Operation of the homeless persons legislation in Scotland: quarters ending 30 June and 30 September 2011 (including households in temporary accommodation at 31 December 2011)

Notifications received under Section 11 of the homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003

Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003, which came into force on 1 April 2009, gives local authorities early notice of households at risk of homelessness due to eviction. Landlords and creditors are required to inform local authorities when they raise proceedings for possession of a property or serve certain other notices which would put the household at risk of homelessness due to eviction.

A notice will not necessarily lead to an eviction. The requirement on landlords and creditors under section 11 aims to ensure that local authorities are alerted at an early stage to households at risk of homelessness due to eviction. Local authorities may then be able to take action to prevent homelessness occurring and use information gathered in the notices to inform strategic planning within homelessness services and prevention activity to assist those facing the threat of homelessness.

In the quarter ending 31 December 2011, councils received notifications of 4,918 households at risk of homelessness due to eviction, a large increase compared to 2,208 in the same period in 2010^[2]. There were 5,761 notifications in the quarter ending 30 September 2011 and 4,990 in the quarter ending 30 June 2011. Over the period, there were increases in notifications by landlords and creditors. In the quarter ending 31 December 2011,

• notifications by housing associations increased to 934 - an increase of 179 (+23%) over the same quarter in 2010;
• notifications by private landlords increased to 103 - an increase of 15 (+17%), and;
• notifications by creditors increased to 3,881 - an increase of 2,516 (+184%),.

36. Whilst October to December 2010 was atypically low due to the recent Supreme Court judgement, notifications from creditors are now running at almost double the level seen in 2010. However this rise in notifications from creditors has not led to an increase in homelessness as a result of mortgage arrears. As noted in the earlier section of this report on previous circumstances and reasons for homelessness, applications because of mortgage default have more than halved compared with the same period one year ago.

37. It is possible that the contrast between the high level of notifications from creditors and marked fall in numbers homeless because of mortgage default is due to continuing issues faced by creditors following a Supreme Court Judgement in November 2010 which caused delays in repossession cases throughout 2011.

Chart 14: