Housing Forum

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 placed a new duty on local authorities to produce a Local Housing Strategy (LHS) which forms an action plan for housing over the next 5 to 10 years. The responsibility for the LHS lies within the Council's Housing Strategy Team which is part of the Social Work department.

Local Housing Strategy

The LHS pinpoints actions that the Council and its partners intend to put into place to enhance the quality and supply of housing in the Scottish Borders. The Strategy was based upon research carried out by the Housing Strategy Team. After extensive public consultation, the LHS was submitted to Communities Scotland for approval on 30 April 2004. Copies of the LHS are available from the Housing Strategy Team or from the Scottish Borders Housing Forum (SBHF) website, where subsequent/annual updates will be also be posted (this link will take you to another site).

The LHS is not a static document and future updates will reflect the dynamic nature of the Borders' housing market. The main focus of the team's current workload is the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the LHS Action Plan.

Scottish Borders Housing Forum Website

The Team also maintains the Scottish Borders Housing Forum website, which contains:

a comprehensive "Guide to Housing Options" providing housing information and advice relating to all aspects of housing
information on all social housing providers operating in the area
regularly updated relevant news items.

Energy Efficiency

The promotion of domestic energy efficiency is also part of the remit of the Housing Strategy Team. This work includes:

raising awareness of ways in which people can save money, energy and the environment
raising awareness of available grants
working with the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre in Edinburgh

Further information can be found in our Guide To Housing Options.

Private Rented Sector

The Team is currently developing a range of initiatives aimed at Private Sector Landlords. These include:

establishing a Private Landlords Forum
actively promoting a voluntary Accreditation Scheme
raising awareness of new legislation affecting the sector.

From 30 April 2006, all private landlords will have to be registered with the local authority in which they rent residential property. Online applications can be submitted by logging onto the Landlord Registration (Scotland) website.

Landlord registration is part of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. All private landlords will provide their name, address and contact details and the addresses of their properties for the public register. Although the register is available to the public, the information is limited. There are a number of benefits to registration for both the landlord and the tenant.

The main benefit for landlords is that they will be able to access the services of the Council's Antisocial Behaviour Unit free of charge to assist with antisocial behaviour within private rented tenancies.

If you are a private landlord please note the following:

If you use a letting agent and you are registering your property independently online please obtain your agents registration reference prior to logging on. This will enable the system to recognise your agent.

If you are a tenant farmer who has tied and private rented accommodation please delay your application as we still await confirmation from the Scottish Executive regarding your position. We will update you as soon as we know the decision.

For further information log onto the Scottish Executive's (external) housing website. The Council's Housing Strategy Team are implementing the scheme and have completed a successful series of Information Sessions across the Scottish Borders. The Team have produced a comprehensive information pack which can be downloaded from this web page.

The Council's Private Sector Research and Liaison Officer is Nicola Galloway.

Contact list for landlord registration
The implication of the Housing (Scotland) Act for Private Landlords
Background to the Housing (Scotland) Act
Private Landlords forum

Contact Details

Housing Strategy Team
Social Work
Old School Buildings
Council HQ
Newtown St. Boswells
TD6 0SA