- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18138 by Stewart Stevenson on 5 December 2008, whether it will list the key property industry representatives and private landlords who attended the seminars about Energy Performance Certificates.
Answer
Invitations were issued to 97 UK Government and Scottish public bodies and private sector interests. Robust records have not been kept of attendance at the EPC awareness-raising seminars held by the Scottish Government''s Building Standards Division. However, organisations with property industry interests, including private landlords, that reserved places are listed in the following table:
| Albacalcs |
| Barca ltd |
| Burness |
| Caledonian McBrayne |
| Carbon Zone ltd |
| Century 21 |
| Defence Estates |
| Dumfries and Galloway NHS |
| Elphinstone Holdings |
| Glasgow and Community Safety Service |
| Graham & Sibbald |
| HBJ (Gately Waring) |
| Highland Energy Efficiency Advice Centre |
| Linkwide |
| McGrigors |
| National Landlords Association |
| NHS Borders |
| NHS Fife |
| NHS Tayside |
| Registers of Scotland |
| Ryden Lettings |
| SCARF |
| Scottish Children''s Reporter Administration |
| Scottish Qualifications Authority |
| Scottish Rural Property and Business Association |
| Scottish Natural Heritage |
| Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care |
| Scottish Funding Council |
| Shepherd & Wedderburn |
| TC Young |
| The Planned Maintenance Consultancy |
| University of Edinburgh |
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 16 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many landlords have been removed from the register for the Landlord Registration Scheme, broken down by local authority.
Answer
One landlord has been removed from East Ayrshire Council''s Landlord Register.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 12 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is publicising the Landlord Registration Scheme to prospective tenants.
Answer
Responsibility for publicising landlord registration rests with local authorities. The Scottish Government provided grant funding for these purposes over the period 2005-08. Templates of leaflets for tenants were also given to local authorities.
Local authority activity includes:
Local websites containing details about registration.
Locally produced newsletters distributed by mailshot to local tenants.
Radio adverts.
Newspaper adverts.
Council-run awareness raising sessions for tenants, for example with migrant workers.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 12 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many landlords have applied to the Landlord Registration Scheme and been refused, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The following table shows the number of applications for registration by private landlords and letting agents received by local authority and the number of applications refused, as at 30 November 2008. Landlords and agents are required to register in each authority where they own or manage property, so these figures include multiple registrations for some individuals or organisations. The figures also include joint owners of property.
The legislation requires local authorities to work with landlords to improve their practice, before refusing to register a landlord. In addition to refusal, local authorities have a range of enforcement powers which can be used to ensure compliance with registration requirements. These include rent penalty notices and late application fees. At 30 November 2008 over 650 late application fees had been applied and over 400 rent penalty notices had been issued nationally.
| Local Authority | Total Applications at 30 November 2008 | Total Refusals at 30 November 2008 |
| Aberdeen City | 10,683 | 0 |
| Aberdeenshire | 4,850 | 0 |
| Angus | 2,401 | 0 |
| Argyll and Bute | 2,376 | 0 |
| Clackmannanshire | 912 | 0 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 3,358 | 0 |
| Dundee City | 4,739 | 0 |
| East Ayrshire | 2,275 | 1 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 1,423 | 0 |
| East Lothian | 2,610 | 0 |
| East Renfrewshire | 1,197 | 0 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 26,807 | 0 |
| Eilean Siar | 415 | 0 |
| Falkirk | 2,416 | 0 |
| Fife | 7,477 | 0 |
| Glasgow City | 15,896 | 1 |
| Highland | 5,154 | 0 |
| Inverclyde | 1,317 | 0 |
| Midlothian | 1,294 | 0 |
| Moray | 1,819 | 0 |
| North Ayrshire | 2,223 | 2 |
| North Lanarkshire | 3,477 | 0 |
| Orkney Islands | 932 | 1 |
| Perth and Kinross | 3,751 | 0 |
| Renfrewshire | 2,725 | 0 |
| Scottish Borders, The | 3,439 | 0 |
| Shetland Islands | 312 | 0 |
| South Ayrshire | 2,341 | 0 |
| South Lanarkshire | 6,233 | 0 |
| Stirling | 2,621 | 0 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 1,043 | 0 |
| West Lothian | 3,190 | 0 |
| Total | 131,706 | 5 |
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 10 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the £1.4 million announced on 27 November 2008 to fund the purchase of suitable unsold housing stock from the private sector in Falkirk and Perth and Kinross, how much below market value is being paid on average.
Answer
An average saving of 19% below market value will be achieved for the 28 properties.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the £1.4 million announced on 27 November 2008 to fund the purchase of suitable unsold housing stock from the private sector in Falkirk and Perth and Kinross, how many houses will be purchased.
Answer
The £1.4 million announced on 27 November 2008 to purchase unsold housing stock in Falkirk and Perth and Kinross will result in a total of 28 units being purchased by three housing associations.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the £1.4 million announced on 27 November 2008 to fund the purchase of suitable unsold housing stock from the private sector in Falkirk and Perth and Kinross, what the average level of subsidy is per house.
Answer
The £1.4 million announced on the 27 November 2008 to purchase unsold housing stock in Falkirk and Perth and Kinross, results in an average level of subsidy per house of £50,000. The £1.4 million is the allocation to date based on an initial estimate; however now that negotiations have been concluded, it has been established that the average grant subsidy per unit will be £64,000. This results in the allocation increasing to £1.759 million.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that social landlords are aware of their obligations under the energy performance certificate legislation.
Answer
Social landlords have been kept fully informed about the requirements for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which come into force at the start of next year. The Scottish Government''s Building Standards Division has held a series of EPC awareness-raising seminars this autumn and all key property industry representatives, including social landlords, were invited. Demand from the social rented sector was so great that an extra seminar was held.
A range of information on EPCs is available on the Scottish Government''s website and leaflets have been distributed widely, including to social landlords. In addition, approximately 4,500 advice letters have been sent to those involved in the property industry, including housing associations.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that private landlords are aware of their obligations under the energy performance certificate legislation.
Answer
Private landlords have been kept fully informed about the requirements for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which come into force at the start of next year. The Scottish Government''s Building Standards Division has held a series of EPC awareness-raising seminars this autumn and all key property industry representatives, including private landlords, were invited.
A range of information on EPCs is available on the Scottish Government''s website and leaflets have been distributed widely, including to private landlords. In addition, approximately 4,500 advice letters have been sent to those involved in the property industry, including solicitors and estate agents that look after the interests of private landlords.
- Asked by: Mary Mulligan, MSP for Linlithgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 13 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people registered as homeless are housed in private rented accommodation paid for by local authorities and what the average cost of such accommodation is, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Private rented sector accommodation is used to address homelessness on both a temporary and more settled basis. The table below sets out the overall usage for 2007-08 as recorded via national homelessness statistics.
Where a tenant is eligible for support with the cost of the rent, this is met in the main through housing benefit. The Scottish Government does not collect information centrally on the costs of private rented sector accommodation provided for homeless people, nor whether any additional costs are met by local authorities. The Department for Work and Pensions publishes statistics on the numbers of private tenants in receipt of housing benefit and the average rent allowance paid to private tenants. However these statistics do not separately identify those who have been assessed as homeless.
| Local Authority | Private Rented Sector Used Before Final Outcome | Private Rented Sector Used as Final Outcome |
| Aberdeen City | 0 | 6 |
| Aberdeenshire | 3 | 37 |
| Angus | 31 | 12 |
| Argyll and Bute | 50 | 54 |
| Clackmannanshire | 4 | 13 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 1 | 46 |
| Dundee City | 0 | 71 |
| East Ayrshire | 2 | 37 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 29 | 35 |
| East Lothian | 12 | 40 |
| East Renfrewshire | 0 | 11 |
| Edinburgh | 0 | 881 |
| Eilean Siar | 4 | 16 |
| Falkirk | 10 | 29 |
| Fife | 29 | 200 |
| Glasgow City | 12 | 200 |
| Highland | 14 | 73 |
| Inverclyde | 9 | 32 |
| Midlothian | 0 | 14 |
| Moray | 1 | 8 |
| North Ayrshire | 1 | 31 |
| North Lanarkshire | 111 | 71 |
| Orkney | 1 | 15 |
| Perth and Kinross | 4 | 42 |
| Renfrewshire | 5 | 30 |
| Scottish Borders | 6 | 33 |
| Shetland | 0 | 13 |
| South Ayrshire | 1 | 58 |
| South Lanarkshire | 136 | 53 |
| Stirling | 9 | 18 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 0 | 11 |
| West Lothian | 4 | 38 |
| Scotland | 489 | 2,228 |
