Scottish Housing Quality Standard

On 4 February 2004, the Minister for Communities announced a cross-tenure Scottish Housing Quality Standard in line with the Partnership Agreement to introduce a Decent Homes Standard for Scotland.

The Minister set 2015 as the target date for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to achieve the Standard and asked landlords to submit Standard Delivery Plans (SDPs) for meeting the Standard to Communities Scotland by April 2005.

For local authorities not on the Community Ownership Programme (COP), the process of preparing a Standard Delivery Plan will be closely linked to the process of carrying out an Options Appraisal as part of entry to COP. Councils will have to carry out an Option Appraisal based on stock condition information to determine whether they can afford to borrow to fund their investment needs. 

To meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, according to the Delivery Plan Guidance, a dwelling must be:

• Compliant with the Tolerable Standard

• Free from serious disrepair

• Energy Efficient

• Provided with modern facilities and services

• Healthy, safe and secure. 

All repair, maintenance and improvement works must comply with the Scottish Building Standards. 

For local authorities with housing stock, there are 3 options available for meeting the standard:

1. Full stock retention
2. Partial stock transfer
3. Full stock transfer.