The deadline doesn't move.
Be ready before it.
On 30 November 2026, Awaab's Law Phase 2 brings seven new hazard categories under fixed statutory timescales. PropertyDefect triages a defect from a photograph in minutes — so you know what you're dealing with before anyone gets in a van. Five of the seven go straight back to the teams you already have. Two are structural, and that's been our day job since 1977.
A technical officer drives an hour to a property.
The defect takes ninety seconds to diagnose.
Multiply that by a portfolio, then add a fixed statutory clock on top. From 30 November 2026, three forces tighten at once — and all three are decided on evidence and timing.
Awaab's Law Phase 2
Phase 1 has been enforceable since 27 October 2025. Phase 2 follows on 30 November 2026 and brings seven further hazard categories under fixed timescales. No discretion, no grace period.
The Regulator inspects, the Ombudsman publishes
The Regulator of Social Housing now carries out proactive consumer inspections. Severe maladministration findings are published by name. Compliance is assessed, not just evidenced on request.
Disrepair claims
Claims have risen sharply this decade, and the legal cost of a defended claim routinely exceeds the cost of the repair. Claims are won and lost on evidence and timelines.
Phase 1
Damp, mould and emergencies under fixed timescales.
HHSRS reformed
29 hazards become 21; A–J banding becomes High / Medium / Low.
Phase 2
Seven new hazard categories under fixed timescales.
Phase 3
All remaining hazards brought into scope.
Seven new hazards. You already have the teams for five of them.
From 30 November, fixed statutory timescales apply to seven further hazard categories. Most of them are things your property services and FM teams deal with every week. You don't need us to fix those — you need to know exactly what you're sending them to.
Five you already have the teams for
Our report identifies the defect, states its severity and the applicable statutory timescale, and sets out the trade required, the likely fault, and the parts to bring. Your team or your contractor attends once, equipped, and fixes it.
No diagnostic visit. No return trip. No wasted mileage.
Two where we can take it further
Defective stairs, inadequate guarding, damaged flooring, unsafe access. Loose masonry, defective balconies, movement and cracking.
These are engineering problems. Use your own team if you have that capability in house — or use ours. Francis Bradshaw Consulting carries out the higher-risk property investigation, produces the remedial design, and sees the scheme through to implementation across your portfolio. That isn't an adjacent service we've added. It's the core practice, and has been since 1977.
Every hazard assessed. Two escalated to engineers.
Five returned to you, ready to fix.
Triage is where compliance is won or lost
Triage is part of the initial determination — and is not a separate step in the timeframes.
Buried in the Phase 2 guidance is a line that changes how this has to be resourced. There is no window in which to work out what you are dealing with. The clock starts the moment your organisation becomes aware of a potential hazard, and it runs while you are still deciding what that hazard is.
If it takes four days to establish whether a report is an emergency or a significant hazard, you haven't used four days of preparation. You've used four days of a twenty-four hour duty.
When MHCLG published the Phase 2 guidance, it didn't simply update the existing document. It published a separate annex dedicated to triaging hazards, developed in response to feedback from the Phase 1 test-and-learn process. Triage is where landlords struggled — and it is the specific gap PropertyDefect was built to close.
| Trigger | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Emergency hazard | 24 hours — investigate and make safe |
| Significant hazard | Investigate within 10 working days |
| Following investigation | Written summary to the resident within 3 working days |
| Relevant safety work | Complete within 5 working days |
| Longer-term remedial works | Begin within 12 weeks |
Every clock starts at the point of report. Triage decides which one you're on — and how much of it you spend finding out.
Minutes, not days. No new software.
Report or routine check
A tenant or officer photographs the defect and sends it by WhatsApp or QR code. No app to download. No login. No training day.
Assessment returned in minutes
The defect is identified and severity-scored, mapped to the HHSRS hazard framework, with the applicable Awaab's Law timescale stated — so you know what you're dealing with before anyone is dispatched.
Route or escalate
Five of the seven Phase 2 categories route straight to your existing teams, with the likely fault and the parts to bring. Falls and structural collapse escalate to chartered structural engineers for site investigation, remedial design and implementation.
You stop sending technical officers on hour-long round trips to diagnose a trivial defect — and you catch the serious ones before they become claims.
Evidence for the board. Effortless for everyone else.
Board & Leadership
Portfolio-level risk visibility and a demonstrable system rather than an assurance of good intent. Protection against published maladministration findings, regulatory action and disrepair claims — with a cost case that stands on its own.
Governance & Compliance
A timestamped, categorised record from the moment a hazard is reported, with the applicable statutory timescale stated. Evidence you investigated within time — built at the time, not reconstructed under pressure.
Asset, Repairs & Inspections
Triage before you dispatch. The trade, the likely fault and the parts identified before anyone travels. One visit instead of two, and surveyor capacity aimed only where judgement genuinely changes the outcome.
Tenants
Report a defect in seconds from a phone they already use. No queue, no form, no app. Faster triage means faster resolution and a safer home.
The Phase 2 Readiness Cohort
Five housing associations. October intake. Results before the deadline.
We're taking five organisations into the October cohort, ahead of wider rollout. You bring live cases from your own stock. We triage them alongside your existing process, and you see — on your own data — how many first visits you'd have avoided and how many categorisations would have changed.
Six weeks of running time means you have real results in hand before 30 November, not after it.
- Onboarding session, configured against your stock
- Training for repairs, compliance and leadership teams
- Triage across live cases from your own portfolio
- Weekly feedback loops, tuned to your portfolio
- Severity thresholds and triage codes configured to your internal policy
- Priority access to structural escalation where it's needed
Your first 25 reports are free. As long as your asset or survey team goes through the process with us and we receive your feedback along the way, the trial stays free — start to finish.
An abort fee only becomes payable if the trial isn't seen through — a no-show, or dropping out before the 25 reports are complete. Continue beyond the trial and you simply move onto a subscription across your portfolio.
Book a 25-minute session, see the triage run live on real cases, then trial it with your own team. No commitment to decide anything on the call.
Qualifying fit: portfolios of 3,000+ homes with active hazard-triage pressure. North West, Yorkshire and North East prioritised for the October intake.
Five is a genuine limit. Chartered engineering review capacity is the constraint, not software licences.
The legislation, in full
We'd rather you read it yourself. These are the primary sources.
Awaab's Law & PropertyDefect FAQ
What is Awaab’s Law Phase 2 and when does it start?
What are the Awaab’s Law timescales?
Can AI assess property defects from photos? Is it reliable?
What happens when it finds something structural?
We already use clixifix, Plentific or NEC — does this replace it?
How do you evidence compliance for the Regulator and the Ombudsman?
Is our data secure and GDPR-compliant?
Who qualifies for the October cohort and what does it cost?
Have a defect? Report it live.
See the triage for yourself. Send a photo of the defect on WhatsApp — and pop your name, telephone number and email into the chat, so we can send your triaged report straight back to you.