will flag damp where it visibly compromises compartmentation (e.g. damp-damaged fire-door components, wet plaster near electrical installations) but they are not a hazard-scoring assessment under HHSRS and they are not an Awaab's Law investigation.

A standalone damp-and-mould investigation under Awaab's Law is a separate piece of work, triggered by a tenant report, scoped under the Hazards in Social Housing Regulations 2025, and producing a written investigation summary to the tenant plus a remediation scope. HSE runs the two workflows under the same project manager so findings that cross over (e.g. damp behind a fire-door frame) are handled once.

HSE carries £10m Professional Indemnity, £5m Public Liability, and £10m Employer's Liability. We are ICO-registered for GDPR and operate an ISO-aligned QMS with an audit trail against every project.

For RSH due diligence we provide on request: insurance schedules, ICO registration, QMS summary, anonymised examples of delivered evidence packs, and compliance-manager references from three Registered Providers.

Yes, mid-year take-on is one of our most common onboarding patterns. The 30-day onboarding process (see the Process section) is designed for exactly this scenario: stock scoping call → estate-by-estate audit within 14 days → statutory-gap report within a further 4 → handover to the client portal by day 30.

The critical contractual piece: we require the outgoing vendor's last compliance records (FRA, fire-door register, alarm service log, EICR, asbestos, legionella, plus any live Awaab's Law caseload and Ombudsman complaint log) before scheduling the gap audit. Where those records are incomplete we run a reconstruction audit that takes roughly double the standard audit time but still lands inside the 30-day window. TSM evidence continuity is preserved through the handover so annual return data is unbroken.

Every RP, ALMO and council housing team on an HSE-managed programme gets a single-page monthly Board pack covering: compliance RAG across the 17 duties, Awaab's Law live-caseload snapshot (open cases, 14-day adherence rate, 24-hour emergency adherence rate), Housing Ombudsman CHC pipeline (Stage 1 and Stage 2 response-time hit rate), TSM trend (perception measures moving, management-info measures), and forward-look items due in the next 30 days.

The Board pack is auto-generated from the client portal data so it is never out of date and never requires manual assembly. An appendix with underlying evidence (individual FRAs, investigation logs, complaint responses) is available on demand for any line item.