Background and Overview Part 1 – Homelessness and Allocation of Housing Section 6: Duty of registered social landlord: further provision
17.This section sets out the arrangements which are to apply in the event of any dispute between a registered social landlord and a local authority about whether the registered social landlord has good reason for not complying with a local authority request. Subsection (1)requires that, if both parties cannot reach agreement within a set period (to be defined by the Scottish Ministers in subordinate legislation), they must appoint an arbiter. If there is no agreement on the appointment of an arbiter, Ministers must appoint an arbiter when requested to do so by the local authority. Subsections (4) and (5)deal with the sharing of costs of arbitration and the issuing of guidance by Ministers on the details of the arbitration process. Subsection (6)makes it clear that both registered social landlords and local authorities must comply with the arbiter’s decision.