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Scottish council sent out more than 100 possession notices for arrears in June
Aberdeenshire Council started the process of evicting more than 100 households who had built up rent arrears in June this year, data published by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has revealed.
Of the 245 notices of proceedings sent by Scottish social landlords for arrears in June, 104 (42%) were sent by Aberdeenshire Council.
Aberdeenshire was the only council to send out possession notices during this period. Link Housing Association sent out the second highest number of notices (37), followed by Langstane Housing Association (10).
In April, the Scottish government introduced emergency legislation which extended the eviction notice period given to tenants to six months for arrears cases and three months for anti-social behaviour cases. The government recently announced it intends to extend these provisions until March 2021.
Scottish landlords are still able to serve tenants with a notice of proceedings but have to wait for the given notice period before filing a claim with the court.
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Rob Simpson, head of housing at Aberdeenshire Council, said: “We halted eviction procedures for a number of months in recognition of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Over that time our focus has very much been on providing advice and support for tenants to help manage debts and ensure sustainable tenancies.
“Where tenants have not engaged with us or we’ve been unable to find a way forward, we’re now at a stage where notices are being issued. This does not mean that we will proceed to eviction, though. We continue to work with tenants to try and find sustainable solutions.
“Scottish government guidance allows us a six-month notice period before any action needs to be taken, and it is our hope that we can resolve more cases before the point that eviction becomes necessary.”
In addition to the 245 possession notices sent by social landlords in June due to arrears, a further 33 were sent due to anti-social behaviour or criminal activity and nine were sent for other reasons.
Court action was initiated on 30 occasions by various social landlords and one property was obtained via court action by River Clyde Homes.
The SHR’s data also revealed that Edinburgh Council failed to offer temporary accommodation to those who needed it on 82 occasions between April and June this year.
Glasgow Council failed to offer temporary accommodation 18 times and Fife Council failed to offer it four times. No other local authority reported if it had failed to offer temporary accommodation.
The use of temporary accommodation soared in Scotland during the COVID-19 crisis as the government ordered that everyone sleeping on the streets should be placed in emergency accommodation such as hotels.
Kate Campbell, housing, homelessness and fair work convener at Edinburgh City Council, said: "When faced with complex cases we can’t always offer a temporary accommodation option which suits someone’s needs immediately, especially when that presentation is ‘out of hours’ – so usually late at night or early in the morning. We will always do our utmost to accommodate where possible and in most instances find an appropriate place for them the very next day.
“The number of times we’ve failed to accommodate people immediately has come down significantly from previous years. This is because we’ve been working hard to increase the number of short stay places we have that are suitable for people who have multiple and complex needs and may also have challenging behaviour."
