Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill (Detailed)

Living Rent is Scotland’s tenants’ union. We are a democratic organisation run by and for our members.

We organise and represent our members in the private and social rented sector.

We fight for safe, secure and affordable housing for everyone. We are not affiliated to any political party.

The pandemic reminded us of the vital importance of a safe, quality and affordable home: housing is health. Given this reminder as well as the need to ensure everyone's right to housing, we believe that it is crucial to take into account tenants' circumstances and needs as well as the potential consequences of eviction on tenants' health and wellbeing. Making all grounds for evictions in the private sector discretionary ensures this. This is why Living Rent supports making all grounds for eviction discretionary.

Pre-action requirements are one step to ensure that the tenants' well being is prioritised and that all measures possible are considered to enable a tenant to sustain their tenancy. We believe that pre-action requirements should be strengthened, by having clearer early interventions, requiring the landlord to liaise with the local council if ever a tenancy is at risk and enabling multiple sources of support for tenants to help them sustain their tenancies (local tenants' union, straightforward access to emergency grants, locally or nationally, other relevant support to stay in their home).
However, we do not think pre-action requirements alone are enough to protect tenants' housing rights and thus they should be considered within broader policies and support to ensure that tenants' right to housing is upheld.