Property maintenance software and Awaab's Law

What property maintenance software does

Property maintenance software records repair requests made by tenants and other parties. A request record can include the date and time of receipt, the property and location, a description of the issue, the hazard category and the status of the case. The software supports triage by allowing each request to be classified and prioritised. Emergency hazards can be identified and routed for immediate attention, while non emergency repairs can follow a planned process. Triage records can show how a request was assessed and why a particular priority was assigned. The system also supports request logging across channels, so that telephone, written and online reports can be held in a single record. A consistent log assists landlords in monitoring open cases and in demonstrating that a repair request was received and assessed. The record can be updated as the case progresses, providing a sequence of events from initial report to completion. The software can hold notes, correspondence and attachments alongside the request, so that the case history remains with the core record. Status fields can distinguish open, in progress and closed cases.

The software dispatches contractors by generating work orders and sending the relevant details to the assigned operative. It can record appointments, attendance and completion, together with notes on the investigation and the repair. The record can distinguish between making a hazard safe and completing a permanent repair. Work orders can carry the hazard details and the response time. Timestamped entries create an evidence trail showing when a hazard was reported, when it was investigated and when it was made safe or fixed. Photographs, documents and messages can be attached to the case record. The audit trail supports internal review and external scrutiny. It also assists landlords in producing written summaries for tenants and in reporting on performance. Because Awaab's Law requires social landlords in England to investigate and make safe emergency hazards within 24 hours from 27 October 2025, timestamped repair records are essential. The software provides a structured way to retain that evidence and to show the sequence of actions taken on each case. It supports consistent record keeping across repair requests and contractor activity. This supports case review.

Awaab's Law and repair timescales

Awaab's Law applies to social housing in England and began on 27 October 2025. Phase 1 sets repair timescales for specified hazards. Social landlords are required to investigate and make safe emergency hazards within 24 hours. For damp and mould, the requirement is to investigate within 10 working days and to make safe within a further 5 working days. A written summary must be provided to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation. The hazards covered in Phase 1 are linked to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The law sets out prescribed timescales rather than general targets. These timescales create a clear record keeping need: the date and time of the request, the investigation and the action to make safe. Property maintenance software can hold those timestamps in one case record. Each stage can be time stamped, and the record can be reviewed during audit. Later phases will add further hazards to the regime. The Phase 1 requirements therefore provide the initial framework for repair handling, evidence and tenant communication in the social housing sector. This supports compliance reporting.

Phase 1 is the first stage of the regime. Further hazards are to be added in later phases. For landlords, the timescales apply to each relevant repair request and to the related investigation and action. A property maintenance system can record the start time, the investigation date and the date on which a hazard was made safe. It can also record the issue of the written summary to the tenant. These entries provide a single source of evidence for the 24 hour emergency requirement, the 10 working day investigation and further 5 working day make safe requirement for damp and mould, and the 3 working day summary requirement. The system can flag cases that remain open and can show the sequence of actions. Case records can be filtered by hazard type and status. Reports can identify cases nearing a deadline. This supports internal oversight and external scrutiny. The link to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System places the Phase 1 hazards within an established risk framework. As later phases add further hazards, the same record keeping approach can be extended to new categories.

Who uses it and why

Property maintenance software is used by social landlords in England, their repairs and maintenance teams, and the contractors to whom repair requests are dispatched. The software logs repair requests, dispatches contractors and keeps evidence of when hazards were investigated and fixed. That record has become more significant since 27 October 2025, when Awaab's Law introduced statutory timescales for social housing in England. The law requires social landlords to investigate and make safe emergency hazards within 24 hours. A timestamped repair record is therefore essential because it shows when a request was received, when a contractor was dispatched and when the hazard was investigated and made safe. The software gives those involved a shared record of the repair request and the action taken. Social landlords use it to manage the statutory process, repairs teams use it to track the work and contractors use it to receive and update dispatches. The same record supports evidence of compliance because it captures the sequence of events rather than relying on separate notes or retrospective accounts. The software is therefore an operational record for landlords and contractors who must demonstrate that hazards were handled within the required timescales.

The reasons for using the software extend beyond emergency hazards. For damp and mould, Awaab's Law sets a different timetable: social landlords must investigate within 10 working days and make safe within a further 5 working days. The software records the dates and times attached to each stage, so the landlord can show that the investigation and the make safe action fell within those periods. It also supports the requirement to provide a written summary to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation. Because the software holds the repair request, the dispatch and the evidence of investigation and completion, it can be used to produce a consistent account for the tenant and for internal compliance checks. Social landlords also use the record to identify which hazards are covered by the current rules and which are expected under later phases. Further hazards will be added in later phases, so the software provides a structured way to log requests and retain evidence as the scope of the law expands. The purpose is not to replace legal advice or operational judgement. It is to keep a factual, timestamped record that supports the duties introduced on 27 October 2025.

A compliant repair workflow

A compliant repair workflow begins when a repair request is logged in the property maintenance software. The record captures the request and the time it was received. The landlord then identifies whether the request concerns an emergency hazard. For an emergency hazard, Awaab's Law requires investigation and make safe action within 24 hours. The software dispatches a contractor and records the dispatch time. The contractor attends, investigates the hazard and makes it safe. The software keeps evidence of when the hazard was investigated and when it was fixed. Each step is timestamped, so the record shows the sequence from request to completion. For damp and mould, the workflow follows a separate timetable. The landlord investigates within 10 working days and makes safe within a further 5 working days. The software records the investigation date and the make safe date. It also records the evidence used to show that the hazard was addressed. The workflow supports the requirement to give a written summary to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation. The software can hold the information needed for that summary and can link it to the repair request. The workflow does not rely on a single final note. It keeps a step by step record of requests, dispatches, investigations and make safe actions.

The workflow continues after the make safe action. A written summary is given to the tenant within 3 working days of the investigation, and the software retains the underlying record that supports that summary. The record includes the repair request, the dispatch to the contractor, the investigation and the make safe action. It also includes the dates and times at which each step occurred. That evidence can be reviewed by the landlord for internal compliance purposes and can be provided to the tenant as part of the written summary. The workflow can accommodate further hazards that will be added in later phases. When new hazard categories are added, the software can log the request under the relevant category and retain the same timestamped evidence. The workflow therefore provides a consistent method for handling emergency hazards, damp and mould, and later categories. It does not set the legal timescales; those are set by Awaab's Law. The software records the actions taken against those timescales. The final step is to keep the evidence accessible, because the record of when a hazard was investigated and fixed is the basis for demonstrating compliance with the duties that apply from 27 October 2025.

Compliance certificates alongside repairs

Property maintenance software logs repair requests, dispatches contractors and keeps evidence of when hazards were investigated and fixed. Since 27 October 2025, Awaab's Law requires social landlords in England to investigate and make safe emergency hazards within 24 hours. That statutory timescale makes timestamped repair records essential. The software can hold a dated record of each request, the contractor dispatched and the completion evidence. Compliance certificates can sit in the same property file as repair records. Gas safety records and EICR records are examples of compliance documents that can be stored alongside repair evidence. Keeping certificates and repair logs together supports a single audit trail for each property. The record can show what was reported, when it was investigated and what action was taken. For emergency hazards, the 24 hour requirement means the time of investigation and the time the hazard was made safe are material facts. A property maintenance system that records those timestamps can produce evidence for internal review and for tenant queries. The same system can record links to gas safety guides and EICR guides so that compliance information is available with the property record. The focus is on evidence, traceability and a consistent record across repairs and certificates.

Awaab's Law sets specific timescales beyond the emergency hazard requirement. For damp and mould, social landlords in England must investigate within 10 working days and make safe within a further 5 working days. A written summary must be given to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation. Further hazards are to be added in later phases. Property maintenance software can record each of these dates and produce the written summary from the repair record. The record can distinguish between the date of the tenant report, the date of investigation, the date the hazard was made safe and the date the summary was issued. Compliance certificates such as gas records and EICR records can be attached to the same property file. The software can include links to guides on gas safety records and EICR records so that the certificate evidence and the repair evidence are held together. This structure allows a landlord to review a property file and see both the repair history and the compliance documents. It also allows a tenant query about a repair to be answered with reference to dated records. Evidence can cover emergency hazards, damp and mould cases and the written summary requirement. The later phases of Awaab's Law can be added to the same record structure when the further hazards are introduced.

Feature priorities by landlord type

Feature priorities can be set out in a matrix that compares landlord types with property maintenance software functions. For social landlords in England, Awaab's Law applies from 27 October 2025. The law requires investigation and making safe of emergency hazards within 24 hours. That duty gives priority to timestamped repair logging, contractor dispatch and evidence of when a hazard was investigated and fixed. The matrix can place those functions against the social landlord type and show the link to the statutory timescale. It can also show the damp and mould timescale: investigation within 10 working days and making safe within a further 5 working days. A written summary to tenants is required within 3 working days of the investigation. For that reason, summary generation from the repair record can be a priority feature for the same landlord type. Further hazards are to be added in later phases, so the matrix can include the ability to add new hazard types to the same record structure. The matrix does not replace legal advice. It provides a structured comparison of features against the duties that apply to each landlord type. The comparison can include the evidence trail for each repair and the date on which each action was completed.

Compliance certificate functions can also appear in the matrix. Gas records and EICR records are compliance documents that can be stored with repair logs in the same property file. For landlord types with those certificate duties, the matrix can give weight to certificate storage, document links and a combined audit trail. The property maintenance record can link to gas safety guides and EICR guides so that certificate information sits with the repair evidence. The matrix can separate features needed for the 24 hour emergency hazard duty from features needed for the damp and mould timescale and the written summary. It can also separate the evidence required for investigation from the evidence required for completion. Social landlords in England can use the matrix to align software features with the Awaab's Law timescales and with certificate records. Other landlord types can use the same structure for their own duties, with the matrix showing which functions apply to each type. The later phases of Awaab's Law can be added as a new column or row when further hazards are introduced. The matrix is a comparison tool. It records feature priorities by landlord type and links each priority to a specific legal duty, a record type or a certificate record.

Choosing and switching

Social landlords in England are subject to Awaab's Law from 27 October 2025. A landlord choosing or switching property maintenance software needs a system that logs repair requests, dispatches contractors and keeps evidence of when hazards were investigated and fixed. The statutory timescales shape the records that a landlord needs to retain and retrieve. Emergency hazards must be investigated and made safe within 24 hours. Damp and mould must be investigated within 10 working days, with make safe action within a further 5 working days. A written summary must be provided to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation. These records depend on timestamped entries that show the sequence of request, investigation, contractor dispatch, completion and tenant communication. When choosing or switching software, the ability to migrate open and closed repair histories, preserve audit trails and produce evidence for each hazard category is a practical consideration. A link to decision guides and an anchor for comparison is provided to help readers navigate the relevant material. Evaluation can focus on whether the system records dates and times, contractor actions and written summaries without gaps.

Switching arrangements require continuity of evidence. A new system may need to import repair requests, contractor instructions and completion records so that the audit trail for hazards remains intact. The records must show when an emergency hazard was investigated and made safe within 24 hours, and when damp and mould were investigated within 10 working days and made safe within a further 5 working days. The written summary to tenants within 3 working days of the investigation also forms part of the evidence set. Contractors' timestamps and tenant communications can be checked against the statutory timescales. Later phases will add further hazards, so the record structure needs to accommodate additional hazard categories without losing historical data. Decision guides and a linked anchor can be used to compare system features, migration steps and evidence reporting. The material can set out how to test timestamp accuracy, contractor dispatch records, tenant summaries and audit reports before a switch is completed. A neutral comparison can identify where records are complete, where gaps exist and what information must be transferred. The page anchor and decision guides are intended to keep the selection and switching process tied to the duties under Awaab's Law.

Frequently asked questions

What is Awaab's Law?

Rules requiring social landlords in England to investigate and fix certain hazards within set timescales, from 27 October 2025.

How quickly must emergency hazards be dealt with?

Investigated and made safe within 24 hours.

How long do landlords have to investigate damp and mould?

10 working days, then a further 5 working days to make safe.

Does Awaab's Law apply to private landlords?

Phase 1 applies to social landlords; government has signalled extension to the private rented sector through separate legislation.

What evidence should repair records include?

Timestamps, photos, findings, communications and completion dates.