The Logbook Briefing #2: Awaab’s Law in 35 days, the 7 November tax deadline, and the landlord register

Issue two: two deadlines inside six weeks, a landlord register seven weeks out, and a new cladding Bill. What each means for your records.

Awaab’s Law phase 2: 30 November

From 30 November, social landlords in England must deal with significant hazards beyond damp and mould: excess cold and heat, falls, structural collapse, fire and explosion, electrical and domestic hygiene. Communal fire risks stay under the Fire Safety Order. The clock: investigate within 10 working days; then, from the end of the investigation, a written summary within 3 working days and the home made safe within 5. Parliament approved the regulations on 20 October. Keep a dated trail, not just the summary: when you were told, each access attempt, what you sent, when the work was done. Private landlords are next; that consultation closes 18 December. Guides: Awaab’s Law records, the private rented proposals.

Making Tax Digital: second update by 7 November

Landlords and sole traders with over £50,000 of qualifying income must send their second quarterly update by 7 November, from compatible software. Still filing Self Assessment on paper? The 2025–26 return is due by 31 October. Source: HMRC.

The landlord register: due 15 December

“Register your rental property” is due to open on 15 December in the West Midlands, then a region a month through 2027, with three months to register once yours goes live. The regulations still need Parliament’s final approval. It costs £65 a property a year and asks for your gas safety record, EICR and EPC, so put those three in one folder now. Guides: PRS database registration, landlord compliance calendar.

Cladding: a fund closed, a duty coming

The under-11-metre Cladding Safety Scheme closed on 9 October. If you applied, file the PAS 9980 appraisal with the fire safety records; a buyer’s solicitor or lender may ask for it. A new Bill, set out on 14 October, would make whoever holds the repairing obligation for residential blocks in England over 11 metres assess and fix unsafe external walls. It is not law yet. Guide: FRAEW or EWS1.

Also this fortnight

• Waste: permitted receiving sites in England and Wales now log loads digitally, so the regulator holds a record of what arrived that can be checked against your transfer note.
• V5C: DVLA’s new strategy commits to a digital logbook, no date yet. Clocking is being added to dealers’ banned practices. Guide: spotting a clocked car.
• Property logbooks: nothing new since the June roadmap. Tracker.

New on the site

Estate agents will need a licence, two quiet changes to your EICR, why DVSA now photographs your car at its MOT.

Forward this to whoever else has to deal with it, and reply if we have missed something: a human reads every message.

Jamie
Editor, Logbook.co.uk