Opinion

As part of Scottish Housing News’ new Our Housing Heritage series, Lauren Brown considers the impact of John Wheatley on social housing. It is fitting that today the memory of John Wheatley is kept alive by the eponymous giant Glasgow-based housing group. For it was this Irish-born immigrant t

In 2018/19, 1,822 homeless applications were recorded as having been from people leaving prison, which represents five per cent of the total. It is likely that this figure does not represent the full scale of the problem, with applicants often unwilling to reveal their background. With discussion ar

Waiving the immigration health surcharge is the helping hand that migrant NHS workers really require, argues Mark Lazarowicz. The current coronavirus crisis has highlighted the reliance that the national health service, along with other public services, places on migrants and other ethnic minority d

The sector should be assured that the housing market will return at some point, as it always does, writes Eric Curran. Property professionals who have been in the front line for a long period of time tend to become slightly battle-hardened and take the view that, whatever crisis comes around th

Paul Brown and Ben Christman from the Legal Services Agency (LSA) discuss the impact of the current public health emergency on human rights.

Legal Services Agency trainee solicitor Shaun McPhee discusses the effect of COVID-19 on housing law. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 is now law. It brings major changes to housing law and practice, which will impact a large number of tenants for the foreseeable future. The emergency provisions

Rona Macleod, a solicitor and associate at the Legal Services Agency (LSA), considers the case against Serco’s lock-change evictions post-Ali.  For around eighteen months Legal Services Agency have been challenging lock change evictions in Glasgow Sheriff Court. We raised one of the first

The staff and boards of the local housing associations (Ardenglen, Craigdale, Cassiltoun, North View and Thenue) are proud to be part of Castlemilk Together, and working alongside the community to support our most vulnerable people at this challenging time.

David Bookbinder takes aim at the Health and Safety Executive’s “stubborn” and “unrealistic” approach to gas safety checks. When this is all over, we’ll all give thought to what our own actions and reactions were to the crisis, and the actions of other agencies. F

Kelly Fraser offers advice for Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) who may be wondering how to deal with governance issues, including the requirements to convene meetings, during the current coronavirus pandemic. The main question is whether it is necessary to hold a general meeting. There is no expr

The response from the homelessness sector to COVID-19 continues at pace. Assessing whether the measures introduced in the past two weeks are the right ones, and what aspects we might want to retain, must be guided by people with expertise both as practitioners and through their own lived experience,

Kelly Fraser outlines changes to the way public bodies respond to freedom of information requests as part of the emergency COVID-19 law. The new Coronavirus (Scotland) Act which passed the Scottish Parliament on 1 April 2020, contains provisions to extend the deadlines under the Freedom of Informati

We have all heard the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” and it seems very appropriate in the rental market at this extremely difficult time, writes Stephanie Zak. Landlords must, of course, seek to help tenants who are struggling to pay – by offering rent holidays or other conc

TC Young's Jim Bauld outlines what the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act means for antisocial tenants. The Scottish Parliament has moved to pass emergency legislation to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 is now on the statute books.

Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Michael Henderson issues a guide for landlords on managing relationships with tenants during the current crisis. Landlords and tenants alike are under extreme pressure to maintain their obligations under commercial lease terms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restriction