National Report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter - 2025-2026

About our National Reports

Each year we report on the information submitted to us by social landlords on their performance in achieving the standards and outcomes in the Scottish Social Housing Charter. Social landlords are registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities (LAs). This report is our analysis of landlords’ Annual Return on the Charter (ARC) for 2025/26.

We publish all of the statistical information provided by landlords in their ARC, as well as performance data by Charter standard and outcome. We also publish a landlord report for each landlord on our landlord directory.

Our National Report and suite of performance data should be used by social landlords to report their own performance to their tenants and other service users. When doing this, landlords must include relevant comparisons (including to previous years, with other landlords and national performance) and give tenants and other service users a way to feed back their views on the style and form of the reporting. More detail on these requirements can be found in section 3 of our Regulatory Framework.

During 2024/25, we carried out a review of the ARC indicators, and we published the outcome of our review in January 2025. The changes we have made took effect from 1 April 2025, and so this report covers the first year of the revised ARC.

When we published the outcome of the review, we highlighted that during our consultation on the changes to the ARC, some stakeholders expressed concern over how the data from the new damp and mould indicators would be presented and suggested that a direct comparison of performance would not be helpful. We therefore said that we would not include the data within the National Report on the Charter and would instead publish a separate report which will provide additional context around the data. This separate report will be published in September.

Headline findings

The general picture shows:

• Almost 9 out of 10 tenants are satisfied with the homes and services their social landlord provides.

Areas that matter most to tenants

• Emergency repairs response time improved to 3.3* hours
• Tenants satisfied:
  • with the quality of their homes increased to 87%
  • that their rent is good value for money remained at 82%
  • with their landlord’s contribution to neighbourhood management increased slightly to 85%
  • with opportunities to participate in their landlord’s decision-making processes increased to 88%
  • with being kept informed about their landlord’s services and decisions increased to 91%
• Anti-social behaviour cases which were resolved was 93%
• First stage complaints responded to in full remained high, increasing to 98%
• Average weekly rent in 2025/26 increased to £103.10
• Average rent increase applied in April 2026 was 5.6%

*One outlier landlord has been excluded. See section 4 of this report for more details.

Progress against the Charter

Social landlords continue to perform well across most of the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. They improved or maintained performance during 2025/26 from the year before for most of the Charter outcomes.

More detail on the indicators which contribute to each outcome and standard, and how performance has changed over time, is available in the Charter Indicators and Data by Outcomes and Standards publication which is available on our website.

Analysis

Homes

• Homes available to rent increased to 639,165 – LAs up by 2,247, RSLs up by 898
• Average days to re-let homes dropped significantly to 52 days from 61 days – LAs decreasing to 68 days from 78 days, RSLs decreasing to 34 from 40 days
• The number of new lets made by social landlords decreased markedly to 45,924 – LAs decreasing to 22,845, RSLs decreasing to 23,079

In 2025/26 Scottish social landlords provided 639,165 homes to rent, up 0.5% from the year before. The number of LA homes increased by 2,247, while the number of RSL homes increased by 898.

In 2025/26, homes were, on average, empty for 52 days, a decrease of 9 days on 2024/25. For local authorities, the average has decreased to 68 days from 78 days in 2024/25. The average time taken by RSLs remains lower than that for LAs, and also decreased, from 40 days in 2024/25 to 34 days in 2025/26.

Some landlords reported improvements in re-let times following reviews of their void management processes. Poor condition of properties which require repair works, delays caused by utility meter and energy supply issues and bringing long term voids back into use were commonly cited by landlords as affecting how quickly homes can be ready to be re-let.

Following the ARC review, we introduced a new indicator on void properties. At 31 March 2026, 2% (13,294) of social landlords’ properties were void. Of these, 39% (5,136) were void for more than six months.

19% of void properties were undergoing major repairs or structural works, and 13% awaiting demolition or reconfiguration. These proportions were both higher for properties which have been void for more than six months. Over half of all void properties though are ‘normal lettable stock’ which includes properties where tenancies have ended or been repossessed.

There has been a fairly large change to the aggregate number of homes let by social landlords. Landlords let 45,924 homes in 2025/26, down 9% from 50,363 in 2024/25.

RSL lets have decreased year on year since 2021/22. In contrast, LA lets increased in both 2023/24 and, in particular, 2024/25. This offset the reduction in RSL lets and so helping to maintain overall letting levels in these years. LA lets however fell sharply in 2025/26, declining by 14% (3,684) compared with a 3% (755) reduction among RSLs.

Some landlords referred to fewer properties being available to let and an increased focus on tenancy sustainment during the last few years. This is reflected in landlord’s performance, with year-on-year reductions in the number of homes becoming vacant and the number of abandoned properties, as well as improvements in tenancies being sustained. Several local authorities also pointed to other contributory factors, including fewer new builds and difficulties and delays in the void repair process.

Rent

• Average satisfaction of tenants with rent being good value for money remained at 82% – LAs increased to 81%, RSLs remained at 82%
• Average weekly rent in 2025/26 increased by 5.6% to £103.10
• Gross rent arrears decreased to 5.9% – LAs 8.3%, RSLs 3.8%

Average tenant satisfaction with rent being good value for money remained at 82% for all landlords for the fourth consecutive year. It also remained at 82% for RSLs, and for LA tenants this figure increased to 81%.

The average weekly rent in 2025/26 was £103.10, up 5.6% on the previous year. Average LA rents were £94.79; 15% lower than average RSL rents of £111.80.

At 31 March 2026, social landlords had total rent arrears of £197,090,501. This is 5.9% of the total rent due. This is lower than 2024/25, where the figure was 6.2%, and the lowest 

level since 2019/20. While rent arrears for LAs fell slightly, from 8.6% to 8.3%, they continue to be more than double that of RSLs, which fell from 4% to 3.8% in 2025/26.

Landlords reported that early intervention, tenancy sustainment activity and income maximisation support have been key factors in maintaining and improving performance.

The number of households for whom landlords are paid housing costs directly (through Universal Credit or Housing Benefit) increased by 2.1% to 418,080 in 2025/26, while the value of those payments increased by 6.7% to £1.736bn.

Tenant satisfaction

• Overall tenant satisfaction increased slightly to 88% - LAs 82%, RSLs 89%

Tenant satisfaction increased to 88% in 2025/26. For both LAs and RSLs, the figures increased one percentage point each to at 82% and 89% respectively.

Landlords should carry out a satisfaction survey with tenants and service users at least every three years, in line with our published guidance. 47% of landlords carried out their latest survey during 2025/26, and most surveys were carried out either face to face or via telephone. 17% of landlords used results from a survey carried out in 2023/24 and so will be due to carry out a new survey during 2026/27.

Quality of homes

• Tenants’ satisfaction with the quality of their homes increased to 87% – LAs 82%, RSLs 88%
• Percentage of homes that meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) increased to 90% from 87% – LAs 87%, RSLs 93%

Tenant satisfaction with the quality of their homes has improved to 87% in 2025/26. It has increased three percentage points to 82% among LA tenants and increased one percentage point to 87% among RSL tenants.

The number of homes that meet SHQS increased for the fourth consecutive year, with fewer homes failing or in abeyance from SHQS. The level of exemptions remained the same. More of RSLs’ homes meet SHQS than LAs’ (93% compared to 87%, respectively).

At 31 March 2026, 6.5% of social landlords’ homes failed SHQS, with most (5%) failing in just one criterion. The number of homes in abeyance from SHQS, which means work cannot be completed for ‘social’ reasons – often about tenants or owner-occupiers refusing to give landlords access to carry out work – continued to reduce. Homes exempt from SHQS – which can be because of technical, disproportionate cost or legal reasons – has remained the same. SHQS criteria and the classifications used are set by the Scottish Government, and more detail can be found in the Scottish Government’s SHQS technical guidance.

Between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the proportion of homes meeting SHQS dropped considerably from 87% to 73%. As described in previous National Reports, this reduction was largely because of failures to meet the requirement to install interlinked smoke and heat detectors and to complete electrical safety inspections; compliance with these was due in February and March 2022 respectively.

As landlords have worked to address a backlog of outstanding inspections and installations, compliance with SHQS has increased each year since.

At the aggregate level, landlords have projected that SHQS compliance at the end of 2026/27 will be 92%. In 2025/26, only a small number of landlords had compliance rates that fell significantly short of their own projections.

 Repairs and maintenance

• Percentage of tenants satisfied with their landlord’s repairs service has increased to 88% – LAs 88%, RSLs 88%
• Average hours to complete emergency repairs has decreased to 3.3* hours from 3.5 hours – LAs 3.6 hours, RSLs 2.9* hours
• Average days to complete non-emergency repairs decreased to 8.4** working days from 8.7 working days – LAs 8.7** days, RSLs 8.2 days
• Reactive repairs completed right first time is 95% – LAs 94%, RSLs 97%

Tenant satisfaction with repairs and maintenance increased one percent to 88% in 2025/26, with both LAs and RSLs increasing to 88%.

Average repair completion times improved in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25. The average time taken by social landlords to complete emergency repairs fell from 3.5 hours in 2024/25 to 3.3 hours in 2025/26. This fell from 3.2 hours to 2.9 hours for RSLs, and from 3.8 hours to 3.6 hours for LAs.

For non-emergency repairs, the average time taken to complete them reduced from 8.7 days in 2024/25 to 8.4 days in 2025/26. The average time taken also fell among LAs, from 9.2 days to 8.7 days, and also decreased among RSLs, from 8.4 days to 8.3 days.

The averages for both emergency and non-emergency repairs completion times exclude one outlier landlord each. These are an RSL that reported an average emergency repair completion time of 21.4 hours, and a local authority that reported an average of 36.5 days to complete non-emergency repairs. We also excluded these landlords from our analysis in last year’s National Report, with both landlords telling us that administrative and system issues, including completion dates not being accurately recorded, had affected their reported performance. We are engaging with both landlords about their performance.

95% of repairs completed by landlords during 2025/26 were completed right first time. This was 97% for RSLs and 94% for LAs. During our review of the ARC indicators in 2024/25, stakeholders told us about recording anomalies with this indicator, and so we simplified this indicator as of 2025/26 so that it focuses on the reactive repairs which were completed but then reported as a repair again.

*Excludes one outlier landlord

**Excludes one outlier landlord

Tenant and resident safety

During 2025/26, social landlords met their requirements on gas safety for 99.9% of their homes. Landlords did not carry out an annual gas safety check on gas appliances when required on 449 occasions during 2025/26. 35 landlords had at least one instance of not carrying out a gas safety check when required, ranging from one missed check to 272 missed checks, with 14 of the 35 landlords missing just one check.

All landlords have either completed the missed gas safety checks or are working to resolve the remaining cases.

Administrative or human error was most commonly cited by landlords as the reason for missed or late checks. This includes properties newly built or acquired by the landlord not being added to the list of properties which require a gas safety check. It is essential that landlords have robust systems and processes in place to ensure they comply with tenant and resident safety duties, including gas safety, at all times.

In 2025/26, we introduced two new tenant and resident safety indicators on electrical and fire safety.

During 2025/26, social landlords reported 28,528 instances when an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) was not carried out within five years of the last EICR, as required by the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). 110 landlords had at least one instance of an EICR not being carried out by the five-year anniversary, ranging from one EICR to 6,531.

In terms of fire safety, there were 2,450 homes that did not have the satisfactory smoke and heat detectors required by SHQS at 31 March 2026. This was across 46 landlords and ranged from one detector to 1,180.

Of the 28,528 EICRs not carried out by the five-year anniversary date, 24,920 were in local authority owned homes; and 2,144 of the 2,450 outstanding smoke and heat detectors outstanding at the year-end were in local authority owned homes.

We are currently engaging with 11 landlords on EICR compliance, or about both EICRs and smoke detectors; 10 of which are local authorities and one RSL. We are engaging due to the volume of outstanding checks and/or the landlord’s progress in completing the checks to ensure that they all have urgent and credible plans to achieve full compliance. We will monitor progress through ongoing engagement.

While access-related issues were the most commonly cited cause of delay, landlords remain responsible for having robust arrangements in place to achieve compliance as quickly as possible. Some landlords did confirm in their ARC return that the EICRs have subsequently been carried out. Where EICRs or smoke detectors are still required, landlords have told us that they are continuing to explore options, including providing additional support, to ensure the work is completed as quickly as possible. Many other EICRs not completed by the five-year anniversary date were in properties that were void, including those awaiting disposal, demolition or refurbishment, with landlords confirming that EICRs would be completed before any properties were re-let.

 Adaptations

The average time to complete adaptations increased to 47 days from 44 days in 2024/25. RSLs’ average increased to 64 days, whilst there was a reduction for LAs to 33 days.

On 31 March 2026 there were 2,989 households waiting for adaptations; 1,382 for RSLs and 1,607 for LAs. This represents a significant decrease from the 4,297 households recorded in 2024/25.

Many landlords told us that delays to, and reductions in, Scottish Government adaptation funding in 2024/25 meant that some cases had to be carried forward into 2025/26, contributing to longer completion times and affecting waiting list numbers.

Tenant engagement

• Tenants satisfied with opportunities to participate in their landlord’s decision-making processes increased to 88% – LAs 83%, RSLs 89%
• Tenants satisfied with being kept informed about their landlord’s services and decisions remained at 91% – LAs 84%, RSLs 93%

Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, tenant satisfaction with opportunities to participate (88%) increased, while satisfaction with being kept informed (91%) was maintained. Satisfaction among RSL tenants continues to be higher than among LA tenants for both indicators.

Homelessness

• The number of homes let by social landlords let to people whom LAs had assessed as homeless reduced by 8% to 20,979 – LAs down by 12%, RSLs down by 2%
• Social landlords allocated 46% of their homes to people assessed as homeless, slightly up on last year – LAs up to 51% from 50%, RSLs up to 40% from 39%
• Tenancy sustainment for households who were previously homeless has increased to 92%

For people who were homeless, there was an 8% reduction in the number of homes let by social landlords, from 22,786 in 2024/25 to 20,979 in 2025/26. There was a reduction amongst both LAs (12% reduction) and RSLs (2% reduction). As we reported in last year’s National Report, some local authorities had a particular focus on bringing long term voids back into use and also increased new build completions, which contributed to a higher number of lets being made by them in 2024/25.

Although fewer lets were made to people who were homeless in 2025/26, they have been receiving a larger proportion of all lets being made year on year since 2021/22. In 2025/26, 46% of lets made were to people who were homeless, up from 45% in 2024/25 and 39% in 2021/22. Both local authorities and RSLs have increased their proportions, each up by one percentage point to 51% and 40% respectively.

We know from our engagement with both local authorities and RSLs and from the ARC comments that many social landlords have continued to allocate more homes to people experiencing homelessness in response to the pressures being felt within the homelessness system.

From 2025/26, RSLs report a breakdown of lets made by local authority area, so as to understand what proportion of each RSL’s lets went to people experiencing homelessness in the area/s that it operates in. Glasgow and Edinburgh had the highest proportions of RSL lets made to homeless households. In Glasgow, 52% of RSL lets were to people experiencing homelessness, while in Edinburgh the equivalent figure was 50%. For other local authority areas, the proportion ranged from 16% to 47%.

Tenancy sustainment amongst homeless households increased in 2025/26, to 92%, with some landlords that reported improvements highlighting increased tenancy support and a more person-centred support approach as contributing factors. This corresponds with the findings from our recent thematic review of homelessness tenancy sustainment.

Homelessness statistics collected from local authorities by the Scottish Government are due to be published on the Scottish Government’s website in September 2026.

Gypsy/Travellers

• Average satisfaction of tenants with landlords' management of sites provided for Gypsy/Travellers remained at 77%
• Weekly pitch rent increased to £88.25

Satisfaction amongst Gypsy/Travellers remained at 77% in 2025/26.

Landlords who manage sites have again told us that the condition of their site/s is the main driver for satisfaction levels. Many of the landlords that manage sites described work they have done or are doing to improve the condition of the site/s and engage meaningfully with site residents on refurbishment plans and other areas of service improvement.

The average weekly pitch rent for Gypsy/Traveller sites owned by social landlords increased by 4.1% to £88.25 in 2025/26, with a range of £67.22 to £120.78.

We continue to engage with landlords that provide Gypsy/Traveller sites which do not comply with the minimum site standards set out by the Scottish Government, or with fire safety obligations. Of the 28 sites provided by social landlords, one site is currently closed. Of the remaining 27 sites, 23 comply with Scottish Government’s minimum standards and 27 comply with fire safety requirements.

Factored owners

• Average satisfaction with factoring reduced to 57% – LAs 46%, RSLs 58%
• Average annual management fee increased to £122.13 – LAs £67.68, RSLs £140.98

Satisfaction among factored owners has fallen for the fourth consecutive year to 57%, and for the third consecutive year, this is at the lowest level since the introduction of the Charter. LA factored owners are, on average, less satisfied than RSL factored owners (46% compared to 58%, respectively).

Some of the landlords reporting reduced or low levels of satisfaction among factored owners cited a low response rate to their surveys. The information submitted by social landlords shows that across all social landlords, 11% of factored owners participated in a satisfaction survey. The landlords that did report increases in satisfaction levels described this being the result of improvements to the factoring service, including a stronger approach to communication and engagement with factored owners.

The average annual management fee for factored owners has increased by 2.7% to £122.13 in 2025/26.

Want to know more?

You can see the landlord reports, comparison tool and data tables on the landlord directory on our website. For more analysis, a full dataset of all landlords’ performance information is also available.