Shaping Awaab's Law for private renting: The consultation, HHSRS & what to do now

On 30 November, Awaab's Law in social housing extends beyond damp and mould to further hazards drawn from the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, including excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire, electrical hazards and hygiene, with the remaining HHSRS hazards, other than overcrowding, planned for 2027. On 9 October, the government opened its consultation on applying Awaab's Law to private rented homes, closing on 18 December.

In thirty minutes, Siân Hemming-Metcalfe will explain how the two frameworks fit together: what the HHSRS 2026 Operating Guidance changed in June, how hazards are judged, what a Category 1 hazard is, and why an Awaab's Law significant hazard is a different test. She will set out the competence question the private sector should be raising in its consultation responses, and the knowledge each role in an agency will need, from the awareness front-line staff and inventory professionals need to spot and record hazards, through reading and evaluating an HHSRS report, to the practitioner competence required to carry out an assessment.

Awaab's Law and HHSRS share the same hazards but answer different questions, and private sector agents will soon need to understand both. This session helps agents learn the difference before the deadlines arrive.
 

InventoryBase: Property inspection software

Our multi-award winning software has been designed to work with the residential and lettings market and built to provide Propertymark members with intuitive and responsive property reporting options across all systems and devices.

Awaab's Law: damp and mould in lettings

To bring property agents and landlords up to date on Awaab’s Law and to give you the confidence to determine the appropriate actions necessary to help rectify issues.

Speaker

Sian Hemming-Metcalfe

Operations Director, InventoryBase

Sián Hemming-Metcalfe is Operations Director at Inventory Base and a board advisor at ARLA Propertymark. With over 15 years of experience in property technology and compliance, she is a leading voice on risk management and tenancy reform.

She has worked extensively with letting agents, inventory professionals, and policymakers to drive higher standards and more efficient practices in the rental sector. Her latest white paper, Redefining Fair Wear and Tear – Adapting the Rental Market to the Realities of Modern Living, calls for a fundamental reset of outdated tenancy frameworks to reflect modern occupancy patterns.

As both a practitioner and industry advocate, Siân combines sector insight with a pragmatic, no-nonsense approach, helping agents navigate risk, protect landlords, and build more resilient businesses for the future.