This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Standards set for Scotland’s housing
04/02/2004
A new quality standard for Scotland's housing stock was outlined in Parliament today.
The new Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) defines what constitutes acceptable good quality housing. Local authorities and other registered social landlords will have until 2015 to meet the standard.
The SHQS will apply across all housing tenures and the Executive will encourage local authorities to use it to monitor the condition of private housing.
In broad terms, to meet the SHQS, a house must be:
• above the tolerable standard which is the absolute minimum standard that a house must meet,
• free from serious disrepair such as major roof, dampness or structural problems,
• energy efficient so it must have effective insulation and central heating,
• provided with kitchen and bathroom fittings that are in a good and safe condition,
• safe and secure, for example it must have a smoke detector, secure doors and safe electrical and gas systems.
Speaking in Parliament, Communities Minister, Margaret Curran said:
"This new standard forms a critical part of our long-term vision for improving fundamentally, the physical quality of social housing in this country and the quality of service that tenants receive.
"As well as requiring houses to be free from any serious disrepair, the SHQS makes major commitments to improving energy efficiency. In this day and age, it is simply not acceptable to expect families to live in a house that is cold, damp and difficult to heat. While there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of households living in fuel poverty, we cannot be complacent. By making energy efficiency a central element of the Standard, we are clearly demonstrating our ongoing commitment to tackling one of the most unacceptable aspects of social housing in this country.
"We consulted widely about the target date for meeting the standard. The recent Scottish House Condition Survey estimates about 70 per cent of Scotland's social housing falls beneath the new standard, although many houses miss it only marginally. We have asked landlords to submit their plans for meeting the Standard by April 2005. I believe that an achievable, but challenging date for meeting it should be ten years from the submission of those plans."
Commenting on the means available to enable local authorities to meet the SHQS, Ms Curran said:
"Some local authorities will use the flexibility of the Prudential Regime to generate the necessary investment. I am also giving councils flexibility in the use of their housing receipts and I am announcing that the rules requiring councils to set aside some of their housing capital receipts to repay debt will be abolished from April 2004.
"This considerably frees up the financing options open to local authorities and it is up to them to maximise the investment opportunities now made available to them. However, it will not be acceptable to burden current or future tenants with excessive rent increases simply to allow the housing stock to be retained under local authority control.
"We have reviewed the community ownership process to improve and streamline it with support from a group of external advisers. At the centre of this new approach will be the Community Ownership Programme, through which local authorities wishing to undertake whole or partial stock transfers will progress.
"To get on the programme, local authorities will need the political commitment to community ownership, a timetable agreed with the Executive, an assessment of the financial requirements and evidence of tenant involvement. The Executive will continue to work with local authorities who want onto the programme and once on, they can expect detailed help and support from Communities Scotland."
Turning to the way in which housing investment must be complemented by wider regeneration activities, Ms Curran said:
"Major investment in housing in disadvantaged areas needs to be accompanied by wider regeneration efforts to produce sustainable change. That is why I announced last year, funding of up to £175 million to support wider regeneration as part of a community ownership proposal.
"I have listened carefully to the views of those local authorities that can improve housing quality without having to transfer their housing but find the scale of regeneration needs beyond their resources. I have therefore decided that we should widen access to this funding to local authorities that have a robust delivery plan to achieve the new SHQS while retaining their housing stock and importantly have significant areas of deprivation with wider regeneration needs.
"Our policy of allowing local authorities to take over the management of Communities Scotland development funding remains in place. However, if local authorities wish to take over this funding, or to retain it once it transfers, they will need to produce - by 2005 - robust delivery strategies to meet the new standard that are acceptable to the Executive."
In conclusion, Ms Curran said:
"The Executive has delivered a coherent, comprehensive policy framework offering viable alternatives for local authorities against an immoveable commitment to deliver on the new SHQS. I now expect local authorities to decide - and to decide soon - how they will use this comprehensive framework to deliver what is in the best interests of their tenants."
There are no definite figures for the numbers of houses that fail the SHQS because social landlords have yet to gauge how their stock measures up to the new standard.
Estimates from the 2002 Scottish House Condition Survey (published in November 2003 by Communities Scotland) suggest that approximately:
• 456,000 houses in the social rented sector as whole fail the SHQS (70 per cent)
• 310,000 local authority houses fail the SHQS (73 per cent)
• 146,000 housing association houses fail the SHQS (64 per cent)
• 1.7 million private houses fail the SHQS (70 per cent)
Many of the properties that fail do so on more than one criterion so there is no single factor causing the estimated fail rate. While a high proportion of housing stock needs some work to bring it up to the new SHQs, in many cases the work required will be limited.
It is not possible at this stage, to put a cost against meeting the SHQS. More information on costs will appear over time as all social landlords will be required to provide fully costed delivery plans by April 2005.
The Community Ownership Review Group was set up following housing stock transfers in Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. The group, which included representatives from the housing and financial sectors, was asked to review the process of housing stock transfer so that future transfers can be processed as quickly and as cost effectively as possible.
A letter is being issued to social landlords and other interested parties which includes the detailed specification of the SHQS. Further guidance will be issued in due course.
Applying the SHQS to private sector housing is in line with the recommendations of the Housing Improvement Taskforce. In December 2003, Ms Curran announced that a private sector housing bill will be brought forward during the lifetime of the current Parliament which will give local authorities news powers to encourage home owners to maintain their properties. Earlier this week the Tenements (Scotland) Bill was introduced which will grant new rights to over 1.4 million home owners living in tenements and other shared buildings. The main purpose of this bill is to close loopholes in existing laws which often result in essential repairs and maintenance to private properties being delayed - sometimes for years.