HOUSING BILL RECEIVES QUALIFIED SUPPORT AT STAGE 1

 8 June 2010

The reform of laws on the right to buy social housing and HMO licensing came one step closer today as the Local Government and Communities Committee gave qualified support to the Housing (Scotland) Bill in its stage 1 report.

Read the committee's report

The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to tighten up housing legislation on social landlords and reform the right to buy social housing as well as amending the law on registering private landlords, licensing houses of multiple occupation and disrepair in private housing.

While the committee agrees with the general principles of the Bill, it did highlight areas of concern regarding the complexity of private and social housing legislation and the provisions in the Bill actually tackling the problem of “rogue landlords”.

Committee Convener Duncan McNeil MSP said: “Although the committee agrees with the general principles of the Bill, we believe it would have been more effective if the Scottish Government had wrapped up the legislation contained in this Housing (Scotland) Bill with that planned for the private sector bill, due to be introduced later this session.

"We are unconvinced by the Government’s arguments that urgency on HMO licensing and private landlords justified two separate bills.

“We are also concerned that there’s been no additional incentive for local authorities to prosecute rogue landlords who don’t register and it doesn’t appear the Bill will address this.”

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