Most landlords make it easy to find out how to contact them in an emergency, says Regulator’s Tenant Advisors
Work carried out by the Scottish Housing Regulator’s Tenant Advisors has concluded that most landlords make it easy for tenants to find the information they need to report an emergency.
A review by the Advisors found that most landlords make clear, straightforward information available on their websites for tenants. However, in some cases Tenant Advisors were not able to find emergency contact information.
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Tenant Advisors looked at 36 landlords - 28 registered social landlords (RSLs) and eight local authorities. They found that all 36 had a website and that it was easy to find emergency contact numbers on 30 out of 36 of these. They also found clear links on the home page of 22 landlord websites to emergency contact information.
The Regulator also found the vast majority of landlords have a website. Landlords provide information to tenants in a variety of ways. Accessing information online is an important way for tenants to get the information they need about their landlord.
The Regulator is engaging with some landlords to follow up on the findings.
Margaret Sharkey, assistant director of regulation, said: “It’s important that tenants can find out how to contact their landlord quickly if they need to in an emergency. So, it’s good news that our Tenant Advisors found most landlords they looked at made it easy to find straightforward information about how to do this.
“These are positive findings, but some landlords have more to do to improve the availability of emergency contact information for tenants. Alongside the findings, we’ve shared some of the things our Tenant Advisors told us they considered to be positive practice from the sector for landlords to consider in improving the availability of emergency contact information for tenants.”
Landlords were chosen to reflect the variety of social landlords operating across the sector in Scotland such as large and small, urban and rural and those with supported client groups.
Tenant Advisors are independent, volunteer tenants who the Regulator works with as one of the ways it brings a tenant perspective to its work.