Sarah Killick has been battling problems in her social home for months, including mould and damp. She says the anxiety has been insufferable and she has permanently damaged her teeth from grinding them due to stress. She thought help would come in the form of Awaab’s law, new legislation designed to force social housing landlords in England to fix dangerous hazards, which came into effect in October last year.
Killick said her landlord, Clarion Housing Association – the largest social housing provider in the UK – sent contractors to do a mould wash, but claimed they did nothing to address the root causes of the damp. This was despite surveys showing outside cracks, as well as guttering and drainage problems that could be contributing to the issue. You have to leave the mould growing until it’s really furry and it’s awful,” she said.
The housing ombudsman has just concluded maladministration and service failure on the part of Clarion in Killick’s case, and said the landlord “did not recognise that it failed in its duty to fully comply with Awaab’s law”. Clarion said it did not agree with the ombudsman’s conclusion and would appeal against the decision. Social housing residents living in homes managed by a number of providers, as well as campaigners, have raised concerns that Awaab’s lawis not working and people are still stuck living in mouldy, damp and dangerous homes.
The law was named in memory of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a severe respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to black mould in his family’s social housing flat. Suzanne Muna, a co-founder of the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), said that while Awaab’s law had introduced timelines for hazards to be fixed, it was difficult for tenants to enforce this. If landlords do not adhere to the law, tenants can take them to court for breach of contract, and the housing ombudsman can publicly name noncompliant landlords, order apologies, repairs and compensation.
But Muna said many tenants struggled to navigate the complexities of court action, especially when up against housing associations with a team of solicitors. In Killick’s case, Clarion was ordered to pay her £1,175 in compensation, provide a formal written apology, and complete the full repairs by 9 November. If it does not do so, it must explain to the ombudsman why.
Clarion claimed that Killick had repeatedly denied it access to the property. The ombudsman found that Killick’s temporary refusal to allow access contributed to delays, but there was no evidence “the landlord took steps to obtain access to complete any of the other outstanding repairs”. The ombudsman said that, as of 15 July 2026, it had received more than 400 cases where Awaab’s law was relevant, and there was a finding of maladministration in 97% of completed cases.
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