On 16th September 2024, the Scottish Housing Regulator issued a consultation document with the proposed specific indicators on tenant and resident safety and for the appropriate monitoring of the effectiveness of landlords’ approach to managing reports and instances of damp and mould. SHR also invited views on the continuing appropriateness of existing ARC indicators.
A summary of the changes that the Regulator is proposing to make to the ARC, along with a full list of the indicators and the changes being proposed, is available on their website; also provided is a version of the Technical Guidance with the SHR proposals shown in tracked changes.
We have summarised the tenant and resident safety elements here:
SHR propose to continue to collect the following:
Indicator 11: How many times in the reporting year did you not meet your statutory obligations to complete a gas safety check within 12 months of a gas appliance being fitted or its last check?
SHR also proposes to collect the following NEW indicators;
Electrical Safety: How many times in the reporting year did you not meet the requirement to complete an electrical safety inspection (EICR) within five years of the last EICR?
This is proposed in order to measure any incidences where landlords do not meet the requirement set out in the Tolerable Standard to carry out an EICR within five years of the last EICR. Landlords will be asked to provide a reason/s for any such incidences.
Fire Safety: Number of homes that do not have ‘satisfactory equipment for detecting fire and giving warning in the event of fire or suspected fire’ installed at the year end.
This is proposed to measure how many homes do not meet the requirement set out in the Tolerable Standard to install satisfactory smoke and heat alarms. Landlords will be asked to provide a reason/s for any such incidences.
Damp & Mould
Issues of damp and mould continue to be an important area of concern for tenants. Most social homes in Scotland are of good quality, but where issues with damp and mould arise, it is important that they are dealt with effectively and quickly. Landlords will want to make sure they understand the prevalence of these issues across their stock and the reasons for this. The root cause of damp and mould can vary and in some cases can be complex. But regardless of the causes, mould spores can pose a danger to heath, especially for young children, older people or people with existing skin and respiratory conditions or weaker immune systems. So it is important that landlords have assurance that they are dealing with any reported cases of damp and mould quickly and effectively.
SHR propose three new indicators on damp and mould:
- Average length of time taken to resolve cases of damp and/or mould;
- Percentage of resolved cases of damp and/or mould that were reopened; and
- Number of open cases of damp and/or mould at the year end.
This would mean landlords reporting on the following:
- Number of cases of damp and/or mould that were resolved within the reporting year
- Number of resolved cases of damp and/or mould that were reopened (within 12 months)
- Total number of working days to resolve cases of damp and/or mould
- Number of open cases of damp and/or mould as at 31 March each year.
SHR aim to confirm the revised ARC indicators by January 2025 with the new ARC being in place for collection year 2025/26.
The Scottish Housing Regulator would welcome general feedback on their proposals as well as answers to the specific questions that they have raised. You can read the consultation paper online or download the full consultation package including the annexes by clicking the link above.