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Repair, Improvement and Demolition of Houses
55. A local authority will have the power to serve a work notice requiring the owner of a house to carry out work on it, either as part of the implementation of a Housing Renewal Area action plan or to bring any sub-standard house into, or to keep it in, a reasonable state of repair. "Sub-standard" covers houses that fail the tolerable standard or are in serious disrepair or in need of repair such that, if action is not taken, the condition is likely to deteriorate rapidly into serious disrepair or to cause damage to any other premises. The work notice will replace the current repair notice and improvement order under the 1987 Act, thus streamlining procedures. It will no longer automatically create a requirement to provide grant (see paragraph 84 below).
56. A local authority will have the power to serve a demolition notice in relation to a house that is identified in an HRA action plan as a house in serious disrepair that ought to be demolished. This order will require the owner to demolish the house. (The power to make a demolition order in relation to houses that do not meet the tolerable standard under section 115 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 remains.)
Scottish Executive approach
57. Implementation of this aspect of the Act will be taken forward by a team in Communities Scotland.
58. The key steps in implementation will be
- working with stakeholders to develop guidance that explains the changes from current procedures and the operation of the new framework
- issuing guidance to local authorities.
59. Powers are provisionally estimated to be in place between mid-2007 and early 2008.
Local authority role
60. If the owner of a house fails to comply with a work notice or demolition notice, local authorities will be able to carry out the work or demolition (and certain other work that may be found to be necessary) and recover their expenses. In the case of a house that is below the tolerable standard, this means that a local authority will be able to improve such a house without, as is the case at the moment, having to acquire it. A local authority will have power to acquire a house and its site where it is authorised by section 35 to demolish it.
61.There will be a power to suspend a work notice if the local authority believes that carrying out the work is likely to be detrimental to the health of any resident of the house.
Local authority preparation
62. It is expected that ending the link between statutory notices and mandatory grant (to be replaced by mandatory assistance) will lead to more notices being served on houses requiring repair and improvement. Local authorities will have to ensure that they have sufficient skilled and trained staff in place to deal with this new situation, bearing in mind that there will be some streamlining from the fact that they will no longer issue separate repair notices and improvement orders.
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