The introduction of The Private Housing Rent Control (Exempt Property) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, which took effect from 1 April, represents a quietly significant moment for Scotland’s residential investment landscape, particularly for those advising on Build to Rent (BTR) schemes, writes St

Construction is at a crossroads and faces a significant workforce challenge, but also an opportunity to consciously widen the talent pool, argues Marion Forbes, director of performance and organisational change at AC Whyte and Female Leaders in Construction (FLIC) advisory board member. Constru

Homeless Network Scotland chief executive Maggie Brünjes discusses how the eight relevant bodies responsible for delivering the Ask and Act duties can use their collective influence – not only to prevent homelessness, but to drive the upstream change needed to tackle its root causes. For

Jimmy Black relives a few housing decades with Laurie Naumann, a campaigner on single homelessness, and a founder of Kingdom Housing Association. This is a story about Laurie Naumann, who recently retired after 44 years as a board member at Kingdom Housing Association. But it’s also a step bac

Jimmy Black cycled to Stornoway to meet Calum (Barney) MacKay, chair of TPAS Scotland and long-standing tenant activist. Barney is a trade unionist, and that explains a lot. Trades unions teach their active members how to do many useful things, including basic skills, like how to run a meeting or th

Jimmy Black meets the energetic Evie Copland, multi-award-winner and housing evangelist. “The biggest problem is … how do I change the world with this?” Evie Copland is finishing her Master's in Housing Studies, and she has been a distinguished student. In 2021 she won the Malcolm

Below is a full transcript of episode 81 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled 'How Scotland is gearing up for Awaab's Law with Gregor Morrison and Bob Cairney’. Listen to or watch the episode here.

Scotland’s leading voices on accessible housing have urged the Scottish Government to put inclusive homes at the heart of its agenda ahead of May’s election, warning that the country is “nowhere near prepared” for the scale of demographic change coming.

Below is a full transcript of episode 80 of the Scottish Housing News Podcast titled 'The Scottish Accessible Housing Network with Michael Driscoll and Jill Pritchard’. Listen to or watch the episode here.

Fragmented ownership, chronic underinvestment, and slow legislative progress are pushing thousands of tenements into deepening disrepair, but with cross-party and cross-sector support for compulsory owners' associations and building reserve funds, a potential positive future could be around the corn

Jimmy Black hears that English flat owners who don’t maintain their blocks can lose their property without compensation. Should Scottish tenement owners face similar penalties?

It’s Scottish Housing Day; Jimmy Black conjures up soundscapes, and meditates on what makes a good neighbourhood.

Jimmy Black blogs on Riverside Scotland’s Housing First for Families, and Albyn’s Tenancy Sustainment Team.

Jimmy Black says the current funding system for adaptations makes no sense.

For the next edition of Our Housing Heritage, journalist and digital history specialist Chris Holme shares the story of how First World War servicemen came to reside in the rural village of Longniddry. Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes f

In the latest article in the ongoing Our Housing Heritage series, Scottish Housing News discusses the Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915. In the absence of social housing, families across the UK in 1915 were at the mercy of private landlords who could hike rents and evict tenants at will with little restr

The Springburn office of ng homes is named after Ned Donaldson. But who was Ned Donaldson? Kieran Findlay recalls the contribution of the activist and the post-war battle to stop the privatisation of council housing at Merrylee. It was a cold sleety December day in 1951. Slum landlordism and sublett

Duncan Smith, who works in the social housing sector, has contributed this piece as part of his quest for more information about housing architect George Gibson. Several years ago, just after starting my current job, I undertook some research on the properties we were refurbishing at the time. I fou

Rural and island Scots are generating the nation’s clean energy yet paying the highest bills, says Bryan Leask, chair of the Rural and Islands Fuel Poverty Action Group and chief executive of Hjaltland Housing Association.

Warmworks’ chief executive Ross Armstrong has been appointed as a member of the Committee on Fuel Poverty. The Committee, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, provides expert advice to the UK Government on the delivery of its strategy to reduce fuel poverty in England.

More than £7.3 million in grants is being awarded to 29 organisations across England, Scotland and Wales in the thirteenth round of the Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.

More than 800 people in Inverclyde have applied for cash to help pay their energy bills this winter, a charity has revealed. Inverclyde Council and charity Advice Direct Scotland joined forces to launch a fund worth more than £300,000 in November.

Scottish Labour has said it will introduce an Ending Homelessness Unit as part of a pledge to "end the status quo" that allows rough sleeping to increase and leaves thousands of families without a home to call their own.

Homeless Network Scotland chief executive Maggie Brünjes discusses how the eight relevant bodies responsible for delivering the Ask and Act duties can use their collective influence – not only to prevent homelessness, but to drive the upstream change needed to tackle its root causes. For

Homelessness charity Crisis Scotland has welcomed agreement from all major political parties in Scotland that all forms of homelessness must end.

Scotland’s newest homelessness village has now officially opened.

Local authorities in England are receiving extra funding, training and guidance needed to fulfil their new duties ahead of new protections for tenants kicking in next month.

SNP leader John Swinney has promised that private tenants will be given the right of first refusal when a landlord decides to sell their home, if his party wins the upcoming Scottish elections. Under the proposal, renters would be granted an exclusive period in which to purchase the property at a fa

Average rents in Scotland's private rented sector (PRS) have climbed by £21 to reach £1,022 per month, an annual of 2.4% increase between March 2025 and February 2026, at a time when the inflation rate was 3.11%, according to analysis by DJ Alexander Ltd. The lettings and estate agency s

Edinburgh-based Albany Lettings has acquired LinnMac Property and Investment Letting for an undisclosed sum, strengthening Albany's presence across the capital's lettings market.

The Scottish Government is to commit more than £111 million to updated plans to eradicate child poverty. Bringing Hope, Building Futures aims to help keep approximately 100,000 children out of poverty in 2026-27.

The gap between what councils in England pay out in housing benefit and how much the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reimburses them is projected to cost local government nearly £4 billion between 2017/18 to 2029/30, new analysis reveals.

People may be missing out on social security support they are entitled to due to stigma around social security, new research shows. Independent research commissioned by Social Security Scotland found that while nine in ten (91%) people agree anyone could need financial support when their circumstanc

The Scottish Child Payment has supported more than 241,000 parents and carers since its launch five years ago, helping put over £1.3 billion into the pockets of low-income families. An increase to the payment for children under one will be introduced during 2027/28, estimated to benefit around