AWAAB'S LAW: LIB DEMS QUESTION LAMBETH'S READINESS
Lambeth Liberal Democrats have criticised Lambeth Labour for failing to provide Councillors with clarity or guidance on the implementation of Awaab’s Law, the new legal requirements designed to protect tenants in social housing from hazards such as damp and mould. This comes as the Council is ordered to pay £3,000 to a vulnerable elderly resident whose flat was so damp he had mushrooms growing in his bathroom.
New provisions under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, which came into force on 27 October 2025, mean that social landlords must:
• Remedy emergency health and safety hazards within 24 hours of reporting;
• Investigate serious cases of damp and mould within 10 working days; and
• Make affected properties safe within five days.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Donna Harris wrote to Lambeth Council Leader Cllr Claire Holland on 31 October to raise concerns that neither Councillors nor residents have been properly briefed on how these new legal duties will be implemented in Lambeth.
“Awaab’s Law is a vital step forward in protecting tenants from the kind of dangerous conditions that have caused real harm in social housing across the country,” said Cllr Donna Harris, Leader of the Lambeth Liberal Democrat Group.
“It is deeply concerning that Lambeth Labour has failed to brief Councillors or set out clear processes for how emergency cases and serious damp and mould reports will be handled. Tenants and Councillors alike deserve clarity — without it, residents remain at risk and the Council risks breaching the law.”
Cllr Harris also highlighted the risk that existing reporting routes – such as the standard Members' Enquiry process, which allows a ten-day response time – are incompatible with the new 24-hour and five-day deadlines required under Awaab’s Law.
Cllr Harris has called on Lambeth Labour urgently to publish clear guidance for both residents and Councillors, including definitions of what constitutes an emergency hazard and what process should be followed to ensure compliance with the new legal duties.
In August 2025 the Housing Ombudsman said that Lambeth’s multiple recent cases of severe maladministration on damp and mould showed failings that were “persistent and systemic.”
Then in October, coinciding with Awaab’s Law, the Ombudsman published a report that included a case, on which it ruled in May, of a vulnerable elderly man in Lambeth whose damp problems were so severe he had mushrooms growing in his bathroom. Lambeth Council had failed to address the problems adequately since November 2022. The Council was ordered to pay over £3,000 in compensation.
“Lambeth Council needs to get its act together,” Cllr Harris added. “Our residents deserve safe homes and prompt action – not confusion and delay.”
The report of the Housing Ombudsman Service, Learning from Severe Maladministration, August 2025, is available on the HOS website:
Cllr Harris’s question about Awaab’s Law at July Full Council is available here: