The Scottish Government

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The Act

Background

3. The main purpose of the Act is to address, through encouragement and, where necessary, enforcement, problems of condition and quality in private sector housing, both owner-occupied and private rented (although some provisions also relate to the social rented sector). The underlying principles are that

• owners have primary responsibility for maintaining their houses, with assistance available where necessary
• landlords should provide houses that are suitable and in good condition
• in order to improve the condition of private housing

4. The approach taken is based on the work of the Housing Improvement Task Force, which was set up by Scottish Ministers in December 2000. Its remit was to consider issues relating to housing quality in the private sector and the house buying and selling process. The Task Force's first report, Issues in Improving Quality in Private Housing (2002), confirmed that, although most private sector housing is in good condition, a significant proportion is in poor repair. The Task Force published its final report and recommendations, Stewardship and Responsibility: A Policy Framework for Private Sector Housing in Scotland, in March 2003. Legislative proposals based on these recommendations were consulted on in the paper Maintaining Houses - Preserving Homes in 2004 and were widely welcomed by local authorities and other stakeholders. The Act builds on all of this work.

5. Action continues to take forward other recommendations of the Task Force that do not require legislative action, such as schemes for the voluntary accreditation of landlords.

6. Other legislation will continue to be relevant to house condition and private sector housing, particularly

• the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 , which introduced landlord registration. The 2006 Act builds on this;
• the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004. It sets out a default structure for management of common parts of tenements and clarifies owners' responsibilities; the new Act will help to ensure that owners meet their responsibilities to maintain their properties;
• the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, which clarifies the law of real burdens;
• the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, which set out a revised framework for the building standards system;
• the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982;
• local legislation; and
• those pertinent sections of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 that are not repealed by the 2006 Act.

Overview of the Act

7. The Act is in ten Parts:

• Part 1 deals with various aspects of housing standards, as explained below. Chapter 8 deals with appeals and other matters of particular interest to local authorities, including the power to carry out work or demolition by agreement with the owner; obstruction; recovery of expenses; provisions on listed buildings; certification of the completion of work; and the service of documents. Chapter 9 defines some of the terms used in Part 1 and explains that this Part is applicable to non-residential premises forming part of a building containing a house.
• Part 2 sets out the details of the scheme of assistance for housing purposes.
• Part 3 gives the Scottish Ministers powers to require sellers of houses or their agents to provide specified information to potential buyers. These powers will be used to establish mandatory schemes, under which the Purchaser's Information Pack and single survey will have to be supplied when a house is placed on the market. Ministers also have powers to require additional information to be provided to tenants of local authorities and registered social landlords who request a valuation in connection with the right to buy.
• Part 4 gives the Scottish Ministers powers to establish conditions for, and to approve, a scheme or schemes for the protection of tenancy deposits in the private rented sector.
• In Part 5 the system of licensing of houses in multiple occupation, which is presently founded in secondary legislation under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, is re-enacted in primary legislation, with some changes to its details.
• Part 6 amends legislation relating to occupiers of mobile homes who let stances, in order to increase the protection given to them.
• Part 7 gives a local authority power to use repayment charges to recover amounts due to it for certain activities carried out in relation to living accommodation.
• Part 8 contains provisions relating to private landlords, registered social landlords and home energy efficiency.
• Part 9 deals with rights of local authorities and others to enter land and premises for specified purposes, such as identifying potential Housing Renewal Areas, deciding whether to serve a work notice or demolition notice, deciding whether to make a maintenance order, or carrying out work.
• Part 10 deals with various technical matters, including equal opportunities requirements for Ministers and local authorities and powers for local authorities to obtain information in relation to land and premises.

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