Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 - converting tenancies: equality impact assessment

Executive summary

Scottish Ministers have committed to further reform of the rented sectors as part of delivering their vision and commitments for housing as set out in Housing to 2040^[1], the Bute House Agreement shared policy programme^[2] and consulted on as part of our New Deal for Tenants: Draft Rented Sector Strategy^[3]. The 2023/24 Programme for Government^[4] commits to a Housing Bill that will help to deliver the legislative changes required.

The Scottish Government sought views on the proposal to convert 1988 Act tenancies in the 'Landlord and tenant engagement questionnaire on the rented sector reform', issued on 29 September 2023. The questionnaire asked for views on whether short assured and assured tenancies under the 1988 Act should be phased out. 71% of those answering the question agreed with the proposal. Support for the proposal was strongest amongst tenants. However, a smaller majority of landlords and landlord organisations also supported the proposal. The independent analysis of the questionnaire is published on the Scottish Government website^[5]. Over the course of the consultation, 123 emails were also received from the public as well as stakeholder organisations related to the rented sector aspects of the Bill. An analysis of the email responses is also available^[6].

The proposed changes will support tenants with tenancies under the 1988 Act to benefit from further protections.

This document sets out the results of the equality impact assessment on converting 1988 Act tenancies. It is one of a number of equality impact assessments carried out on the policy changes included in the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

EQIA is an ongoing process, and therefore will be reviewed as new evidence comes to light. We will continue to engage with our stakeholders and will regularly review the EQIA record and results following the data review and subsequent analyses.