Homes For Scotland

Trade body Homes for Scotland (HFS) has described another overall increase in decision times for housing applications as “hugely frustrating”. Official planning performance statistics for 2019/20 revealed that the average decision time for local development applications was 9.1 weeks, sl

The threshold at which Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is paid will be raised from £145,000 to £250,000 as the Scottish Government steps up efforts to support homebuyers and help the economy recover from the impact of coronavirus.

With show homes and sales offices in Scotland now open again as lockdown restrictions begin to ease, builders are reporting strong levels of interest.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has signalled a return to construction work on sites in Scotland and a 12-month extension to the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme.

Homes for Scotland has welcomed the appointment of an interim New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) as the first step towards the creation of a New Homes Ombudsman (NHO) scheme. Chaired by new homes quality champion Natalie Elphicke MP, the NHQB will have responsibility for the quality of new build homes a

Homes for Scotland has expressed its continuing frustration at what it views as an unnecessary further delay to a safe return to work for Scotland’s home building industry.

Homes for Scotland chief executive Nicola Barclay appeared on BBC Scotland’s The Nine this week to outline why she thinks the home building industry is uniquely placed to begin a safe, phased return to work and complete the 6,000 homes currently awaiting finishing touches.

A phased return to work would enable Scotland’s housebuilders to put the finishing touches to around 6,000 largely completed homes worth in excess of £1 billion to the economy, according to Homes for Scotland (HFS). With the industry having carefully considered and addressed all issues r

Housebuilders will be able to apply for short-term loans of up to £1 million from the Scottish Government to support them through the coronavirus outbreak. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with liquidity issues due to the temporary closure of the housebuilding sector will be able to a

Following news that the economic impact of efforts to tackle coronavirus could see Scotland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fall by around a third, industry body Homes for Scotland has said it is working on a recovery plan to kick-start the home building sector as soon as possible. The latest S

Scotland’s home building industry has welcomed comments from finance secretary Kate Forbes on which sectors she anticipates being first back to work once the lockdown is ended. Talking to the BBC earlier this week, Ms Forbes referenced construction and manufacturing need, saying that “..

Efforts are under way to help prevent further disruption to the buying and selling of homes across Scotland after Registers of Scotland (RoS) temporarily closed the application record and the UK Government advised home buyers and renters to delay moving unless the new property is empty.

Political leadership, adequate resourcing and delivery of supporting infrastructure are all essential if Scotland is to have the volume and range of quality homes it requires to meet the diverse needs of its population in 20 years’ time, according to Homes for Scotland (HFS). The appeal came i

With 2020 marking the 20th anniversary of trade body Homes for Scotland, chief executive Nicola Barclay considers the changes that have (or more significantly haven’t) taken place on what is her own 4th year anniversary in the job. 2020 is set to be a year to remember for the Scottish home bui

Significant variations in housing starts and completions exist across regions and tenures in Scotland while major applications are still taking more than twice as long as the statutory timeframe, according to new analysis. In its detailed scrutiny of official quarterly statistics, industry body Home