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Scottish regulator to postpone action apart from ‘most critical’ cases in light of pandemic
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has said it is postponing all interventions apart from the “most critical” to allow social landlords to focus on the coronavirus crisis in the coming months.
In a refreshed corporate plan published yesterday, the SHR also said that it will publish new engagement plans and a regulatory status for social landlords next March, after they were postponed this year.
As part of its response to COVID-19, the regulator said it will be “postponing all but the most critical regulatory engagements to allow landlords and us to focus on the most serious existing risks or those that emerge from the current pandemic”.
Earlier this month, the regulator said it was extending the deadline for social landlords their annual assurance statements.
Landlords are also being given more time to submit their annual financial statements.
George Walker, chair of the SHR, said: “We know social landlords are facing new and emerging challenges stemming from COVID-19 and they are working hard to rise effectively to these ongoing challenges.”
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The SHR said it will also keep its regulatory approach under review “as the situation develops and adjusting it as necessary”.
The regulator has been publishing a monthly monitor of how social landlords have been performing during the crisis. Last week it reported a sharp increase in the number of eviction notices that landlords and councils have sent out to tenants.
Mr Walker added: “We will continue to monitor and report on how the sector is responding. We will keep our work plans under review so that we can continue to respond to the challenges of COVID-19.”
