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Scottish Housing Regulator shifts focus to monitoring impact of coronavirus on social landlords
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has announced it will postpone the majority of its regulatory engagements as it moves its focus to “monitoring the impact of coronavirus on social landlords”.
In advice sent out to landlords today, the regulator said all housing associations, alongside local authorities which provide homelessness services, must now notify the regulator of any changes to service levels, significant service disruption or financial impact as a consequence of the outbreak. This includes any closure of offices or facilities to the public.
The SHR will be providing the Scottish government with regular situation reports, which will detail any emerging issues and serious risks to tenants and people who are homeless.
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As a result of the changes, which will come into force today, the SHR is postponing the publication of updated engagement plans planned for the end of this month for all landlords – other than the most critical cases.
All but the most critical regulatory engagements will also be postponed, in order to allow landlords and the regulator to focus on the most serious risks that emerge from the current pandemic.
Landlords will now have until the end of July to submit their annual returns on the charter, instead of the previously expected May deadline. The same applies to housing associations submitting their five-year financial projects and loan portfolio returns.
Yesterday, Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart said his government is “actively considering” how to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who are unable to pay their rent due the impact of coronavirus.
This afternoon, Scottish housing secretary Aileen Campbell announced that the government is making available an additional £350m for local authorities to help the most vulnerable during the pandemic.
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