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The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry was set up in February 2022 to investigate the devolved strategic response to the coronavirus pandemic in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022. The Inquiry is working independently of government to establish the facts, identify lessons to be learned and make recommendations for the future to Scottish Ministers. You can find out more about the Inquiry here: www.covid19inquiry.scot. The Inquiry is keen to hear about the experiences of people from all walks of life across Scotland during the pandemic.
Tenants Together Scotland will be facilitating a range of group discussion sessions with tenants in the social rented sector to hear about their experiences during the pandemic. The sessions will cover a set of topics aimed at capturing the range of experiences and views of tenants during the pandemic, and the feedback from each session will then be collated and shared with the Inquiry. In order to participate, you should have been a tenant in the sector at any point between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022.
Please choose one of these meetings to book a place
We are a FINALIST
We have been shortlisted for an award at the TIS National Excellence Awards 2024.
It is in the category of Tenant Group of the Year.
The conference is on the 7th & 8th Nov, we will find out then, watch this space.
Tenants Together launches
Regional Networks changes name to Tenants Together to reflect its bold new brand and vision.
The Regional Networks has unveiled its bold new identity, including a new name, logo, and vision as part of an extensive rebranding exercise, launched at their Annual General Meeting on Saturday 1st June 2024.
The organisation has now officially rebranded to ‘Tenants Together’ to better reflect who they are: a national network of tenants, committed to empowering the tenants of today and tomorrow, ensuring their voices are heard and influence decisions within the Scottish social housing sector, to protect tenants’ rights and make a difference.
Funded by The Scottish Government, network members worked with the Tenants Information Service (TIS) to design and implement the new brand identity, mission statement, vision for the future, and core values. It was important that the approach was tenant-led to ensure the new identity embodied the key priorities and ambitions of the network’s members.
Colin Stewart – Chair of Tenants Together explained:
“This is a major milestone for our organisation. With a clear vision and mission, we can move forward with our commitment to making sure the views of tenants and service users are listened to, acted upon, and are at the forefront of all housing and community developments. It is a very exciting time for us.”
The improved branding will provide the housing sector with a better understanding of the aims of the network – who will speak up to protect tenants’ rights and offer a variety of opportunities for tenants and service users to influence national housing policy, work to ensure tenant participation is embedded within the culture of housing organisations operating throughout the sector, and share a unified voice for tenants and service users on national committees, boards, and taskforces.
Fawn Russell – communications and media manager at TIS said:
“The new brand identity of Tenants Together encapsulates a renewed sense of purpose for the network and its members. Throughout the rebranding exercise, it was clear that network members have an unwavering commitment to become the leading, unified voice for tenants across the Scottish social housing sector, and to have a national presence and seat at the table.”
The launch of the new Tenants Together brand was aptly timed, as Tenants Together, begin a recruitment drive to encourage tenants and service users of a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) or local authority, operating throughout the Scottish social housing sector, to get involved and sign up to membership – completely free of charge.
As a member of Tenants Together you can decide to get involved at a level that suits you, and will have the opportunity to:
- Be a part of a national network of likeminded tenants and service users who share a commitment to empowering the tenants of today and tomorrow.
- Work in partnership with the Scottish Government and other key decision makers to ensure the interests of tenants and service users are at the heart of policy development.
- Become a champion for the organisation and promote the work that they do at local and national events and conferences.
- Share your views on national housing policy and development, and best practice relating to tenant participation and engagement.
- Come together with Tenants Together peers to review information and discuss some of the biggest challenges facing the sector.
- Engage directly with the Scottish Housing Regulator on the issues of key importance to tenants and service users in relation to the regulation of social landlords.
- Participate on national committees, panels, boards, task forces, and at ministerial meetings.
Shona Gorman – Vice-Chair of Tenants Together, highlighted that there are a range of benefits that you can gain from becoming a member:
“If you are a tenant or service user of an RSL or local authority and are passionate about making positive change in the Scottish social housing sector, and want to be part of an organisation, and greater purpose, that makes a real difference to the lives of communities across Scotland, then I would encourage you to become a member of Tenants Together. We are a network of likeminded, friendly tenants and welcome you to get involved!”
If you are interested in becoming a member of Tenants Together, please email info@tenantstogether.scot to find out more – or alternatively, stay up to date with the latest work by signing up to their newsletter at www.tenantstogether.scot
Housing Regulator sets out its plans to review Charter performance indicators
The Scottish Housing Regulator has today set out its plans to carry out a comprehensive review of the Annual Return on Charter (ARC) during 2024/25.
To support this review, the Regulator has established advisory groups to work with it to consider the current ARC indicators and help it to develop appropriate and meaningful indicators on tenant and resident safety, including new indicators on damp and mould.
The advisory groups will include relevant experts and people from the social housing sector and the first meeting of these groups will take place at the start of May 2024.
The Regulator will use the feedback it received about the ARC indicators during its recent framework review. It also hopes to include the development of appropriate indicators for the Social Housing Net Zero Standard following the conclusion of the Scottish Government’s consultation on the proposed Standard.
The Regulator will consult formally on the revised ARC indicators later this year. The new ARC will take place for collection year 2025/26, and landlords will make the first return under the new indicators in May 2026. The existing ARC will continue until then.
Helen Shaw, Director of Regulation said:
“The ARC allows landlords to report on how well they are delivering services to their tenants. The membership of the advisory groups is drawn from across the sector, including relevant experts. We look forward to working with the advisory groups as we review the current indicators. We will also ensure that we involve tenants and other service users as we develop the proposed new indicators to ensure the information we collect reflects what is important to them.”
Forms sent out for AGM
The documents have been sent out for the upcoming AGM on Saturday 1st June 2024.
You can download the documents from this page.
2024-AGM-Invitation-Letter-
Statement from Regional Networks regarding Housing to 2040
Colin Stewart, a spokesperson for the Regional Networks said our members supported the Housing to 2040 vision when it was published, it was and still remains an admirable long-term plan.
However, the housing landscape like so much else has changed drastically over the last few years and the priority must be to respond to the current housing emergency we face. At present the emphasis and funding must go to providing many more new homes. That must be the focus along with ensuring standards of our existing homes is met.
To do this in these difficult economic times will be hugely challenging and is made even more difficult by the reduction in the affordable housing budget. Tenants cannot be expected to fund this work through large rent increases, the funding must come on a national basis from government.
As tenants, we welcome the aspiration of the Scottish Housing Net Zero Standard for Scotland but consider that in the current context, it is imperative to take a measured approach to this which takes account of the challenges we are facing across the piece and allow for a more cohesive strategy to be put in place for the social housing sector to address the challenges we face.
Regulator launches consultation on the future of social housing regulation in Scotland
The Scottish Housing Regulator is consulting on proposals for how it regulates social housing in Scotland. It is inviting tenants, landlords and others with an interest in its work to give their views by 15 December.
In its proposals, the Regulator explains how it will continue to safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants, people who are homeless and others who use social landlords’ services.
A key proposal would see the Regulator introduce a new provision to its statutory guidance to allow the Regulator to require landlords to provide explicit assurance in the Annual Assurance Statement (AAS) on a specific issue or issues.
The Regulator also proposes changes to strengthen the emphasis in its Regulatory Framework on social landlords listening to tenants and service users, to make it clearer when a social landlord is non-compliant, and to initiate a comprehensive review of the Annual Return on the Charter which it will consult on next year.
George Walker, the Regulator’s Chair, said “Our proposals reflect the feedback from stakeholders on our discussion paper from earlier this year. Since then we’ve continued to discuss our ideas at meetings and events, to develop and test our thinking.
“Overall, stakeholders have told us that in general the current Regulatory Framework works well and remains relevant and appropriate. We’ve also seen a clear appetite from those involved in social housing for a period of stability and for changes to be kept to a minimum. There was also general support from tenants, landlords, investors and representative bodies for the approach that we set out in the discussion paper and for the changes we proposed.
“Thank you to everyone who has shared their views so far. This has been a really constructive discussion, and your feedback has been invaluable. The draft Regulatory Framework and guidance we are now proposing have been shaped by your feedback, and will continue to be informed by your responses to this consultation.”
The Regulator will use the consultation feedback to develop its final Regulatory Framework and guidance which it will publish in February 2024 and implement on 1 April 2024.
Rented Sector Reform: Landlord and Tenant Engagement Questionnaire & Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 Update
Rented Sector Reform
As set out in this year’s Programme for Government, the First Minister reaffirmed our commitment to delivering a New Deal for Tenants by creating new tenants’ rights and powers for the introduction of a system of long term rent controls for the private rented sector. To support that, and to continue our engagement with stakeholders across landlord, tenant and investor groups, we have launched an engagement questionnaire seeking to ask landlords and tenants a range of questions on our proposed reforms to the rented sector.
The questionnaire can be accessed via Citizen Space, the Scottish Government’s consultation platform, and will be open to responses for 4 weeks, closing on Friday 27 October. You can access it here:
https://consult.gov.scot/better-homes-division/rented-sector-reform-landlord-and-tenant
A supporting paper, providing more detail on our current proposals for a New Deal for Tenants, has been published to help landlords and tenants who wish to respond to the questionnaire.
The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022
The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 came into force in October 2022 and introduced extra protections for tenants. The Act aims to protect tenants by temporarily:
- restricting private sector landlords from increasing the amount of rent they can charge private sector tenants;
- placing certain restrictions on enforcement of evictions from residential tenancies in both the private and social rented sectors; and
- balancing these restrictions with safeguards for those private landlords who may be facing particular cost pressures or financial hardship
The rent cap applies to most tenants in the private rented sector.
The rent cap was able to be expired in the social sector following a voluntary agreement being reached on rent setting with the sector.
The rent cap was able to be suspended in the purpose built student accommodation sector due to evidence that the rent setting process for the academic year meant that the rent cap had minimal impact.
The evictions protections continue to apply across all sectors.
The Scottish Parliament has approved a final six month extension of the Act, meaning that the following measures will be in place until 31 March 2024 at the latest:
most in-tenancy private sector rent increases will continue to be capped at 3% for any 12-month period;
- enforcement of evictions will continue to be paused for six months for most tenants, except in a number of specified circumstances; and
- private sector landlords who may be facing particular cost pressures or financial hardship can apply for approval to increase rent by up to 6% to help cover certain increases in costs in a specified time period where these costs can be evidenced
You can view more information on the measures here:
Housing Affordability Research
The Scottish Government has commissioned social research agency The Lines Between to explore experiences of housing affordability among renters in Scotland.
We are looking for individuals who currently rent a residential property in Scotland (either through a private or social landlord) to take part in an online focus group or interview exploring:
- what affordable housing means to you
- your experiences of housing affordability/unaffordability
- factors affecting your ability to meet housing costs
- your housing aspirations for the future
The focus groups and interviews will take place in mid-late August and will be scheduled in the evenings.
All participants will receive a £50 shopping voucher as a thank you for taking part. Participants can choose from Amazon, Aldi, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s or Morrisons; no cash payments will be offered.
If you are interested in participating in the research, please complete the following form. It is a brief questionnaire which contains questions about your demographics (e.g. age, gender) and housing/financial situation. This will help us to determine eligibility for the study and ensure a diverse sample of participants. Once you have completed the form, one of our researchers will contact you to let you know if you have been selected to take part and arrange a quick call to discuss arrangements if so.
Click here https://forms.gle/46ui9fagJGhdkny78 then scroll to the bottom where you will see a button with NEXT, click on that and you will get the form
If you have any questions about the research, please contact Abi Sharp, Senior Researcher at The Lines Between via abi@thelinesbetween.co.uk or 07535 061083.
Region Chair and social landlord group from North East celebrates TPAS award wins
(from left) Awards host Michelle McManus with Rebecca Cuthbert and NETRALT’s co-chairs Katie Taylor and Catherine Coutts
A North East tenant and social landlord group celebrated success last month at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) National Good Practice Awards ceremony in Clydebank.
North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT) won Best Practice in Developing Communities award for its groundbreaking work involving young people from across Aberdeen, while NETRALT member and Castlehill Housing Association tenant Colin Stewart won the coveted Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award.
NETRALT embarked upon an innovative city-wide project to engage and collaborate with young people via research aimed at exploring youth knowledge and aspirations.
The project involved staff from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Foyer, Castlehill, Grampian and Langstane Housing Associations, as well as young people from Aberdeen City Youth Council (now Aberdeen City Youth Movement) and the Scottish Youth Parliament.
The report will be used in Aberdeen’s Local Housing Strategy, as well as being a link to a child-friendly city and will make an impact on services and the resources that young people are reliant on.
NETRALT’s co-chairs Katie Taylor and Catherine Coutts were delighted to accept this prestigious award on behalf of the group and were joined by one of the young people involved, Rebecca Cuthbert.
Catherine Coutts said: “We engaged with young people, not just as a demographic to fill a quota; this went way beyond youth involvement and co-production. Young people designed, distributed, compiled and launched the survey to ensure that captured views were authentic. The survey achieved its aims, with 595 responses forming the basis of a report authored entirely by young people themselves.”
Katie Taylor added: “Housing is such an important topic; it has a direct impact on young people and they should have a say in what happens. It is vital that they feel their voice is listened to and this project is step towards establishing a city youth housing network to ensure this happens.”
Colin Stewart receiving the Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award from Michelle McManus
Castlehill Registered Tenants Organisation (CaRTO) chair Colin Stewart has helped support the organisation to get involved with scheme inspections and to support communities via CaRTO’s funding scheme.
Colin is always a friendly face when he meets tenants and is able to help with his knowledge and lived experience of being a social housing tenant.
An active member of NETRALT and a well-kent face throughout not just the North East, but nationally, due to his role as chair of the North of Scotland Regional Network, he is also the only tenant member of the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board.
Colin has spoken in parliament to communicate tenant comments and evidence to the Local Government, Housing & Planning Committee to inform its consideration of the first report to Parliament on the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act.
Tenant participation officer Catherine, who nominated Colin for this award, explained: “Colin is a force of nature and a worthy winner of this award because of his unfailing enthusiasm and dedication to the social housing sector and the wider community, from grassroots level to national strategic board level. His voluntary work has resulted in positive changes and improvements to many people’s lives across Scotland.”
More winners from the event can be found here.
Committees 2023-24
Region 1
Office Bearers
- Colin Stewart – Aberdeen City – Chair
- Liz Richardson – Highlands – Vice-Chair
Committee Members
- Eric Spence – Argyll & Bute
- Jackie Budgen – Highlands
- Kath Fennel – Orkney
- Linda Lennie – Orkney
Region 2
Office Bearers
- Gordon Saunders – Scottish Borders – Chair
- Irina Lazarenki – City of Edinburgh – Vice Chair
Committee members
- Alan Dalby – Fife
- Bill Campbell – Fife
- Isabella Vint – City of Edinburgh
Region 3
Office Bearers
- Anne Cameron – South Ayrshire – Chair
- Bruce Cuthbertson – East Ayrshire – Vice-Chair
Committee Members
- Norma Ferguson – North Ayrshire
- Margaret Dymond – Renfrewshire
Region 4
Office bearers
- Shona Gorman – Falkirk – Chair
- June Anderson – Clackmannanshire – Vice-Chair
Committee Members
- Frances McGonagle – West Dunbartonshire
- June Todd – West Dunbartonshire
- John Duffy – North Lanarkshire
- Jeanette Arneil – South Lanarkshire
- Donna Murray – South Lanarkshire
- William Derrick – Stirling
Housing to 2040 Strategic Board
A strategic board to lead progress towards the delivery of Scotland’s 20-year housing plan will meet for the first time today.
The Housing to 2040 strategy was developed following extensive engagement with the housing sector, wider stakeholders and the public, and sets out a vision for what Scotland’s homes and communities should look like by the end of 2040.
Including representatives from housing providers, landlords, housing developers and tenant organisations, the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board will meet every six months.
The board will be co-chaired by housing secretary Shona Robison and COSLA’s community wellbeing spokesperson, Councillor Maureen Chalmers.
The strategic board membership in full:
- Shona Robison, cabinet secretary for social justice, housing and local government (co-chair)
- Councillor Maureen Chalmers, COSLA spokesperson for community wellbeing (co-chair)
- Patrick Harvie, minister for zero carbon buildings, active travel and tenants’ rights
- Michael Cameron, chief executive, Scottish Housing Regulator
- Sally Thomas, chief executive, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
- John Mills, co-chair, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers
- Jane Wood, chief executive, Homes for Scotland
- John Blackwood, chief executive, Scottish Association of Landlords
- Colin Stewart, chair, North of Scotland Regional Network
- Callum Chomczuk, national director (Scotland), Chartered Institute of Housing
- Chris Birt, associate director for Scotland, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Sean Neill, director local government, housing and planning, Scottish Government
Ms Robison said: “The actions in Housing to 2040 set out how we will deliver on our vision for a Scotland where homes are warm, safe and affordable for everyone, standards are the same across all tenures, people have access to green space and essential services, and where child poverty, fuel poverty and homelessness have been eradicated.
“I’m grateful to the representatives who are joining the strategic board, which will oversee the delivery of Housing to 2040 and work together to progress towards the vision set out in the strategy.”
Councillor Chalmers said: “The Housing to 2040 strategy sets the context for housing across all of Scotland’s local communities. Therefore, it is of great value that the new Strategic Board’s membership has a range of housing stakeholders to provide oversight, as well as to help provide advice on navigating challenges to progress our shared housing aims.”
Homes for Scotland has welcomed the appointment of its chief executive Jane Wood to the Strategic Board.
Ms Wood said: “Housing is fundamental to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success. From health and education to jobs and investment, it impacts every area of our lives but we simply don’t have enough homes. This is clearly demonstrated by the shortfall of 110,000 homes that has been accumulated since 2008 yet delivery challenges have never been greater.
“With strong interdependencies between tenures, home builders across all segments of the housing market have a critical role to play in achieving the objectives set out by the Scottish Government and recognition of this through my appointment is very much welcomed.
“The Strategic Board is a critical body which must focus on creating effective policies which deliver both economically and socially, and I look forward to working collaboratively with my Board colleagues to do this.”
The Scottish Social Housing Charter 2022
The Charter helps to improve the quality and value of services provided by social landlords in Scotland. It sets the standards and outcomes that all social landlords should aim to achieve when performing their housing activities.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-housing-charter-november-2022/documents/
scottish-social-housing-charter
Regulator has just published their report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter
The Scottish Housing Regulator have just published their latest report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter. You can find the report and details of the headline findings here:
Rent Setting and Affordability Survey for Tenants
TPAS Scotland and The Regional Networks have come together to consult with tenants and landlords on how social housing rent is set in Scotland.
This is the tenants version.
We would appreciate you giving your views by filling in the enclosed survey to help identify how landlords are setting rent, what rent setting best practice looks like, and how tenants can get more involved in the rent setting process.
The survey should take less than ten minutes to complete and will cover many aspects of the rent setting processes. If you require assistance completing the survey, please call TPAS Scotland on 0800 049 5761.
Please click the blue button below to get started. Thank you for your time.
Scottish Housing Regulator invites applications for volunteer Tenant Advisors to help shape the future of social housing in Scotland
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is the independent regulator of registered social landlord (RSL) and local authority housing services in Scotland, working to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants, people who are homeless, and others who use social housing services.
Committed to ensuring tenants are at the heart of our regulation of their landlords, the Regulator is delighted to invite applications from across Scotland for the recruitment of twelve motivated and enthusiastic individuals to take on the role of Tenant Advisor for a period of three years, and provide an independent and unique perspective on our work.
Individuals from all walks of life, with focus on protected characteristics, are encouraged to apply for this voluntary positionand be instrumental in shaping the future of social housing services in Scotland.
Tenant Advisors are tenants of either RSLs or local authorities who volunteer to participate in regulation work and support the Regulator by:
· Testing landlord services by acting as mystery shoppers, and assessing information and materials produced by landlords for their tenants;
· Reviewing SHR draft publications and website facilities, and helping SHR to make sure material is both accessible and user friendly for tenants; and
· Asking other tenants for their views when we assess the quality of service provided by social landlords to give us a direct, user perspective to add to other regulatory evidence.
Experts in housing, community development, and engagement practice, the Tenants Information Service (TIS), will work in partnership and support the Regulator in our recruitment of Tenant Advisors.
George Walker, Chair at the Scottish Housing Regulator explains:
“Our role is to protect tenants’ interests and to drive up the quality of services which social landlords deliver. We can only do our job effectively if we understand what is important to you. Tenants are a diverse group with different needs and priorities and it is important that we work with the most diverse group possible to understand these and take account of them in our work. So, I’d encourage as many different types of tenants with experience of the wide range of services that social landlords provide to apply. We will work with our Tenant Advisors to get your perspective on the services provided by social landlords across the country.”
Applicants do not need any formal qualifications, training, or experience to become a Tenant Advisor, and will receive ongoing support to ensure their role will be fulfilled confidently, although essential skills include:
· Basic IT skills (i.e. navigating emails, websites, and documents)
· The ability to interpret information from reports
· A willingness to learn and build new skills
· The ability to listen to and express views in a constructive way
· Communicating well in both a written and verbal capacity
Ilene Campbell, Chief Executive at TIS added:
“We are thrilled to work alongside the Scottish Housing Regulator in their recruitment of twelve Tenant Advisors. This voluntary role is a fantastic opportunity for tenants across Scotland to get involved and play an active role in improving social housing services.
“Individuals of all characteristics are invited to apply and will gain opportunities to take on new challenges and build on personal development skills. If you are passionate about making a positive change, we would love to hear from you.”
If this voluntary position interests you and you would like to be considered for selection as a Tenant Advisor, please visit:www.housingregulator.gov.scot or http://tis.org.uk/shr-volunteer-tenant-advisors/ to download an information pack and application form. For further information, email info@tis.org.uk or call 0141 248 1242.
Additionally, reasonable expenses (e.g. travel) will be covered to make participation in your role as Tenant Advisor as convenient as possible.
The closing date for applications is 10:00am on Monday 14th February 2022 and appointments will commence 1 April 2022 for three years.
Draft Strategy Consultation Paper – “A New Deal For Tenants”
Scottish Government – “We are consulting on the draft A New Deal for Tenants – rented sector strategy, which seeks to improve accessibility, affordability choices and standards across the whole rented sector in Scotland. “
https://www.gov.scot/publications/new-deal-tenants-draft-strategy-consultation-paper/
2021-new-deal-tenants-draft-strategy-consultation-paper
Zest (Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce) report
Please find attached the latest Zest (Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce) report for your information.
ZEST-report
Scottish Housing Regulator – National Report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter
The SHR have published their reports on social landlords’ performance against the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, including the national analysis headline report. This year’s national report covers the period April 2020 to March 2021 and is the first full reporting year in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SHR have also published the landlord reports and comparison tool. The landlord reports let you know how your landlord performed against the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter last year. The Comparison Tool lets you compare your landlord’s performance with others.
You can read the reports and find out more at the link below.
Read the reports on the Scottish Social Housing Charter 2020 to 2021
Scottish-Housing-Regulator-National-Report-on-the-Scottish-Social-Housing-Charter-Headline-Findings-2020-2021
The Scottish Social Housing Charter review consultation
The Scottish Social Housing Charter review consultation is now live.
It can be accessed via the following link: https://consult.gov.scot/social-housing-services/scottish-social-housing-charter-review/
The consultation will close on the 9 September 2021.
review-scottish-social-housing-charter-consultation
