Scottish Social Housing Charter

The Scottish Social Housing Charter sets the standards and outcomes that all social landlords should aim to achieve when performing their housing activities.

Before submitting the Charter for approval, the Scottish Government completed a long consultation. Many of our tenants were involved in this process and our Tenant Participation Promotion Team (TPPT) agreed a joint response with the council.

The Charter was approved by the Scottish Government on 14th March 2012 and is effective from 1st April 2012.

Purpose of the Charter

The Charter will help to improve the quality and value of services that social landlords provide. It will do so by stating clearly what tenants and other customers can expect from the council with regard to our Housing Service.

By tenants and other customers, we mean current and future tenants, homeless people, and other people who use our housing services; such as owners in tenement and 4-in-a-block properties who pay a service charge, and gypsy travellers who use our site at Greenbanks and / or future transit sites.

Focusing the council’s efforts on achieving the outcomes that matter to our tenants and customers.

Establishing a basis for the Scottish Housing Regulator to assess and report on how well landlords are performing. This assessment will form the basis of how our Housing service is regulated, identifying areas of strong performance and areas needing improvement.

The Regulator's reports will also make sure public investment in new social housing only goes to landlords assessed as performing well.

The Charter replaces the performance standards set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. It does not replace any of the legal duties that apply to the council, but in several cases the outcomes describe the results that the council should achieve in meeting our legal duties.