Scotland Sets Deadlines for Damp and Mould Investigations and Repairs
New rules that took effect in Scotland on 6 October 2026 require private and social landlords to investigate reports of damp and mould and begin necessary repairs within defined timescales.
According to the Scottish Government, landlords must investigate within ten working days, provide a written summary of findings within three working days and begin required repairs within five working days of the investigation. The final deadline concerns starting work, not completing every repair.
The regulations form the first stage of Scotland’s implementation of Awaab’s Law, named after Awaab Ishak, the two-year-old who died in England in 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his family’s home.
A response that can be measured
The change makes the response to a resident’s report measurable. Recording a complaint is not the end of the process: investigation, written findings and necessary repairs must follow.
From a building-performance perspective, the relevant question is what is causing moisture to persist. Depending on the property, diagnosis may require examining ventilation, insulation, water ingress and leaks. Removing visible marks without addressing their cause may leave the underlying problem unresolved.
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A timetable changes the relationship between a resident’s complaint and the institution responsible for the home. Without an identifiable sequence of investigation and action, deterioration can remain visible to the occupant while its cause remains administratively unresolved. The architectural significance lies in treating housing quality as an ongoing condition rather than an achievement recorded at completion. Design intent, construction records and maintenance history become useful only when they help explain how the occupied building performs. A repair deadline does not itself identify the source of moisture, and speed cannot substitute for competent diagnosis. It can, however, make responsibility harder to defer indefinitely. For residents, the difference is between reporting a problem and being able to follow a documented response. For property managers and technical teams, it requires an operational connection between inspection, findings and the work commissioned. The resulting pressure falls on the systems that keep a dwelling habitable, including access to expertise and the capacity to carry out repairs while people continue living there.
Source: Scottish Government, Housing Standards and Awaab’s Law guidance. Feature photograph: a yellow house with chimneys in Edinburgh, Scotland. © Heinz Klier / Pexels.
