Private rented housing condition standards: consultation assessment (part two)

9. Summary and Recommendations

The recommendations in Part 2 - Condition of Rented Housing in Scotland of the consultation were developed following discussions with CHQS Forum members. It concluded that to better align housing standards across tenures would help improve the quality of housing in Scotland. This consultation is the first phase in addressing the issue - it considers advancing the alignment of standards as they apply to rented housing by proposing a range of changes to the repairing standard. It will be followed by a second consultation phase later in 2017 to look at wider house condition issues.

Summary of costs and benefits

In general, we consider private landlords could build improvements into scheduled maintenance and investment plans. This would of course be dependent on sufficient lead in times being set well in advance. Where there is support for new elements being added to the repairing standard, stakeholders views will be invited on reasonable lead in periods for changes to come into force.

The estimated costs attached to adding additional elements to the repairing standard are detailed in the table on page 10. This identifies new measures and estimates costs which private landlords may incur to bring their properties up to the amended standard. Private landlords could expect to spend in total in the region of £194m over a twelve year period following the introduction of changes to the repairing standard, allowing longer timescales for changes would reduce these costs. It must be emphasised that these are rough estimates and actual costs are likely to vary. Costs for individual landlords will vary with the extent that the homes they rent already meet the repairing standard.

There will be a range of benefits as a result of improving the standard of the lowest quality PRS properties - both to the tenants and landlords of the affected properties. Tenants may experience benefits in terms of both mental and physical health as a result of living in higher quality housing, and may also experience benefits from greater equality, decreased fuel costs and improved comfort. Landlords may experience benefits from taking steps to safeguard their investment by improving the quality of their rental properties.