Housing Scotland Act 2014

The Act made changes to the laws relating to all forms of Housing in Scotland. Here is a summary of some important updates:

Allocations

The 2014 Act significantly changed the allocations process which resulted in a change to Reasonable Preference. There are now three new categories of applicants who will have to be given reasonable preference and these are:
• People who are homeless or threatened with homelessness and are in housing need;
• People living in unsatisfactory housing conditions and in housing need;
• Social housing tenants who are currently under occupying their property.

Assignation, Subletting, Joint Tenancies and Succession

The Act specifies that any person seeking assignation, subletting or joint tenancy of a social rented home, must have been living in that home as their main residence for a period of at least 12 months prior to the application. The qualifying period for succession by a co-habiting partner (where there is no marriage or civil partnership) has been increased to 12 months.

The minimum 12 month qualifying period will also be applied to carers and family members.

The 12 month qualifying period only begins when the person in question, or a tenant of the home, notifies the landlord that they have moved in, in writing.

The Act specifies that assignation may be refused where the applicant would not be given reasonable preference under the landlord’s allocation policy or where assignation would result in the home being under occupied.
 
Restrictions on assignation, subletting, joint tenancies and succession will help social landlords to make the best use of their stock. Failure to notify your landlord of any changes to your household, may affect your tenancy rights.

Anti- Social Behaviour

The 2014 Act, gives landlords more tools to address Anti-social behaviour. The main changes are:
• A simplified eviction process where a tenant is convicted of certain offences in the locality of the property;
• The ability to convert a full SST to a short SST where there is anti-social behaviour;
• Increasing the initial period of a short SST granted for ASB from six months to 12 months.