Rochdale, Greater Manchester · 21 December 2020
Awaab Ishak was two years old when he died on 21 December 2020. He had lived his short life in a flat managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing where black mould covered the bathroom and kitchen walls. His father had first reported the problem to the landlord in 2017 — before Awaab was born — and was told to paint over it.
No substantive action was ever taken.
Over the following three years, Awaab lived in a flat where mould spread across every room. He developed recurrent respiratory infections. In December 2020 his breathing became critically compromised. He was taken to hospital on 19 December and died two days later.
The inquest concluded on 15 November 2022. Senior Coroner Joanne Kearsley found that Awaab died as a result of a severe respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home environment.[1] She said the case should be a "defining moment" for the housing sector.[2]
The failure was not a missing document. It was a missing system.
A disrepair manager from RBH inspected the home six months before Awaab's death, noting extensive mould across three rooms. No repairs were made.[3] RBH operated a policy of halting repairs when legal claims were pending — leaving residents at risk while the legal process ran its course.[4]
The Housing Ombudsman told the inquest that some social landlords had an "outdated, ineffective, sometimes dismissive" approach, with an overemphasis on blaming the tenant's lifestyle for damp and mould.[5] That is precisely what happened here. RBH attributed the problem to the family's cooking and bathing habits. The coroner found this entirely unfair.
The Housing Ombudsman's special investigation into RBH, published in March 2023, found that service failures were widespread, including matters of record keeping and communications, and that residents had been treated in "dismissive, inappropriate or unsympathetic ways."[6]
Critically: the complaint records did not systematically link reports from different channels — phone calls, in-person requests, the health visitor's letter — to the same property's compliance history. Observations were made. Concerns were raised. None of it became a documented, traceable record that anyone was obligated to act on.
The human cost is Awaab. The regulatory cost reshaped UK housing law.
The coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report in November 2022. Ministers responded within months. Awaab's Law was written into the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.[4]
The first phase of the law came into force on 27 October 2025, requiring social landlords to address emergency hazards within 24 hours and comply with strict deadlines for damp and mould reports.[7] In 2026, requirements expand to a wider range of hazards including excess cold, falls, structural risks, fire, electrical hazards, and hygiene. In 2027, the law extends to all remaining HHSRS hazards.[8]
RBH's chief executive was dismissed. The housing association was subjected to a special investigation by the Housing Ombudsman. The reputational, regulatory, and legal consequences for the organisation continue.
Awaab's father came to the UK from Sudan in 2016. He did everything the system asked of him. He reported the mould. He requested a move. He sought legal advice. He sent a health visitor to write on his behalf. That health visitor sent a letter to RBH in July 2020, expressing concern about Awaab's health and supporting the family's request to move — but it was never linked to the property's maintenance record.[5]
After Awaab died, his parents were told they still could not be rehoused. His mother was pregnant. They continued living in the same flat.
The coroner's question deserves to be repeated: How, in the UK in 2020, does a two-year-old child die from exposure to mould in his own home?
The Awaab Ishak case sits at the heart of why CleanReports was built.
The failure was not that nobody saw the mould. The failure was that nobody with the authority to act was ever given a timestamped, independent, legally standing record that the mould existed — and that the clock was running.
The inspection record. Every CleanReports visit to a building's communal areas includes structured observations for damp, condensation, water ingress, and mould. Stairwells, entrance lobbies, corridors — the areas a cleaning operative walks through every single scheduled visit. The first time mould is observed on a communal ceiling or wall, that observation is logged with a timestamp, a location, and a photograph. It cannot be edited or deleted after the fact.
The 10-day clock. Under Awaab's Law Phase 1, once a social landlord is notified of a significant damp or mould hazard, they must investigate within 10 working days and provide the tenant with written findings within 3 working days of completing that investigation.[9] That clock starts from notification. CleanReports generates the notification automatically, on the date of first observation, routed directly to the responsible person — the managing agent or landlord. The clock starts from a documented, independently generated record. Not from a tenant's willingness or ability to complain.
The escalation trail. If a condition is observed on a first visit and no remediation is recorded by the next scheduled inspection, CleanReports flags it. A condition that is worsening visit-by-visit generates a documented deterioration record — early escalation evidence that exists whether or not anyone has made a formal complaint.
Phase 2 compliance, already built in. From 2026, Awaab's Law expands to hygiene hazards — directly within communal cleaning compliance.[8] Every CleanReports record of communal area hygiene condition is already a Phase 2 compliance document.
The most important word in Awaab's Law is notified. The landlord's obligations begin when they are notified of a hazard. CleanReports ensures that notification happens — independently, immediately, and on record — whether or not a vulnerable tenant knows to make a complaint.