Registration with the Scottish Housing Regulator: how a social landlord joins and stays on the register
Who can register as a registered social landlord in Scotland under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, the registration criteria set by the Scottish Housing Regulator, and the standards, annual returns and assurance statements a registered social landlord must meet.
In Scotland, a housing association or other body that provides social housing is regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR), an independent body set up by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. The Regulator keeps the register of social landlords (section 20). Once you are on it you are a registered social landlord (RSL), and the Regulator monitors and reports on your performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter. Local authorities that provide housing services are not entered on the register (section 20(2)).
This is the Scottish counterpart of registration with the Regulator of Social Housing in England. The two regulators are separate.
- Who can be registered
- Non-profit body established to provide or manage houses for letting or member occupation, or hostels, in Scotland (section 24)
- Regulatory criteria
- Regulator criteria on finances, governance and housing services (section 25)
- How to apply
- Registration application form, with evidence of the constitutional requirements (section 22)
- Fee
- The Regulator's guidance does not state an application fee
- Standards after registration
- Seven Standards of Governance and Financial Management: leadership, accountability, financial management, decision-making, conduct, capability and managing change
- Scottish Social Housing Charter
- Submit an Annual Return on the Charter every year and involve tenants in scrutinising your performance
- Annual Assurance Statement
- Annual statement, due by the end of October each year
- Notifiable events
- Tell the Regulator about significant developments that affect your regulatory standing, following its guidance
- Removal from the register
- Regulator removal, after at least 14 days' notice (section 27)
- De-registration
- Application by the body itself to be de-registered (section 28)
The legislative registration criteria (section 24) cover a body that does not trade for profit and is established to provide, construct, improve or manage houses for letting, houses for member occupation, or hostels, with its activities in Scotland.
The Regulator sets criteria about your financial situation, governance and financial management arrangements, and how you provide housing services (section 25). The Regulator must consult before changing them.
Complete the Regulator's registration application form and send it with the evidence of compliance with the constitutional requirements in the Regulatory Framework (section 22). Contact the Regulator early in your development.
Submit your Annual Assurance Statement each year, by the end of October. It confirms that you meet regulatory requirements or sets out improvements, and you must make it available to tenants.
The Regulator can remove a body that no longer meets, or never met, the criteria, or has ceased to operate or to exist, after at least 14 days' notice (section 27). A body can also apply to be de-registered (section 28).
What you must do
- Read the Regulatory Framework on the Scottish Housing Regulator's website before you apply. It sets out the constitutional requirements and the standards that every RSL must meet.
- Contact the Regulator as early as you can while you are still developing the organisation, so you know what evidence it will need.
- Submit the application form with the supporting documents. The Regulator assesses whether you can operate viably, manage the demands of social landlord business and provide adequate services to tenants.
- Once registered, report every year by submitting the Annual Return on the Charter and the Annual Assurance Statement, and make the statement public to tenants.
- Notify the Regulator of notifiable events and keep your governance, finances and services within the seven standards.
Registration with the Regulator does not replace the other duties that apply to the homes you let, such as the tolerable standard, which includes fire and carbon monoxide detection.