Affordable Rented Housing: Creating flexibility for landlords and better communities

The Scottish Government published this consultation in February 2012 and set out 10 proposals:

1. To replace the existing ‘reasonable preference’ categories for housing allocations (currently including homeless households) with a requirement to give reasonable preference to people whose needs are not met by the private housing market, or to other applicants where this would release housing for such people.  Government will still determine priority groups that every landlord must include in their allocations policy;
2. to allow social landlords to take income into account when deciding their priority for housing;
3. to allow social landlords to take an applicant’s home ownership into account when deciding their priority for housing;
4. Change the law to stop living rooms being considered as rooms available for sleeping in;
5. Create a qualifying period before anyone can succeed to the tenancy;
6. Create the flexibility for social landlords to consider previous antisocial behaviour when deciding an applicant’s priority for housing;
7. Create the flexibility to allow a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy (SST) to be granted in more cases of antisocial behaviour;
8. Simplifying the eviction process where another courts has already considered antisocial behaviour by a tenant or their household;
9. Creating an initial tenancy for all new affordable rented housing tenants; and
10. Allow social landlords to use Short SSTs to let intermediate rented housing.