Opinion

Crowd listening to the welcome speeches A new permanent public artwork by artist Liz Peden of Gorbals Arts Project was unveiled last week in the Gorbals.

Castle Rock Edinvar’s community art project with Edinburgh College of Art’s Graphic Design department has completed three further installations. This initiative will see four vandalism hotspots and a neglected area of grass across Castle Rock Edinvar sites transformed with new artwork. Residents

Bryan Finlay Bryan Finlayson outlines the consensus seen in Holyrood, that social housing has a large role to play in lifting Scotland out of the housing "crisis".

Danny Lafferty Danny Lafferty highlights the problems arising from the complexity for landlords of new carbon and energy performance regulations to be introduced this year.

James Jack James Jack, Associate at law firm Burness Paull has produced a detailed briefing note on the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.

North Star Housing Group’s Angela Lockwood remembers a meeting between an MP and supported housing service user that crystallises the importance of these services. I recall one very cold winter’s day some years ago, near to Christmas, when we decided to have an official opening of our new learni

James Battye There is fear that the UK government’s latest round of immigration reforms could increase discrimination against some people wanting to rent privately and ride roughshod over Scottish housing law.

Dr Beth Watts speaking at The Rock Trust’s youth homelessness conference After addressing the international youth homelessness conference organised by The Rock Trust, Dr Beth Watts summarises her take on what the priorities should be in developing services for young people at risk of or experienci

Patrice Fabien Patrice Fabien, a partner at BTO Solicitors specialising in social housing, details the implications of Scottish RSLs being reclassified as public sector bodies.

Sean McLaughlin With November's fuel poverty targets set to be missed, pressure needs to be applied to the Scottish Government to deliver a Warm Homes Bill to tackle Scotland's 1.5m cold homes, says Sean McLaughlin, managing director of Matilda’s Planet.

Mike Basquill After winning most seats in the Scottish parliamentary election, but not a majority, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have decided to form a minority administration. Mike Basquill, UK residential associate director at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) estimates what th

Paul Stewart Paul Stewart blogs about his experiences volunteering on Shelter Scotland’s Digital Advice Team.

Ellie Hutchinson By Ellie Hutchinson, private renting project manager at Shelter Scotland

Major changes to the tenancy laws in Scotland will give more security to tenants, but also produce hazards for landlords, write Lucy Harington and Louise McAlister from the Commercial Dispute Resolution Team at TLT LLP. The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act will commence in stages later thi

Ashley Campbell Ashley Campbell, policy and practice manager at CIH Scotland, blogs about newly commissioned research on mid-market rent, in partnership with Wheatley Group.