Strengthening tenants’ rights and preventing homelessness
Legislation to strengthen tenants’ rights and prevent homelessness has passed stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to tackle poverty across Scotland by improving the renting experience for tenants, through a range of new rights and a system of rent controls, in a way that maintains investment.
The Bill will also place a stronger emphasis on homelessness prevention based on better coordination across services and providing support earlier.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “The Housing (Scotland) Bill will play an important role in helping to tackle poverty by keeping rents affordable and ensuring people can stay in their homes.
“Ensuring everyone has the right to a safe and stable home is essential to the Scottish Government’s priority of ending child poverty and the Bill will play a role in reaching that goal.
“Scotland has led the way in protecting tenants and providing rights for homeless people. The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to create a rental system that improves the rights of tenants while maintaining investment and provides greater support for people threatened with homelessness.
“I am pleased Parliament has supported the general principles of the legislation, especially on our proposals for a system of rent controls that keep costs lower for tenants.”
Living Rent campaigners said: “Make no mistake this would not have happened without the work of Scotland’s tenants union.
“Right now we need to celebrate the vote bringing rent controls one step closer. But landlords are fighting hard and it’s clear there is a lot of work to be done.”
Greater flexibility to keep pets in homes amongst range of Housing Bill measures
New legislation will introduce a range of measures to improve renting in Scotland, including strengthening tenants’ rights to keep a pet.
Measures in the Housing (Scotland) Bill will allow a renter to make a request to keep a pet in their home and for that to not be unreasonably refused by their landlord. Currently, it is entirely up to the landlord whether a tenant can keep a pet, and they must be given written permission to do so.
Other provisions aimed at providing a good quality, and affordable rental market also include a system of long-term rent controls, with the Scottish Government working with tenants, landlords, investors and developers to bring forward a system that works for tenants and supports investment in private rented housing.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “Pets are an important part of the family for many people across Scotland. Tenants have the right to feel at home in rented accommodation and having more control over keeping a pet can play a big part in that and can have additional benefits for their mental health and wellbeing.
“This is just one of a range of measures in the Housing (Scotland) Bill, including long-term rent controls, which will help improve the lives of renters and create an affordable, high-quality, and fair private rented sector.
“The Bill also meets the Scottish Government’s ambition to improve the renting experience in Scotland, whilst also encouraging landlords to invest.
“We will continue to work to create a system that strengthens renters’ rights and supports continued investment in the rental market.”
Gilly Mendes Ferreira, Director of Innovation and Strategic Relations for the Scottish SPCA said: “We welcome the provisions included within the Housing (Scotland) Bill, particularly the safeguarding of the rights of tenants to keep pets and hope that these measures will foster a more inclusive and compassionate rental market.
“Our research has found that over 75% of tenants stated they had a pet for emotional (77%) and mental health (83%) support.
“This survey also highlighted that seven out of 10 tenants would risk becoming homeless if they were no longer able to keep their pet in their current accommodation.
“Sadly, we also found that 37% of tenants stated that they have had to make that unimaginable choice between having a pet and having a roof over their head.”
The Bill contains six main parts, addressing areas such as rent control, eviction procedures, tenant rights, and homelessness prevention.
It seeks to introduce measures to enhance tenant protections, prevent homelessness, and promote sustainable housing solutions.
Before the Bill was introduced to Parliament, the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee established a Tenants Panel and a Landlords Panel, representing renters and landlords from across Scotland, to advise the Committee on the key issues within Scotland’s private rented sector.
These panels will now provide feedback on the Bill alongside the responses to the joint public consultation to inform both Committees’ scrutiny of the proposals.
Commenting on the launch of the Committee consultation, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee Convener Ariane Burgess MSP said:“The new Housing Bill offers an opportunity to enact meaningful reforms that will positively impact the lives of tenants, homeowners, and communities across Scotland.
“Even before the Bill was published, we had already been gathering views from our Tenant and Landlord Panels to learn about what both need from new legislation.
“Now we want to hear from other stakeholders with an interest in Scotland’s housing policies, to ensure that the Bill is responsive to and reflective of the significant challenges facing the sector.”
Collette Stevenson MSP, Convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, which holds the remit on scrutiny of the homelessness and domestic violence aspects of the Bill said:
“Everyone should have a warm and safe place to live and tackling rising levels of homelessness across Scotland should be a priority for us all.
“The proposals in this Bill seek to shift the focus away from crisis intervention and towards homelessness prevention.
“It’s important that we hear from a wide range of stakeholders, including tenants, landlords, advocacy groups, local authorities, and members of the public, to understand if the proposals go far enough to prevent so many people reaching crisis point.”
The Committees want to hear your views on the Housing (Scotland) Bill. The Key areas for feedback include:
Rent control mechanisms and affordability measures.
Tenant rights to pet ownership and property modifications.
Proactive homelessness prevention strategies by local authorities.
Enhancements to eviction procedures and tenant protections.
To participate in the consultation and contribute to shaping Scotland’s housing future, individuals and organisations are invited to submit their views through the official Scottish Parliament consultation portal.
Preventing homelessness and strengthening tenants’ rights
New legislation which aims to keep people in their homes and help prevent homelessness has been published.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill will introduce an ‘ask and act’ duty on social landlords and bodies, such as health boards and the police, to ask about a person’s housing situation and act to avoid them becoming homeless wherever possible.
It also reforms provision for people threatened with homelessness up to six months ahead and includes provisions for tenants experiencing domestic abuse.
The Bill will outline proposals for a New Deal for Tenants, a key part of the Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party.
Proposals include long term rent controls for private tenancies, new rights to keep pets, decorate rented homes and stronger protection against eviction.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan and Tenants’ Rights Minister Patrick Harvie will lead the Bill’s passage through Parliament.
Mr McLennan said: “Scotland already has the strongest rights in the UK for people who become homeless – but nobody should have to experience the trauma and disruption of losing their home.
“Early action, through the kinds of measures included in the Housing Bill, results in fewer people reaching the point of housing crisis. It also means people facing homelessness have more choice and control over where they live, helping them to maintain relationships in their community and stay in work.”
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Mr Harvie said: “A fairer, well-regulated rented sector is good for both tenants and landlords. Tenants benefit from improved conditions and security, while good responsible landlords will thrive when their good practice is recognised by regulation.
“Scotland has led the way across the UK in improving the experience of people who rent their homes and this reform has been at the same time as significant growth in the size of the private rented sector. So progressive reform can lead to better conditions and a healthy rented sector overall.
“I want to keep working with both tenants and landlords to achieve that goal.”
THE housing bill published today by the Scottish Government fails to address the systemic issues driving the housing emergency, Shelter Scotland has said.
The charity warned that there was no realistic prospect of councils being able to fulfil new statutory obligations given that local authorities are regularly failing to meet their existing legal duties.
The bill’s publication comes in the wake of figures which show a significant decline in the delivery of social homes, which Shelter Scotland says is essential in tackling the systemic issues driving the housing emergency.
Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said:“There is a growing consensus that Scotland is in the grip of a Housing Emergency. Already four local authorities have declared housing emergencies, with more expected to follow in the coming weeks.
“Today’s housing bill was an opportunity to address the causes of that emergency and end the scandal of 10,000 children trapped in temporary accommodation.
“What we need is urgent action to drive up the supply of social homes, invest in local services and stop to councils breaking existing homelessness laws.
“Instead, we have a Housing Bill that does none of that and risks diverting frontline staff from the task in hand. By proposing new additional duties on councils already failing to deliver existing laws, we run the risk of making the situation worse.
“It is time for Scottish Ministers to listen to what our communities are telling them – declare a housing emergency and bring forward a new plan to deliver the social homes we need.”
Responding to the Housing (Scotland) Act being published, Citizens Advice Scotland Housing spokesperson Aoife Deery said: “The pandemic and cost of living crisis underlined the need for better protections for tenants and more affordable housing. In many ways the market is simply broken and urgently needs repaired.
“The CAB network in Scotland gives out hundreds of thousands of pieces of advice a year on housing, and it was one of the top areas of crossover advice – where people seeking help with housing also needed help with something else, often social security, debt or energy bills. In fact a third of all single working age households contacting CABs do so for advice on housing.
“We welcome this once in a generation opportunity to improve the rented sector and shape a fairer system. We look forward to getting into the detail of the Bill, change needs to happen with both landlords and tenants involved, we will be contributing our evidence as this work moves forward”
Cyrenians welcomes the introduction of the Housing (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament today. Long awaited, the new prevention or ‘Ask and Act’ duties included within it have the power to reach people before they become homeless and get them the right help, much faster.
‘Ask and act’ forms the cornerstone of a wider set of reforms to homelessness legislation. If passed, the Bill will require public bodies – including healthcare and justice agencies to implement systems whereby people at risk of homelessness are easily identified and directed to the appropriate services before they reach crisis point.
These duties will implement recommendations from the Homelessness Prevention Task and Finish Group (co-chaired by Crisis and Cyrenians), published in August 2023 [click here to read the Group’s report].
The group drew on its collective knowledge of the housing sector, as well as the lived experience of people who were homeless, through the All in for Change programme.
Throughout the process, building up to the publication of the Housing Bill, Cyrenians has consistently argued for increased funding to resource new prevention duties. We will continue to advocate for the necessary resource that our public bodies and local authorities will need to make the promise of the Housing Bill possible.
Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive of Cyrenians, said: ““Scotland is in the grip of a housing crisis. Several local authorities have now formally declared a housing emergency as the numbers of people facing homelessness is reaching record levels.
“But we know from our work across 60 services in Edinburgh, the Borders, Falkirk and the Lothians, that in many cases homelessness can be stopped long before people reach crisis point.
“To do that we need to widen the scope of responsibility, giving people within public bodies the right training and resource to be able fulfil this role. We believe that this, a public health approach to homelessness, is key to tackling the housing crisis.
‘We are very pleased to see the plans for prevention duties within the Housing Bill, published today. This legislation has the potential to prevent homelessness in Scotland. However, to do that, it needs to be properly resourced.
“As a charity which tackles the causes and consequences of homelessness, we regularly work with people whose situation could have been prevented, if they had received help earlier. We urge the Scottish Government to ensure that these duties are properly funded so that the bill can live up to its potential.”
Cats Protection has welcomed the new Housing (Scotland) Bill, which will for the first time give renters the right to own a pet.
The charity’s Advocacy & Government Relations Officer for Scotland, Alice Palombo, said: “This is a landmark day for renters in Scotland, who will finally be given the right to own a pet with an end to blanket ‘no-pet’ policies.
“We hope this new law will stop the misery faced by animal lovers who have been denied the chance to ever own a pet cat, simply because they rent rather than own their own home.
“People in rented housing pay significant amounts of their income every year on fees and rent, and it is only right they should be able to feel at home in that property. Pet ownership – whether it’s a cat or another companion animal – provides companionship to all sorts of people. Whether it’s older people at risk of loneliness or young families with children learning how to care for others, pets play a vital role in our lives.
“We’re particularly pleased to see the Bill introduces an obligation for local authority and social landlords to publish a policy relating to domestic abuse. Cats Protection operates a free fostering service for cat owners fleeing domestic abuse, but many victim-survivors can struggle to find cat-friendly housing. We hope that domestic abuse policies will include a commitment to ensuring victim-survivors can keep their pets when they settle into new housing.
“A survey by Cats Protection and Dogs Trust found a lack of sufficient pet-friendly rented housing in Scotland, with only 22% of Scottish landlords allowing pets. This puts a strain on rehoming charities, and landlord-related issues is one of the top reasons for cats coming into our care.”
The Housing (Scotland) Bill was informed by three public consultations and will now by scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament.
Tenants’ rights in Scotland continue to be strongest in the UK
Private renters are being urged to know their rights before the emergency rent cap and additional evictions protections in Scotland come to an end from 1st April.
Tenants in Scotland have some of the strongest rights of any part of the UK, an awareness raising campaign will highlight those rights and what tenants should expect from their landlords, including:
the right to ask for a review of a rent increase
protection from illegal evictions or being asked to leave a property without proper notice
a landlord giving a tenant the correct notice period before increasing rent
ensuring rented homes are maintained to an acceptable standard
Tenants and landlords are also reminded that the emergency rent cap is still in place until 1 April, so all rent increase notices for private residential tenancies issued before then must still comply with the current cap of 3%.
Rent increases proposed after that date still need to give 3 months’ notice, and tenants can seek a review of increases they are concerned about.
On a visit to Clackmannanshire Citizens’ Advice Bureau, where he spoke to rent advisors, Tenants’ Rights Minister Patrick Harvie said: “Our emergency legislation has led the way in the UK in capping most in-tenancy rent increases, protecting tenants across Scotland from the worst impacts of the cost-of-living crisis.
“The emergency nature of the legislation, which was approved by parliament, means the rent cap cannot be extended beyond 31 March. But tenants still have significant rights from before the emergency act, and we have made use of powers to make sure any rent rises are more manageable.
“Subject to parliamentary approval, the system of checking rent rises will be adjusted from 1 April so that rents are not simply jumping to market levels in all cases in one step.
“I would encourage anyone who is currently renting or about to enter the rental market to check the rights that exist to protect them from unfair practices.”
Citizens Advice Scotland spokesperson Emma Jackson said: “It’s so important that people understand their rights around private rents once the rent cap ends. If you think your landlord has put up the rent by too much after 1 April you can apply to Rent Service Scotland to see if it is a fair rise.
“The reality is the cost-of-living crisis has left a lot of people struggling to afford essential bills like energy and rent, and the Citizens Advice network can help with broader advice to increase how much money you have coming in each month or cutting bills.”
Housing Secretary launches a consultation proposing new legal requirements for England’s social landlords to address hazards including damp and mould quickly
plans to clamp down on rogue social landlords who fail to provide safe homes have been announced today, supporting the Government’s pledge to deliver Awaab’s Law.
The two-year-old from Rochdale died from a respiratory condition caused by extensive mould in the flat where he lived, and the Government is taking action to introduce lifechanging reforms in social housing to prevent future tragedies.
The Awaab’s Law consultation has been launched by the Housing Secretary, which proposes introducing new strict time limits for social housing providers and force them to take swift action in addressing dangerous hazards such as damp and mould.
It proposes new legal requirements for social landlords to investigate hazards within 14 days, start fixing within a further 7 days, and make emergency repairs within 24 hours. Those landlords who fail can be taken to court where they may be ordered to pay compensation for tenants.
Landlords will be expected to keep clear records to improve transparency for tenants – showing every attempt is made to comply with the new timescales so they can no longer dither and delay to rectify people’s homes.
Housing Secretary, Michael Gove said:“The tragic death of Awaab Ishak should never have happened. His family have shown courageous leadership, determination and dignity to champion these changes and now it’s time for us to deliver for them through Awaab’s Law.
“Today is about stronger and more robust action against social landlords who have refused to take their basic responsibilities seriously for far too long. We will force them to fix their homes within strict new time limits and take immediate action to tackle dangerous damp and mould to help prevent future tragedies.
“Alongside Awaab’s Law, our landmark Social Housing Act will drastically improve the quality of life in social housing, granting residents a proper voice to fight those who think they can cheat the system and ensuring rogue landlords face the full force of the law.”
Faisal Abdullah, Awaab’s father. said:“We hope that Awaab’s Law will stop any other family going through the pain that we went through.
“Landlords need to listen to the concerns of tenants and we support these proposals.”
Social Housing campaigner, Kwajo Tweneboa said:“As we know many families across the country are still living in homes with damp and mould, creating misery but more worryingly risks their health and safety.
“I’m pleased to see Awaab’s Law reach the consultation phase and hope that it goes far enough to prevent other families going through the tragedy Awaab’s family have had to. It’s crucial the government are able to make sure this law has teeth and is enforced for it to work as intended.”
Through the measures announced today tenants will be able to take their landlords to court if they fail to fix dangerous hazards. This builds on the progress already made to drive up standards in social housing.
The UK Government says there has been consistent improvement in the quality of social homes since 2010 – with a reduction in non-decent social homes from 20% in 2010 to 10% last year – but recognises ‘there is more work to do’.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act, which became law last year, will equip the Regulator of Social Housing and tenants with stronger powers and rights to hold the small minority of rogue landlords accountable.
New enforcement powers will also be available for the Regulator to weed out bad landlord practices – including issuing unlimited fines and entering properties with only 48 hours’ notice to make emergency repairs in the most severe cases.
As part of changes to deliver Awaab’s Law, the Government recently consulted on what more tenants need to better understand their rights and challenge social landlords when things go wrong – the direction to the Regulator will be published in the coming weeks.
This is the latest step in addressing systemic issues identified following the Grenfell Tower fire – not just the safety and quality of social housing but how tenants are treated by their landlords.
Awaab’s Law consultation will be open for eight weeks and further details on how to respond can be found here
