Both are coming to private rented homes for the first time, confirmed the day the Renters’ Rights Act became law. But “coming” is doing a lot of work: one now has a target date nine years out, the other has no date at all — only a promise to consult, still unopened. Here is exactly what government has confirmed, and what it genuinely has not.
Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard already apply to social housing. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 extends both to the private rented sector for the first time — a genuine, confirmed change of direction, not a rumour.
What is not confirmed is when either one starts to bind a private landlord in practice. This page is about that gap specifically: what government has actually said, what it has only proposed, and what it has not said at all. Precision about the difference is the entire point of the page.
This guide is part of our landlord compliance series — sourced guides to the biggest deadlines and duties facing English landlords right now.
GOV.UK’s own announcement is unambiguous: the Act “brings the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law into the private rented sector for the first time.” Both sit in Phase 3 of the government’s implementation roadmap, alongside the energy-efficiency standard covered in our EPC C by 2030 guide.
And one consequence of this is already live, separate from either measure’s own start date. GOV.UK’s Guide to the Renters’ Rights Act states that councils now have “a new power to issue civil penalties of up to £7,000” against landlords who fail to take reasonably practicable steps to keep a property free of serious hazards. Our Renters’ Rights Act guide covers this alongside the Act’s other penalty tiers. This sits in that guidance’s Decent Homes Standard material, not inside “Awaab’s Law” as such — the two are kept apart in the source, and we keep them apart here too.
Awaab’s Law already has teeth — in social housing. SI 2025/1042, the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, brought its first phase into force on 27 October 2025: fixed, legally binding timescales for social landlords to investigate and fix “significant hazards” (damp and mould, at this stage) and any emergency hazard capable of causing imminent, significant harm.
For the private rented sector, government’s own roadmap says this: “We will consult on the details of this policy, including implementation timescales, in due course.” Not a date pending confirmation — a consultation that has not yet been launched. The roadmap’s own milestones table marks Phase 3 measures, including this one, “TBC — subject to consultation.” We checked the live GOV.UK roadmap page while building this piece: as things stand, that consultation still has not opened.
The social-sector regulations are the closest thing to a preview available. They are not a forecast of the PRS timetable or its thresholds — government has not proposed either — but they show the shape a phased, hazard-by-hazard rollout is likely to take once a PRS consultation does start.
The figure “2035” circulates widely for this one, and it turns out to be right — but the roadmap most coverage cites for it only went as far as proposing “2035 or 2037”, pending consultation responses. The firmer source is a separate, later document: GOV.UK’s “The New Decent Homes Standard: policy statement”, updated 28 January 2026, which states plainly: “The new DHS will apply from 2035… to both the social and private rented sectors.” That is a firm commitment, not a proposal — but it is nine years from where this page is written, and the regulations that will actually bring it into force for the PRS have not been made.
Do not confuse this with the 1 October 2030 energy-efficiency deadline covered in our EPC C by 2030 guide. That is a different standard on a different, nearer timetable — the Decent Homes Standard’s own energy element for the PRS uses that same 2030 date internally, but the Decent Homes Standard as a whole, covering repair, facilities, damp and mould and more, is the 2035 one.
Set against the two measures above, EPC C by 2030 is the odd one out, in a good way: a confirmed policy, a confirmed cap, a confirmed penalty, and a single hard compliance date of 1 October 2030. Most coverage of the PRS reform programme implies all of it works like that — a named year, a checklist, a countdown. It does not. Two of the three biggest standards changes coming to the sector genuinely do not have that yet, for different reasons and to different degrees.
1. Treat the £7,000 hazard penalty as live, because it is. It does not wait for Awaab’s Law PRS timescales to be set. A property with an unaddressed serious hazard is exposed now.
2. Use the social-sector Awaab’s Law timescales as your working template. Fast response to damp, mould and emergency hazards is the direction of travel; treating it as normal practice now costs less than retrofitting a process once a PRS consultation actually sets timescales.
3. Do not plan 2035 like it is 2030. The Decent Homes Standard has a confirmed date, but nine years is long enough that chasing it now, ahead of the regulations that will actually define compliance for the PRS, is premature. Track it; do not treat it as urgent.
4. Keep your genuinely dated obligation on schedule. If you have not planned your EPC C by 2030 route, that is the one with a real countdown — see our EPC C by 2030 guide.
When does Awaab’s Law apply to private landlords? There is no date yet. Government has committed only to consult on the detail and the implementation timescales “in due course,” and as of this page’s last review, that consultation had not opened. It already applies to social housing, in phases, since 27 October 2025.
Is there a deadline for the Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector? Yes — 2035, confirmed in GOV.UK’s Decent Homes Standard policy statement, updated 28 January 2026, for both the social and private rented sectors. The regulations that will bring it into force for the PRS have not yet been made.
Can I be fined before either law technically applies to me? Yes. Councils already have a power to issue a civil penalty of up to £7,000 against a landlord who fails to take reasonably practicable steps to keep a property free of serious hazards. That sits in the Renters’ Rights Act’s Decent Homes Standard provisions and does not wait for Awaab’s Law’s own PRS timescales.
Is the Decent Homes Standard the same as EPC C by 2030? No. EPC C by 2030 is the energy-efficiency standard, with its own confirmed cap and penalty. The Decent Homes Standard is broader — repair, facilities, damp and mould, and more — and applies from 2035, five years later.
Why does the social-sector version of Awaab’s Law matter to a private landlord? It is the closest working template available for what a private-sector version is likely to look like: phased by hazard type, with fixed investigate-and-fix timescales. It is not a preview of the PRS dates or thresholds, which have not been proposed.
Which of the PRS reforms actually has a firm date right now? EPC C by 2030, with a single compliance date of 1 October 2030. Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard do not work the same way — one has no date, the other has a confirmed but distant one.
UK Property Portal is written and published by Dan Woodcock, working independently from UK. It is a one-person operation — there is no newsroom and no research team behind it — and every figure, date and threshold on this page is sourced, attributed and dated to the document it comes from. Read the full editorial standard →
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