Landlord registration: consultation on a review of applications and fees

Annex A: Evidence relating to property condition

The Scottish House Condition Survey 2016 found that 48% of private rented sector households lived in houses with some disrepair to critical elements of the building e.g. roof; external walls; foundations; wet/dry rot and 24% lived in houses with problems of critical and urgent disrepair which, if not put right, would cause the fabric of the building to deteriorate further and/or place the health and safety of the occupier at risk. The survey also found that 2% of privately rented houses failed the basic requirements of the Tolerable Standard, meaning that they were not deemed fit for human habitation.

Another indicator of the problems associated with poor property condition is the referrals made to the sheriff court prior to 1 ^st December 2016 and, after then, to the First-tier Tribunal ( FTT) by tenants who believe the property they rent does not meet the Repairing Standard. The Repairing Standard, contained in Part 1 Chapter 4 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 covers the legal and contractual obligations of private landlords to ensure that a property meets minimum physical standards. Private landlords have a legal duty to ensure that rented properties meet the repairing standard at the start of the tenancy and at all times during the tenancy.

Table 1 gives a breakdown of 319 applications referred to the sheriff court in 2015, by issue type. The % figures total more than 100 as some of the applications included multiple problems.

Table 1.