Background and Overview Part 1 – Homelessness and Allocation of Housing Section 5: Duty of registered social landlord to provide accommodation
16.Subsection (1)enables local authorities to request a registered social landlord (RSL) which holds accommodation in the local authority’s area to provide accommodation for an unintentionally homeless person in priority need. Subsection (2)requires local authorities, before making such a request, to consider the availability and appropriateness of any accommodation in their area. This duty will have no effect on local authorities which hold no housing stock, but will provide a safeguard against local authorities who hold stock making inappropriate requests to registered social landlords. Subsection (3)requires registered social landlords to comply with a local authority request, within a reasonable period, unless there is a good reason for not complying. Subsection (4) sets out that compliance with a request must be through the provision of accommodation secured by a Scottish secure tenancy, but where paragraph 1 or 2 of Schedule 6 are satisfied (that is, in relation to anti-social behaviour) a short Scottish secure tenancy is also permitted. Subsection (5) allows RSLs to provide other accommodation (say, temporary accommodation) in cases where that has been expressly requested by the local authority. Subsection (6) places a duty on RSLs to comply with reasonable requests for information relating to the local authority’s functions under section 5. Subsection (7)enables the Scottish Ministers to give guidance on what constitutes a reasonable period for compliance; good reason for an RSL’s non-compliance; and for the purposes of subsection (6) what is a reasonable request. Subsection (8)sets out the arrangements for consulting on such guidance.