Chamber and committees

The keeper has robust measures in place to minimise the effects of fraud, and keeps them under review. She has a designated fraud officer responsible for implementing her fraud prevention and mitigation policies, and for delivering regular staff training. Her staff are encouraged to refer suspicious applications to the fraud officer. In order to aid earlier detection, the keeper meets with other bodies such as the Law Society of Scotland, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Police Scotland and Revenue Scotland. She also maintains communications with other land registries both in the UK and internationally to monitor trends.

The reply to S4W-30417 on 17 March 2016 sets out the process for fraud discovered after registration. If an allegation of fraud is made before an application for registration has been determined then the keeper will apply her policy on holding applications in abeyance as set out in Registers Update 42 (issued in December 2014).

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Assistance for home owners is the responsibility of local authorities. Local authorities have a wide range of powers to assist owners who need help with work needed to look after their home. However, it is for each local authority to decide what kinds of help should be provided in different circumstances and this will be subject to local priorities and budgets.

If occupants are private tenants, the landlord is required to meet their duty to repair and maintain its properties as set out in the repairing standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. Private tenants can apply to the Private Rented Housing Panel for assistance if landlords fail to carry out repairs that are needed to meet the repairing standard. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces new powers for local authorities to raise breaches of the statutory repairing standard for private rented homes directly with the Private Rented Housing Panel on behalf of vulnerable tenants.

If occupants are social tenants, the landlord is expected to meet their duty to repair and maintain property under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and to ensure that property meets the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. Social tenants have a right of complaint against their landlord to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

If any owner refuses to pay his or her share of repairs, the obligation to pay can be enforced in the sheriff court by any owner or anyone authorised by an owner or owners. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces new discretionary powers for local authorities to pay missing shares on behalf of owners who are unwilling or unable to comply with decisions made by the majority of other owners. We will further consider common repairs in the work of the stakeholder forum on a common housing standard.

The Tenements (Scotland) 2004 came into force on 28 November 2004 with the exception of section 18 (obligation of owner to insure) which came into force on 27 January 2007. The first available statistics on the private rented sector following the enforcement of the legislation relate to March 2005 and the most recent statistics available are as at March 2014.

Figures published in the Scottish Government Housing Statistics for Scotland 2015: Key Trends Summary show that the private rented sector grew by an estimated 74%, from 215,000 dwellings in March 2005 to 375,000 in March 2014.

Assistance for home owners is the responsibility of local authorities. Local authorities have a wide range discretionary powers to assist owners who need help to identify work needed to look after their home.

If occupants are private tenants, the landlord is required to carry out an inspection before the tenancy begins to ensure that the house complies with the repairing standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. Information about a landlord’s duties, what documents should be provided, and tenant’s rights is set out in the statutory tenant information pack.

If occupants are social tenants, the Scottish Social Housing Charter requires their landlord to provide information about its decisions and services, to ensure homes meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and to keep them in a good state of repair.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 came into force on 1 October 2012 and provides protections for homeowners who use the services of a registered property factor.

The current legislation has been operating for just over three years and no review has taken place to date. There are also no current plans to review the Act, but a review of the code of conduct for registered property factors established under the Act is planned to start in 2016. The code sets out minimum standards of practice which all registered property factors are obliged to comply with.

We will engage with property factors and homeowners so that they can play a key role in the review and developing any revised code of conduct. Any revised code would also be subject to public consultation and approval by the Scottish Parliament. We are also happy to work with the industry and others with a view to identifying any other ways to strengthen the Act.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of number of registered landlords living outwith the UK nor the proportion by which this has changed since the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force.

Registers of Scotland (RoS) does not currently publish Freedom of Information (FOI) responses on its website. However, RoS plans to introduce a disclosure log of FOI information to its publication scheme in spring 2016 in line with best practice guidance.

The keeper has adopted a new policy on holding applications in abeyance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30418 on 17 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 February 2016 outlining a series of measures the UK Government must consider ahead of the March budget. Along with urgent fiscal measures to reduce the tax burden, we have asked the UK Government to consider easing constraints on accessing finance, for instance through the introduction of a Government loan guarantee scheme. This scheme would improve access to working capital, ease borrowing constraints and may provide a crucial lifeline to many companies.

The First Minister also announced on 1 February 2016 that Scottish Enterprise has begun an extensive research project to analyse and understand the access to finance issues facing the oil and gas sector.