Council
Agenda Item 62
Date of meeting: 18 December 2025
Proposer: Councillor Williams
Seconder: Councillor Sheard
Ward(s) affected:
Notice of Motion
Labour Group Amendment
That deletions
are made as shown with strikethrough below and additional
recommendations are added as shown in bold
italics below:
This Council notes
1) The heartbreaking story of toddler Awaab Ishak’s death as a result of damp and mould in his home, which shone a spotlight into poor living conditions across households in Britain.
2) The Government’s Awaab’s Law – which took effect on 27th October 2025 to prevent similar deaths – places strict timelines on some landlords to address emergency and significant hazards in their properties.
3)
The Government’s
historic Renters Right Act 2025 which includes welcome proposals to
extend Awaab’s Law to privately rented homes.
While Awaab’s Law applies to
all social landlords, it does not apply to long leasehold,
owner-occupied, low-cost home ownership, temporary or occupied
under a license, supported accommodation, or shared ownership
properties.
4) That all tenants across Brighton & Hove struggling with damp and mould-infested properties, including those currently excluded from Awaab’s law, deserve to live in healthy and well-maintained homes, free from conditions that could impact health and wellbeing.
5) The Administration has taken bold action on housing quality including introducing a landlord licensing scheme, radically reducing the council repair backlog, restoring HMO licensing, and directly purchasing council and temporary accommodation.
Therefore, Councilresolves to:
1)
Request that the next update to Cabinet about the
Administration’s Housing Strategy includes a review of what
we have done so far in relation to Awaab’s Law for our
council tenants and what more we can do in relation
a report comes to a future Cabinet
meeting, exploring how we as a council can expand the intention of
Awaab’s Law to cover as many tenants as possible, including
but not limited to:
a.
reviewing future external
accommodation contracts, setting out clear targets and inspection schedules
for external
accommodation contracts, and robust management
of, and taking
more proactive action on current contracts.
b.
working in close partnership
with council tenants on how to improve and prioritise housing
maintenance of council-owned properties.
c.
addressing poor property
conditions in the private rented sector through implementing the
next phase of the Administration’s
investigating how elements of
Awaab’s Law could improve the landlord licensing scheme., and whether the
wider roll-out of the scheme could be sped
up.
Recommendations to read if carried:
This council notes:
1) The heartbreaking story of toddler Awaab Ishak’s death as a result of damp and mould in his home, which shone a spotlight into poor living conditions across households in Britain.
2) The Government’s Awaab’s Law – which took effect on 27th October 2025 to prevent similar deaths – places strict timelines on some landlords to address emergency and significant hazards in their properties.
3) The Government’s historic Renters Right Act 2025 which includes welcome proposals to extend Awaab’s Law to privately rented homes
4) That all tenants across Brighton & Hove struggling with damp and mould-infested properties, including those currently excluded from Awaab’s law, deserve to live in healthy and well-maintained homes, free from conditions that could impact health and wellbeing.
5) The Administration has taken bold action on housing quality including introducing a landlord licensing scheme, radically reducing the council repair backlog, restoring HMO licensing, and directly purchasing council and temporary accommodation.
Therefore, Councilresolves to:
1) Request that the next update to Cabinet about the Administration’s Housing Strategy includes a review of what we have done so far in relation to Awaab’s Law for our council tenants and what more we can do in relation to:
a. setting out clear targets and inspection schedules for external accommodation contracts, and robust management of, current contracts.
b. addressing poor property conditions in the private rented sector through implementing the next phase of the Administration’s landlord licensing scheme.