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Annex A: Draft Equality Impact Assessment for the Housing (Scotland) Bill - Private housing issues

We would like your views on this partial, draft impact assessment, which is part of the consultation on possible private housing provisions for inclusion in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. Your responses to the questions included will help us to carry out a full equalities impact assessment of the proposals.

1. Aims of the policy

2. What do we already know about the diverse needs and/or experiences of your target audience?

The proposed changes will affect private landlords and tenants and house owners, particularly those in properties with common parts.

2.1 Private tenants

About 8% of Scottish households, numbering about 233,000, live in the private rented sector and it is likely that this proportion will increase. We gathered a great deal of information in our Review of the Private Rented Sector, which included a tenant survey among other sources. The Review found that different groups of tenants have different needs and experiences and are represented in the sector in varying proportions.

• Almost 80% of licensed HMOs are occupied by students, who tend to be young (84% under 25 years old).
• About one in ten tenants have a disability or limiting long-term illness. The rate is higher in rural areas. These tenants are more likely to be dissatisfied with their home (21%).
• One in three non-white households live in the private rented sector, compared to one in fourteen white households.
• One in three non-white tenants experience problems accessing appropriate private rented housing, compared to one in five of all tenants.
• Migrant workers are highly likely to live in the private rented sector when they first arrive in Scotland.
• There are reports of migrant workers living in overcrowded, unsafe and sub-standard private rented housing, including multiply-occupied short-term lets.
• One third of households identifying as Hindu, one in five Buddhist households and a similar proportion of Muslim households lived in the private rented sector in 2001.

Question A.1: What else do we need to know about private tenants to help us to understand their diverse needs and experiences in relation to landlord registration and short-term lets, and where can we get this information?

2.2 Private landlords

More than 140,000 private landlords have applied for registration. However, many stakeholders, including landlord groups, consider that more should be done to enforce registration, to ensure that all landlords who must register do so or, if they are not fit and proper to let residential property, that they cease doing so. Our proposals would enable local authorities to enforce the system more effectively, which would benefit tenants by raising standards.

HMO licensing is also designed to benefit tenants by improving standards, including a fit and proper test for landlords. The proposal would extend this protection to more tenants. Landlords who are letting on a short-term basis should already be registered and meeting the fit and proper test.

Question A.2: Is there any information we need to know about private landlords to help us to understand their diverse needs and experiences in relation to landlord registration and short-term lets, and where can we get this information?

2.3 Private owners

Owner occupation accounts for 64% of Scotland's housing. Taken with the private rented sector, over 70% of housing in Scotland is now privately owned. While most private houses in Scotland are maintained in good condition, this is not always the case. Around 33% of Scotland's 1.64 million private sector houses require urgent repairs.

• Age - older people are over-represented in the poorest privately owned housing, but are more likely to have a greater amount of free equity in the property.
• Disability - in 2005 the Scottish Household Survey estimated that 32% of households containing at least one member with a disability only or long-term illness only resided in a property owner outright. This compares to 27% of households which contain no members with a disability/long-term illness.
• Gender - In households containing more than one adult, the highest income householder ( HIH) is more likely to be male.
  Households with a male HIH are more likely to be buying their homes, while households with a female HIH are more likely to be renting from a social landlord.
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender - although there is limited information on housing tenure for LGBT groups, one survey on housing for older LGBT people listed respondents as 64% owner occupiers, 24% social rented tenants and 8% as private rented tenants (2005)
• Race - 67% of people in Scotland aged 16 years and above live in homes which are owned either outright or with a loan or mortgage. This rate rises to over 70% for people who are Pakistani, Other White British or Indian. Ethnic minority people are less likely to be in social rented housing and more likely to be in private rented accommodation or owner occupiers.
• Religion & Belief - Analysis of 2001 census shows that of all faiths, Jews and Sikhs are most likely to be owner occupiers (75%+). Hindus (59%) and Buddhists (60%) are least likely to be home owners.

Owners are responsible for looking after their properties. Where they do not do so, local authorities have powers to take enforcement action, to ensure that properties are kept in a reasonable state of repair. Our proposals will

• give local authorities more powers to take action and support owners in relation to the maintenance of communal properties;
• ensure that owners continue to have rights of appeal against charging orders, and local authorities are able to pass on to owners the cost of registering repayment charges; and
• reflect the changing local and central government relationship, further to the Concordat, by removing the need for the Scottish Ministers to approve Housing Renewal Area ( HRA) designations; give local authorities more flexibility in providing assistance to owners who need help in relation to demolition; and clarify that the local authority can include energy efficiency measures, both in terms of identifying work needed to sub-standard houses and in what assistance it offers to owners.

Question A.3: What else do we need to know about private owners to help us to understand their diverse needs and experiences in relation to local authority powers to deal with disrepair in private houses, and where can we get this information?

3. What does the information we have tell us about how this policy might impact positively or negatively on the different groups within the target audience?

3.1 Landlord registration

We consider that enabling local authorities to enforce landlord registration more effectively will improve standards in the sector and lead to more bad landlords being removed. This will be particularly beneficial for groups with a high representation in the sector.

Questions

A.4: Do you think the changes to the landlord registration system will have a disproportionately negative impact on particular groups of people in our target audience?

A.5: If you think these proposals will have a negative impact on a particular group, why is this?

A.6: What positive impacts do you think the changes will have on particular groups of people?

A.7: What changes to these proposals would you suggest to reduce any negative impact or enhance any positive impact you have identified?

3.2 HMO licensing

Extending coverage of HMO licensing to short-term lets will improve physical and management standards in such accommodation and is likely to benefit migrant workers in particular.

Questions

A.8: Do you think the changes to HMO licensing will have a disproportionately negative impact on any group, or groups, of people?

A.9: If you think there will be an negative impact on a particular group, why is this?

A.10: What positive impacts do you think the changes will have on particular groups of people?

A.11: What changes to these proposals would you suggest to reduce any negative impact or enhance any positive impact you have identified?

3.3 Local authority powers to deal with disrepair in private houses

We consider that our proposed changes to maintenance powers, charging orders and repayment charges, and enforcement powers will give local authorities increased and more appropriate powers to support, and compel owners where necessary, to carry out their responsibilities in relation to home ownership.

Questions

A.12: Do you think the changes to the enforcement and assistance powers will have a disproportionately negative impact on particular groups of people in our target audience?

A.13: If you think these proposals will have a negative impact on a particular group, why is this?

A.14: What positive impacts do you think the changes will have on particular groups of people?

A.15: What changes to these proposals would you suggest to reduce any negative impact or enhance any positive impact you have identified?

4. Does the policy provide the opportunity to promote equality of opportunity or good relations?

Yes. The position of private tenants will be improved by better enforcement of landlord registration and higher standards for multiply-occupied houses that currently fall outside HMO licensing. Improving living standards will particularly benefit groups with higher representation in the sector - young people, migrant workers, people from ethnic minorities and religious minority groups - helping to protect their rights and wellbeing and promoting equality of opportunity.

5. Do we need to carry out a further impact assessment?

This initial draft impact assessment forms part of the consultation on the possible private housing issues for inclusion in the Bill. We do not have all the answers and we would particularly welcome your comments on the questions above. We would also welcome any other views you have about how (a) the changes to the landlord registration system, (b) the change to HMO licensing, and (c) the changes to local authority powers to deal with disrepair in private housing will affect equal opportunities for all groups of people.

Question A.16: When we complete our impact assessment of the changes to landlord registration, HMO licensing and the local authority powers to deal with disrepair in private housing, are there any other significant issues we need to consider in relation to:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Sexual orientation (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender [ LGBT])
• Race
• Religion and belief?

We will publish the full impact assessment when the Housing Bill becomes law.

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