Chamber and committees

The national acquisition programme will be funded from existing Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs) and it will be for local authorities to consider and assess how much of their 2023-24 RPAs they target towards property acquisitions.

The national acquisition programme will be part of the overall Affordable Housing Supply Programme and will be managed and co-ordinated on the same basis through continued close working with delivery partners and reporting and monitoring of progress.

We have not yet set key performance indicators for the national acquisition programme.

As outlined in the answer to S6W-20375 on 16 August 2023, the national acquisition programme is part of the wider Affordable Housing Supply Programme. No civil servants will be assigned solely to work on the national acquisition programme.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The following table shows the average processing times for the cases which settled during each quarter since April 2022 and how many of those were processed within the requested timescales.

All applications to HOSF are tested for eligibility for both Mortgage to Rent (MtR) and Mortgage to Shared Equity (MtSE). Due to the circumstances of individuals there have been no Mortgage to Shared Equity cases since 2015, in particular many applicants have high levels of complex unsecured debts and low earnings.

The following table shows the number of applications received during each quarter since April 2022 and the number of applications successfully completed. Mortgage to Rent is a voluntary scheme and participation from applicants, lenders, trustees and social landlords is required for a case to succeed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10237 on 7 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17723 on 17 May 2023. Parliament will be updated once the review has completed. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The policy review work is being led by civil servants as part of their overall role of policy development and operational delivery. As such there are no costs that have been incurred. Two full-time equivalent policy team officials are working on the review as part of their wider duties with support from other officials, including analysts, as required.

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 aims to ensure that the majority of tenants living in the private rented sector are protected by the temporary, emergency measures.

Tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 are exempt from the temporary rent cap, and there are only a small number of remaining tenancies under this Act. For these tenancies, rent increases can only occur every 3 years and the restrictions on rent increases already built into the system operate to ensure rents in respect of the 1984 Act are raised at fair levels.