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What are my Rights and Responsibilities as a tenant?
Every Council tenant is given a copy of their tenancy agreement. This provides information on both the rights and responsibilities of Council tenants and your landlord – the Council.
The Council also has many leaflets with information on tenancy matters including:
- paying the rent
- what to do about anti-social behaviour
- the allocation of Council housing
- the repairs service and ordering repairs
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What is Tenant Participation?
The Highland Council is committed to tenant participation. This is because we believe that you can help us to improve our services to you, and help to make sure that we are delivering the right services. There is also a legal requirement to consult tenants on certain issues, such as major changes to policies.
If you have a view about the housing service we provide or you want to improve the environment then getting involved can help you to achieve what you want for your community. If you would like to become involved in tenant participation in your area there may be an existing group in your community which you can join. If there is no tenant group in your area you may want to get together with others to start one. You can get support to do this. We may also be able to help with the costs involved. To find out if there is a group in your area or if you want help to set one up, ask at your housing office. There is a lealet from the Council on tenant participation and more information on the Council’s website.
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What Repairs and Maintenance am I responsible for?
The responsibility for repairs to Council houses is shared between the Council and the tenant. Basically, the Council is responsible for maintaining the fabric and permanent fittings of the building in good condition. Whereas the tenant is responsible for internal decoration, furnishings and removable fittings like clothes lines, TV aerials, curtain rails and so on. Specific conditions apply to furnished and partially furnished tenancies - these will be set out in the tenancy agreement.
Although the Council intends to respond to every repair as quickly as possible, it is necessary to categorise repairs and prioritise them. This is due to the fact that the Council has to pay a contractor more for carrying out emergency work. Repairs are categorised by the Council as emergency, high priority, routine or minor works. Each has a different time-scale for response:
- Emergency - Immediate response
- High Priority - Within 3 working days
- Routine - Within 20 working days
- Low priority programmed work - Within a timescale agreed with the contractor with the time for completion agreed at the start of the work
- Minor Works - By quotation with the time for completion stated on the quotation
Some routine works may be held back if it is known that other properties in the street, estate, village or settlement require the same work. A small programme of low priority work will then be drawn up. This category of repair will be especially appropriate for work of a preventative nature such as gutter cleaning, fencing and path repairs. Exceptions to these timescales are sometimes made. These are only where, for medical or social reasons, carrying out the repair in the normal time-scale would cause suffering to the occupants.
Tenants can request a receipt when they report a repair to the Council. This is to confirm the repair request, the priority of repair, timescale for completion, access arrangements and details of the contractor. A booklet which gives information on the repairs service and how to report repairs is available from the local housing office. All tenants are issued with a booklet on how to report repairs at the start of their tenancy.
Planned Maintenance is work which replaces and/or upgrades parts of the building fabric, such as painting houses. It takes place according to priorities and a programme set by the Council.
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What can I do if I need aids or adaptations to my home or support?
The Council makes sure that support is available to help older or disabled people to continue living comfortably and independently in their own homes. Funding is available to adapt Council houses to meet the care needs of a Council tenant. Typical adaptations include putting in showers, extra heating, handrails and ramped access.
Requests for adaptations should made by contacting Occupational Therapy through Social Work Services (in the first instance) or Housing Services. Requests can also be made through G.P.s, Community Nurses or hospitals as well as through Service Points. After a referral is received, an assessment of need is carried out by an Occupational Therapist.
Details and more information can be obtained from the appropriate Highland Council’s Social Work Services Area Office. The addresses and phone numbers of each Social Work Services Area is given in Appendix A.
Can I get support to help me manage my tenancy?
Help and assistance may be available to vulnerable people who find it difficult to manage their tenancy. Some tenants may only need help for a short time others may need on-going support to help them stay in their own home and live independently. Support may be provided and funded through ‘Supporting People’.
See the section on Supporting People for more information
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Can I buy my Council house under the 'Right to Buy' Scheme?
All Council tenants who are Scottish Secure Tenants have a statutory right to buy their homes. If you started your tenancy before 30 September 2002, you can apply after two years residence in your Council house (you need not have always lived in the same property that you wish to buy or had the same landlord all the time. You can also count time spent as a tenant of certain other Government bodies such as the Ministry of Defence or the Forestry Commission). You will receive a minimum discount of 32% on the valuation price, rising to a 60% discount after 30 years residence. For Council flats there is a 44% minimum and 70% maximum discount.
The new Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 changed discounts, qualifications and entitlement to Right to Buy. If your tenancy started on or after the 30 September 2002, you cannot apply to buy your home until you have been a tenant for 5 years. The minimum discount will be 20% of the market value rising to 35% or £15,000 whichever is less. In addition, you may not be able to buy if you live in a designated ‘Pressured Area’ (see below).
Before considering buying your home, you should not only consider the cost of the loan or mortgage you will need to purchase the property, but other associated costs of buying your home. These may include:
- Solicitors fees
- Survey fees
- The arrangement fee on your loan or mortgage
- The valuation fee
- Building Insurance
- Mortgage Protection Insurance
- Repair and Maintenance of the property in the future
- Service and factoring charges (if you are buying a flat, tenement or multi-storey)
- Home improvements – new kitchens or double glazing
Repaying discount if you sell within 3 years
If you are happy that you can afford to proceed, and you wish to apply to buy your home, you should ask the Council's housing staff at your local housing office or Service Point for the relevant application form (Application to Buy Form – APP1) and accompanying booklet. The completed form can be returned to any Service Point or Housing Services Office, and staff will be happy to help you complete the form if required.
Highland Council can refuse to sell if you have arrears of rent, Council Tax, water and sewerage or other charges associated with your tenancy or previous tenancies in the Highland Council area. Therefore you may wish to check with the Council to ensure any such debts have been cleared prior to submitting your application. The sale of the property can only take place after its value has been officially assessed by the District Valuer (DV), a Government official, who visits the area regularly for the purpose. There is no right of appeal against the DV's valuation. Once the valuation has been received by the Council, the Council’s Legal Services will make you an offer of purchase.
It is very important at this stage that you have the services of a solicitor to help you complete the legal transaction properly.
The entire Right to Buy transaction, from the date of application to the point of legal completion of the purchase, takes around 4 – 6 months on average.
The Scottish Executive has produced a useful information leaflet called “Your Right to Buy Your Home”.
If you want to check you legal rights with regard to buying your house you can ask your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau, a solicitor or the Scottish Executive Development Department.
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What is Pressured Area Status?
Many parts of the Highlands are designated as “Pressured Areas” to tackle the shortage of affordable housing. This means that tenants who started a new tenancy with the Council, or with an affected housing association, on or after 30 September 2002 in these designated areas have, from 15th November 2005, their Right to Buy (RTB) suspended for five years, i.e. until 14th November 2010, whilst the designation is in place. This includes tenants who were given their tenancy through a transfer, succession or mutual exchange. During this time, tenants will continue to build up time towards their qualifying period. Council tenants whose tenancy started before 30 September 2002 will still be able to buy their home, as will those who don’t live in the designated areas.
The areas that have been designated as “Pressured Area” are:
- Badenoch and Strathspey (all communities)
- Inverness (all communities except the estates of Merkinch and Hilton)
- Lochaber (all communities except Kinlochleven, the Plantation estate in Fort William and the three streets of Carn Dearg, The Corries and Polmona in Claggan)
- Nairn (all communities)
- Ross and Cromarty (all communities, except Alness, Aultbea, Balintore and Milton)
- Skye and Lochalsh (all communities)
Communities in Caithness or Sutherland are not designated.
This action is possible because of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. It helps to make sure that Council housing is available to let in communities where there are great shortages of housing.
There are a number of different ways that the Council can help tenants to become home owners. These are set out elsewhere in this manual. If you would like to find out more about “Pressured Area” status and its likely effect on you, or if you would like to give us your views, please contact your local housing office.
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Can I apply for a transfer to another property or exchange properties with other tenants?
Transfers
Any Council tenant can apply for a transfer or to join a mutual exchange scheme. Most transfers and mutual exchanges take place locally, although there are also opportunities for Council tenants to swap their houses for public sector houses in other parts of the UK. However these opportunities are quite scarce.
Applications for transfers within the Council area are made on a housing application form to the Council's Housing Services. They are assessed and points are awarded in accordance with the Council's Allocation Policy and Points System (see Section 2.2). A property is then allocated in the same way to a transfer applicant, as a general needs applicant.
The Council keeps two lists of housing applicants: the transfer list and the waiting list. If you already live in a Highland Council house you will be on the transfer list, if not you will be on the waiting list. We usually aim to let about one third of all empty houses in a year to people on the transfer list, but this can vary in each area.
Mutual Exchanges
A Mutual Exchange is a mechanism by which two tenants can change houses in order to improve their housing situation. This can be done across Council boundaries or between Council and housing association tenants. In some cases, there may be three or even more tenants proposing to exchange houses amongst themselves. There is no reason why this can't happen.
Tenants who wish to move can advertise to exchange houses by either displaying a card in a Service Point, Housing Office, shop or supermarket, or by advertising in the press. It may be possible for your landlord to help you find someone to exchange with.
A Highland Council tenant can request permission to exchange with another tenant of any council, or housing association. If two tenants agree that they would like to swap houses, each must put a request in writing to the appropriate landlord and not move until Housing Services has given its written consent for this to go ahead. Before permission is given, the properties will be inspected by the tenant's landlord, and rent accounts will be checked.
A mutual exchange request from a tenant who has only just been allocated a property and hasn't moved in can still be considered.
The Council will not unreasonably refuse permission for a mutual exchange of your house. The exchange must be with another house where the tenant is also a tenant of a local authority landlord, a registered social landlord, a water authority or sewerage authority.
The other landlord must also agree to the exchange. Reasonable grounds for refusing permission include the following:
- we have served a notice on you warning that we may seek eviction on certain grounds because of your conduct;
- we have obtained an order for your eviction;
- your house was let to you because of your employment with your landlord;
- your house was designed or adapted for persons with special needs and if the exchange was allowed, there would be no person living in the house who required those designs or adaptations;
- the other house is substantially larger than you and your family need or it is not suitable for the needs of you and your family;
- the proposed change would lead to the criminal offence of overcrowding.
You cannot move into the new house until you have permissin from your landlord and new leases have been signed.
If you want to find out more about mutual exchanges, please contact your local Area Housing Office.
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