Earlier this year (27 September) Glasgow City Council launched a new document - the Consultation Draft Older Private Housing Strategy - that outlines how the Council will implement new provisions regarding the city’s pre-1919 housing stock as a result of the Housing Act (Scotland) 2006.

The Act will result in major changes in the Council's programmes for older private housing, in particular the need for owners to take more responsibility for the repair and maintenance of their property, with less use of grant.  The strategy will outline how changes in housing law will affect people living in over 70,000 older properties in Glasgow, and how to participate in the public consultation on the strategy.

These changes are very significant, given that around 74,000 of existing dwellings - around 30% of all homes - in Glasgow were built before 1919.  The Act gives local authorities the power to ensure maintenance of these older properties, and speakers at the launch will be able to explain in detail what this means for people living in older properties in Glasgow.

There will be a widespread Private Housing Strategy Consultation and a broad-based Private Housing Working Group to assist in developing new policies and programmes.  The Council’s policies will be informed by the Survey of Older Private Housing published in March 2006.

The Council's Consultation Draft Older Private Housing Strategy is a comprehensive document explaining the situation in Glasgow and discussing how the new Act could best be used. 

Glasgow City Council is very keen to make sure people in the city from the public and key stakeholders participate in the consultation.  Those interested in viewing the Consultation Draft Older Private Housing Strategy document online should visit: www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Business/Housing/HousingStrategy/Older_Private_Housing.

Printed copies of the strategy document are available by phoning the City Council’s Housing Strategy Team on 0141 287 8676.  The deadline for taking part in the strategy’s consultation has now been extended to 1 February 2008.

Councillor George Ryan, Executive Member for Development and Regeneration Services at Glasgow City Council, said: “A huge proportion of Glasgow’s homes were built before 1919, and the strategy shows how the Council can respond to the new Housing Act and ensure that such a large part of the city’s housing stock will be maintained.  These older homes are a unique and instantly recognisable part of Glasgow’s heritage.”

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 is available in full on the web at: http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/Home.aspx.

Glasgow City Council and its predecessors have a long history of action on unsatisfactory conditions in private housing.  Over the past 25 years, well over £500million has been invested in the city’s private housing through the Council, in the form of grants and loans.  The Council has also strongly supported and worked with the housing association movement in its refurbishment programmes for older tenements since 1974.

The new powers and procedures introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 are as yet untried and offer both risks and opportunities.  The Council aims to ensure that they are used as effectively as possible in order to deliver a more vigorous and effective approach to addressing problems in the city’s older private housing.

The purpose of this Consultative Draft Older Private Housing Strategy is to ensure that new policies and programmes are developed with the involvement of the full range of stakeholders, on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the problems and issues.  The Council is keen to have the widest possible response to this consultation, and public / stakeholder contributions should be submitted by 1 February 2008.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 introduces a new framework for public intervention in the maintenance and improvement of private housing.  It has been based on the work of the Housing Improvement Task Force, which produced its final report in 2003.  It is a fundamental principle of the 2006 Act that primary responsibility for maintenance and improvement of residential property lies with the owner. 

The key features of the new framework introduced by the Act are:

• Housing Action Areas (HAAs) are replaced by Housing Renewal Areas (HRAs).
• Various types of compulsory repair and improvement notices are replaced by a single Work Notice.
• The local authority will be able to issue a Maintenance Order requiring owners to prepare and implement a 5-year plan for maintenance of residential buildings.
• The duty for the local authority to provide minimum levels of grant is removed even where a compulsory Notice for repair or improvement is issued.
• People selling private houses will be required to provide a Purchaser’s Information Pack including a comprehensive physical survey and information on energy efficiency.
• The local authority is required to produce strategies to improve or demolish all Below Tolerable Standard houses and to use the new Scheme of Assistance to improve the condition of houses in the city, and to set out a policy for identifying Housing Renewal Areas. 

The 2006 Act follows on three Acts which together have modernised and codified the law on property ownership and maintenance obligations (Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004).  In addition, the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 introduced the statutory registration of private landlords, and a power for the local authority to issue Antisocial Behaviour Notices requiring a landlord to take reasonable steps to deal with antisocial behaviour by a tenant.