Insights & guidance
Awaab's Law and the Damp Evidence Problem
Awaab's Law turns damp and mould from a backlog item into a duty with a clock on it. The hard part is getting objective evidence, fast. Here is how to get ahead of it.
Updated June 2026 · 4 min read
What Awaab's Law requires
From 27 October 2025, social landlords must act on damp and mould hazards to set timescales: investigate a reported hazard within 14 calendar days, provide a written summary of the findings within a further 3 days, and address emergency hazards within 24 hours.
Why evidence is the bottleneck
The duty is tight, but the moisture path is often invisible from inside the home until damage shows. By the time it is obvious, the timescales are already running.
The real question is how to find the cause quickly and objectively, without opening up the wrong wall first.
How thermal imaging helps
Radiometric thermal imaging can reveal trapped moisture, cold bridging and failed insulation behind an elevation, often before it is visible internally.
It does not diagnose the cause on its own. What it does is point the investigation to the right place, which is exactly what a 14-day clock demands.
From complaint to defensible record
A wet thermal signature on an elevation, dated and located, is objective evidence that you investigated and where you looked. Held in Atlas, it supports the written summary and the decision that follows it.