Listen
Early warning on homelessness
01/04/2009
From today, councils across Scotland have to be notified of any families facing the threat of homelessness through eviction or repossession.
The Homelessness (Scotland) Act 2003 require landlords and creditors to inform the local authority when they take action to recover property or call in a mortgage.
The aim is to prevent homelessness by allowing a council to contact affected households with the offer of appropriate support, including money advice.
The new legislation applies to landlords in the social and the private rented sector and is unique to Scotland. There is no parallel legislation in England.
It also applies to all creditors offering mortgages, including second-charge and buy to let mortgages, and debt consolidation loans.
Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said:
"Prevention of homelessness is one of the main priorities in meeting the 2012 homelessness target and is even more relevant in the current economic climate.
"As part of the Scottish Government's economic recovery plan, we have acted decisively to help families deal with the impact of the economic recession.
"This legislation is a helpful tool and will, I hope, act as an early warning system for local authorities to households facing homelessness due to eviction or repossession.
"Prevention makes sense economically and socially and is line with the Government's broader principles of early intervention.
"We have also recently increased the Homeowners Support Fund to 35 million pounds and set up a Repossessions Group, which is considering whether legislative protection for those at risk of losing their home requires further strengthening."
Section 11 of the Homelessness (Scotland) Act 2003 will be implemented so landlords and creditors must tell the relevant local authority when they take action to recover property or call in a mortgage.
The Scottish Housing Regulator will consider compliance with Section 11 as part of their inspection of social sector landlords. Failure to comply by a private sector landlord could be taken into account by local authorities when considering an application for landlord registration.
The Scottish Government has been working with national landlord and creditor organisations to raise awareness of the new duties. Broader guidance on preventing homelessness, developed in association with COSLA, will be published by the Scottish Government shortly.