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Housing(Scotland)Act 2001- Guidance on Tenant Participation
PART 2: THE STATUTORY FRAMEWORK
The New Legislation - Summary
Section 53: Tenant participation
14. This section introduces new provisions requiring local authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs) to have tenant participation strategies in place as directed by Scottish Ministers. It also places a duty on them to maintain a register of tenants groups meeting certain criteria. Subsection (4) entitles Scottish Ministers to make an order setting out the criteria for registration or removal from the register and the procedures to be followed in relation to such registration and removal. Subsection (5) provides a right of appeal for such groups in relation to registration and deregistration.
Section 54: Consultation with tenants and registered tenant organisations
15. This section introduces a new provision to enable both individual tenants and registered tenants groups to be consulted by the landlord on issues affecting them. Subsection (1) requires the landlord to have regard to representations by tenants or tenants groups, within a reasonable timescale. Subsection (2) sets out the relevant proposals to which this applies.
Sections 55 and 56: Tenant management agreements
16 .Section 55 of the Act replaces the existing provisions of sections 22 and 22A of the 1987 Act and sets out arrangements for a tenant management co-operative to enter into an agreement with a local authority, a registered social landlord or a water or sewerage authority to manage the landlord's houses. Scottish Ministers must approve such management bodies and the terms of the agreement between the landlord and the co-operative. There is a right of appeal to Ministers in the case of an inability to agree terms or a refusal by the landlord to enter into an agreement.
17. This section defines the range of functions which a landlord may make subject to a tenant management agreement. Subsections (4) and (5) make clear that where a landlord is a local authority, the houses which are the subject of a tenant management agreement are still to be treated as the authority's houses for the purposes of the authority's Housing Revenue Account and related financial support from the Executive.
18. These provisions are discussed in detail below.
Equal Opportunities
19. Landlords should bear in mind the requirements under section 106 of the 2001 Act that:
(1) Scottish Ministers and local authorities must exercise their functions under the Act in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and in particular the observance of the equal opportunity requirements.
(2) In providing housing accommodation and related services, registered social landlords must act in a manner which encourages equal opportunities and, in particular, the observance of the equal opportunities requirements.
20. This requirement is reflected in the key principle detailed at paragraph 10 above - Tenant participation must meet the requirements of the legislation surrounding equal opportunities. Good practice in participation removes barriers to effective participation arising from ethnicity, geographic location, special needs, language difficulties, learning difficulties, age, sexual orientation, or disability - and should be reflected in landlords' tenant participation strategies and in the requirements for registration of tenants groups. See below.
21. Landlords should observe good practice in delivering equal opportunities for all participants and should ensure that they have a strategy which is wholly inclusive of their tenants. This should include, for example, those in supported and sheltered accommodation, newly housed and young tenants and tenants in temporary accommodation.
Role of the Regulator
22. Communities Scotland has the role of regulating and inspecting social landlords on behalf of Scottish Ministers and this function will be carried out in line with national Performance Standards jointly published by Communities Scotland, CoSLA and SFHA. These Standards have been issued to all social sector landlords and can be viewed on Communities Scotland website. http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/communities/upload/perform-stands.pdf Assessing landlords' performance in relation to tenant participation will be a key feature of Communities Scotland regulation and inspection function.
23. All landlords inspected by Communities Scotland will be required to demonstrate that they are achieving the following Performance Standard:
"We have published and are implementing a sound strategy for encouraging and supporting tenants, residents and service users to participate actively in all areas of our work. We support tenants who take an active interest in managing their homes."
24. The inspection process will examine how well the landlord's participation strategy is being implemented in practice. Guidance on the inspection process can be found on Communities Scotland website: http://www.inspection.communitiesscotland.gov.uk /
The New Legislation: Implementation
25. The aim of the tenant participation sections of the Act is to create a statutory framework for tenant participation to take place. It does this by setting out a range of duties on landlords to: develop and implement a tenant participation strategy; set up arrangements for the registration of tenants groups; and to consult with tenants groups and individual tenants on a range of issues.
26. The duties in the Act should not be seen as an end in themselves, but rather as a baseline for developing ongoing work. We acknowledge that developing and maintaining good tenant participation strategies requires a high level of commitment, not least as this is not a one-off activity, but an ongoing management responsibility which will become more refined as experience and practice develops.
27. The duties on landlords to register tenants groups, prepare tenant participation strategies and consult on service levels should be seen as mutually reinforcing. The aim is to develop a platform on which successful and meaningful tenant participation can be built.
28. Meaningful participation requires the landlord to engage with tenants from agenda setting at the start of the process right through to decision making. Final decisions will, of course, always rest with the landlord, but tenants need to be empowered to influence decisions and, in particular, to have access to decision makers. Landlords should not confuse this with straightforward market research techniques, although these too have their place. In the case of RSLs, it is not enough simply to have tenants on the committee. There needs to be active engagement with tenants organisations and other interested tenants.
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