Awaab's Law: advice from the Regulatory Review Group

To: Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing

From: Professor Russel Griggs OBE, Chair, Regulatory Review Group

Sent: 25 September 2026

I am writing as Chair of the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) to provide independent advice on the implementation of the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026, commonly known as Awaab’s Law.

This note provides an overview of the RRG’s role and details recommendations on the effective implementation, communication and evaluation.

Regulatory Review Group (RRG)

The independent RRG was re-established by the Scottish Government as part of the New Deal for Business to support Scottish Ministers in improving the regulatory environment for businesses and their involvement in that process. The RRG’s membership is detailed in the Annex. The RRG considers upcoming regulatory developments and as part of its work programme has identified the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 as a scrutiny priority.

The RRG’s objectives are to:

• work constructively with the Scottish Government to ensure that policy officials and relevant Ministers are sighted on implementation challenges with regulations early in development.
• deliver purposeful and targeted written and verbal advice to the Scottish Government, drawing upon extensive expert insight from business and regulators across Scotland.
• support the delivery of the New Deal for Business by ensuring that the potential barriers to the success of Scottish Government policies are removed through an improved understanding of the practicalities of implementation.

The RRG’s remit is to examine and identify implementation challenges and appropriate mitigations of regulation. The RRG does not provide a view on the appropriateness of substantive policy or decisions to be taken on legislative priorities.

The Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026

Along with RRG members, I met with your officials on Wednesday 26 August 2026. Your officials provided an insightful update on the progress made with regard to the proposed regulations and provided detailed responses to our questions.

We welcome the continued engagement with your officials as they make progress with implementation, noting previous engagement with the Regulatory Review Group in early 2026. The group has been impressed by the extent to which previous engagement has informed implementation activity up to the present date, and it is with a view to further supporting the implementation process that the advice below is provided.

The following recommendations have been made by the RRG for consideration as part of the policy implementation process:

• the Scottish Government should formally reflect on the success of Awaab’s law following the implementation process. This is a policy area on which money has been spent by both Government and landlords, and work detailing the extent to which regulating has tackled the problems of damp and mould in the rental sector should be produced in the medium term. This work could inform any changes which may be needed, and provide a helpful example for future regulatory activity.
• further work on the feasibility of the application of Awaab’s Law to properties available on a short-term basis should be undertaken by officials. At present, the regulations will not cover all properties used for short-term lets, temporary accommodation for the homeless or temporary workforce accommodation. While the RRG understands that the health impacts of damp and mould are more acute with long term exposure, consistency across the rented housing market would help to ameliorate the risk of landlords leaving the long-term rental sector to benefit from a lighter regulatory burden in the short-term sector.
• the quality of mould and damp remediation works that progress as a result of regulation should be assessed as time progresses. The definition of ‘competent person’ for the purposes of damp and mould investigation (both before and after remediation work) relies on the judgement of the landlord. The group is concerned that this may allow for bad actors in the sector to judge incompetent contractors as competent, with resulting detrimental impacts on the quality of remediation work carried out. A further look at standards or qualifications for contractors may be required if this proves to be an issue as the regulations come into force.

The RRG would welcome further engagement with your officials to reflect on the implementation process, and to discuss any evaluation work that may take place.

A copy of this letter will be published on the RRG’s webpage and has been sent to your Ministerial colleagues with an interest in this area.

The RRG would be happy to discuss the above recommendations with you and would welcome an update on how the Scottish Government intends to take this forward during the legislative process.