Chamber and committees

Each local authority has been given a set allocation of funding which will close when that allocation is fully spent. Local authorities can continue spending into the next financial year with any remaining allocation should they need to do so.

The Tenant Grant Fund is being paid to local authorities as General Revenue Grant, if a local authority is unable to spend their revenue funding in year, it is placed in their reserves and used the following financial year. As it is revenue funding they do not require Scottish Government approval.

Local authorities have indicated that they are confident that they will be able to spend their allocations in the coming months, therefore we do not anticipate any need to recover an underspend.

Annual New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE) sales are published as part of the attached Affordable Housing Supply Programme Out-turn Reports.

More homes: Affordable Housing Supply Programme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The number of NSSE sales with a golden share attached and retained are included in the following table by local authority.

To support our approach and ensure quality for the next phase, we will shortly begin an interim and independent evaluation of the pilot phase.

Marketing for the Open Market Shared Equity scheme is carried out by the administering agent as part of their contract to administer the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Government.

It is the responsibility of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) who deliver the New Supply Shared Equity scheme to carry out marketing for each of their developments.

The Scottish Government does not gather information on the affordability of rents in the Build to Rent sector.

Build to Rent is recognised as a mainstream housing delivery mechanism and can complement existing housing models.

Build to Rent can be characterised by:

• Single institutional ownership and professional on-site management of the entire development;
• Individual units are self-contained and separately let;
• Resident access to shared, communal facilities and on-site amenities integrated as part of the development.

The Cladding Stakeholder Group was formed in June 2021 and meets monthly. The Group provides a forum for discussion, partnership working, continuous improvement and constructive challenge to support the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation programme. Membership reflects the interests of homeowners as well as the finance, insurance, home building and professional advice sectors. Under its terms of reference, material generated by the Group should remain confidential.

The Scottish Government does not conduct monitoring of the characteristics of households and tenancy arrangements in the build to rent sector.

Build to Rent is recognised as a mainstream housing delivery mechanism and can complement existing housing models.

Build to Rent can be characterised by:

Single institutional ownership and professional on-site management of the entire development;

• Individual units are self-contained and separately let;
• Resident access to shared, communal facilities and on-site amenities integrated as part of the development.

Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 are currently being drafted. The intention is to lay these regulations in the Scottish Parliament shortly. The regulations are not retrospective and will apply to new buildings, alterations to existing buildings where new building work is proposed and to certain conversions as specified in the regulations.

Shona Robison: There is no central source for this information, however some of this information is held by local authorities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

In November 2019, the Scottish Funding Council published a call for information to Scotland’s Colleges and Universities to seek assurances on fire safety in their respective estates. All Universities and colleges advised they had collated up to date information on the cladding types used on their buildings. All but one of 28 institutions reported satisfaction that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that where cladding is present, it is safe. The Scottish Government relayed this information to SFRS.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) are the enforcing authority for most non-domestic premises that are covered by Scottish fire safety legislation i.e. Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. SFRS have a risk-based audit programme which targets activities and resources at premises which offer the greatest risk to the safety of relevant persons in the event of fire. SFRS enforcement activity is about promoting and enabling sustained compliance with the law. It also ensures that actions are taken to deal promptly with serious risk and that duty-holders who fail in their obligations are held to account. Confidential information on fire safety and to some extent, building construction, is therefore collected and evaluated as part of a SFRS enforcement audit.

Building warrant applications are checked by local authority verifiers for compliance with the building standards (including fire safety as set out in Section 2 of the Technical Handbooks). During construction, a Reasonable Inquiry process allows for assessment of the works in accordance with the approved (compliant) building warrant drawings. Only after a new building’s completion certificate is accepted by the verifier can the building be occupied. Local Authorities keep building standards registers, including building warrant records.

The £10 million Tenant Grant Fund, launched last September, is being administered by local authorities who are best placed to target and deliver the funding to vulnerable tenants who are facing potential eviction and homelessness within their local area.

We are aware that local authorities are proactively raising awareness of the Tenant Grant Fund, with many establishing links with local housing advisory services such as Citizens Advice Bureaus and Law Centres. Some local authorities are also raising awareness of the fund directly with private landlords, encouraging them to get in touch if they have a tenant who has fallen into rent arrears as a direct result of the pandemic and requires support.

The Scottish Government also continues to promote the Tenant Grant Fund across social media platforms and we are working with key stakeholders to identify any further opportunities to raise awareness of the fund, particularly amongst private rented tenants.