Fire and smoke alarms in Scottish homes consultation: partial business and regulatory impact assessment

7. Enforcement, Sanctions and Monitoring

The Scottish Social Housing Charter seeks assurance from social landlords that their homes comply with the Scottish Housing Quality Standard ( SHQS). The Scottish Housing Regulator has a statutory role to monitor landlords' performance against this target. The Regulator sets out in its regulatory framework how it will make decisions about engaging with landlords.

The Scottish Government's view is that the Regulator provides sufficient oversight for any change to the standard required in respect of fire and smoke alarms in social housing.

Owner occupied housing – options for enforcement in private housing are outlined in the consultation document. They include existing local authority powers to take action if houses fall below the tolerable standard and owners being required to provide assurance at point of sale.

Tenements or blocks of flats – an option to introduce a duty on owners of tenements to provide evidence of compliance with a standard for fire and smoke alarms is included in the consultation document.

Other options are outlined in the consultation document. Responses to questions posed will help inform appropriate enforcement in each case, and will be reflected in the final BRIA.