The Scottish Housing Regulator has today published the first annual assurance statements submitted by social landlords (Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and local authorities). The Regulator requires all RSLs and local authorities to submit an annual assurance statement by 31 October each year to confirm that they meet regulatory requirements or to set out which of the requirements they do not comply with.
The Regulator received assurance statements from 156 RSLs and 25 local authorities. The Regulator will use the statements, along with other information it has about landlords, to assess the risk each landlord presents to the interests of tenants and other people who use their services. It will then publish engagement plans for all landlords on 31 March 2020, which will include for the first time a regulatory status for each RSL.
The Regulator has committed to help landlords to embed the requirements around assurance and the annual statements. Next week it will publish a list of landlords it will visit to learn lessons from the first year of annual assurance statements, with the aim of publishing a lessons learned report in the new year.
The Regulator is now engaging with two RSLs and seven local authorities that did not submit a statement by the 31 October deadline.
Michael Cameron, the Regulator’s chief executive, commenting on the submission of the statements said, “Annual assurance statements support a culture of openness and continuous assurance, so we are pleased to publish the first statements from social landlords. We want to support landlords to effectively embed the new regulatory requirements, and we will provide feedback to landlords on their submitted statements and early next year publish a lessons learned report.”
Notes to editors
- The Scottish Housing Regulator was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. Its objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and others who use local authority and RSL housing services. The Regulator operates independently of Scottish Ministers and is accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament. It assumed its full regulatory responsibilities on 1 April 2012. The Regulator consists of the Chair and eight Board members. More information about the Regulator can be found on its website at scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk
- SHR sets out how it regulates social landlords in its published framework – Regulation of Social Housing in Scotland.