Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10237 on 7 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

All applications to HOSF are tested for eligibility for both Mortgage to Rent (MtR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MtSE). Due to the circumstances of individuals there have been no Mortgage to Shared Equity cases since 2015, in particular many applicants have high levels of complex unsecured debts and low earnings.

The following table shows the number of applications received during each quarter since April 2022 and the number of applications successfully completed. Mortgage to Rent is a voluntary scheme and participation from applicants, lenders, trustees and social landlords is required for a case to succeed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17723 on 17 May 2023. Parliament will be updated once the review has completed. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Private Residential Tenancy was designed so that one tenant cannot terminate a joint tenancy on behalf of all the joint tenants, as this could result in a person who wished to stay in the let property being made homeless when another tenant chooses to leave.

Current legislation does give the landlord the right to decide not to agree to continuing the existing tenancy in those circumstances and can request that a new tenancy be issued at the point of a new person moving into the property. As the rent cap element of the emergency Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 applies only to in-tenancy rent increases, where a new tenancy is created the landlord is able to increase the rent being requested.

Whilst we believe the emergency Act is bringing significant extra protections for people living in the private rented sector during the ongoing cost crisis, it was not able to make more fundamental changes to the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 with respect to joint tenancy arrangements.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 is an emergency response to provide additional protection to people who rent their home during the cost crisis. It aims to ensure that the majority of tenants - including those who are part of a joint tenancy in the private rented sector - are protected by the temporary emergency measures, by capping in-tenancy rent increases.

Joint tenancies are subject to the cap on in-tenancy rent increases. The Scottish Government do not hold details of the turnover of joint tenancies in Scotland so are unable to estimate or model how many such tenancies may be ended due to some joint tenants moving out while others remain in the property.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 aims to ensure that the majority of tenants living in the private rented sector are protected by the temporary, emergency measures.

Tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 are exempt from the temporary rent cap, and there are only a small number of remaining tenancies under this Act. For these tenancies, rent increases can only occur every 3 years and the restrictions on rent increases already built into the system operate to ensure rents in respect of the 1984 Act are raised at fair levels.

We constantly monitor the flow of approvals through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. While council and Registered Social Landlord projects which are seeking grant funding in excess of the relevant affordable housing investment benchmark are subject to a detailed value for money assessment, which can take longer than the streamlined approval process which applies in cases where projects can be delivered with grant funding at or below benchmark, there is no evidence to suggest that this is having a material impact on the speed of programme delivery.

Once approved, we continue to work closely with partners to check that projects are progressing as planned.

Statistics relating to the progress of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website. These statistics relate to the number of approvals, site starts and completions of social and affordable homes, and can be accessed using the following link : https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/ .

A table showing the number of affordable homes approved under the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in each of the last five financial years, broken down by local authority area, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 64393).

Offers of grant funding to councils and Registered Social Landlords under the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are not time limited. While the vast majority of affordable housing projects are delivered as planned following approval, any decision to withdraw an offer of grant following approval would only be taken in close consultation with the council or Registered Social Landlord and following determination that this was the best course of action under the circumstances.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction which are impacting housing delivery so are working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate this where possible. For example, the Scottish Government is a member of the Cost Pressures in Construction Working Group, which brings together a number of stakeholders, including the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Homes for Scotland and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations and their member organisations, to explore a range of solutions to overcome the cost barriers to housing development.

We continue to collaborate with all our partners to achieve our shared goal of delivering more affordable homes for Scotland, and we are committed to delivering our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

Recently published quarterly statistics show that in the year to end March 2023, a total of 10,458 affordable homes were completed, an increase of 7% (701 homes) on the previous year and 61% (3,979 homes) higher than in the year to end March 2021. This is the highest annual completions figure since the start of the series in 2000.