Scottish Government opens consultation on review of Social Housing Charter

Following the consultation, the government plans to develop an updated version of the Charter and ask the Scottish Parliament to consider the changes and approve a revised Charter from April 2022. 

The Charter was introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, which requires ministers to set standards and outcomes that social landlords should be achieving for tenants and other customers through their housing activities. It also requires Ministers to review the Charter standards and outcomes from time to time with the last review being undertaken in 2016.

The Charter sets the outcomes and standards that all social landlords should be achieving for their tenants and other customers through their housing activities.

Its purpose is to:

• give tenants, homeless people and other customers a clear understanding of what they should expect from a social landlord
• give landlords a clear understanding of what they should be delivering through their housing activities
• provide the basis for the Scottish Housing Regulator to monitor, assess and report on the performance of social landlords, and if necessary to require compliance with the Charter, and, through the Regulator’s reports:
• give landlords the information they need to achieve continuous improvements in their performance and in the value for money they provide
• give tenants and other customers information on how their landlord is performing in relation to other landlords, so that they can actively engage with their landlord in discussions about performance.

Written responses to the consultation paper are invited by September 9.