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Tolerable Standard
37. The tolerable standard will continue to be the basic condemnatory standard for Scottish housing. Section 11 of the Act amends the criteria of the tolerable standard in three regards. In order to meet the standard a house will have to have satisfactory thermal insulation. It is recognised that, in modern circumstances, this is necessary for the proper functioning of a house. Furthermore, where a house has an electricity supply, the electrical wiring and associated components will have to be safe. Finally, the Act confirms that a waterless closet is an acceptable alternative to a water closet.
38. The Act gives Ministers powers to issue guidance on the interpretation of all the tolerable standard criteria (not just the new ones) and local authorities must have regard to such guidance. This will promote consistency in the interpretation of the tolerable standard throughout Scotland.
39. A local authority will be able to deal with an individual house below the tolerable standard by issuing a work notice, rather than an improvement order under the 1987 Act. This will no longer automatically create a requirement to provide grant (see paragraph 84 below). Such houses and other sub-standard houses will be dealt with on an area basis by the declaration of a Housing Renewal Area, rather than a Housing Action Area.
Scottish Executive approach
40. Implementation of this aspect of the Act will be taken forward by a team in Communities Scotland.
41. The key steps in implementation will be
- working with an expert team to draw up statutory and non-statutory guidance covering definitions of the tolerable standard criteria, assessment methodology and working with the standard
- issuing guidance.
42. The amended tolerable standard and guidance are provisionally estimated to be in place between mid-2007 and early 2008.
Local authority role
43. The importance of the local authority role in dealing with houses that fail the tolerable standard is emphasised by a new duty regarding the Local Housing Strategy. This must include a strategy to ensure that the local authority complies with its duty to ensure that such houses in its area are closed, demolished or brought up to the standard within a reasonable period. The guidance to be issued by the Executive will make it easier for local authorities to identify houses below the tolerable standard. For example, it is intended that the guidance will define "wholesome water" (as referred to in section 86(1)(d) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987) in terms of the Scottish drinking water regulations, thus setting limits for concentrations of lead and other substances.
Local authority preparation
44. The changes to the tolerable standard mean that there will be more houses failing to meet the standard than at the moment. It is estimated that the number will rise from about 20,000 to about 65,000, depending on the detailed guidance on definitions. Local authorities should therefore start planning how to deal with this increased number, including the allocation of resources and how to ensure they have suitable skills available.
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