Ewan Fraser – Blog – Rural & Islands Landlord Group meeting – 1 December 2025
We held the seventh meeting of the Rural & Islands landlord group on 1 December 2025. This is one of the three standing groups of senior people from Registered Social Landlords we meet with regularly to discuss important and topical issues in social housing in Scotland. We meet with the groups to help us understand the challenges faced by those we regulate.
The Group’s discussion firstly focused on the continuing challenges around building new homes. All of the Group members highlighted that cost challenges are persisting, and capacity in the supply chain is constrained, especially where there are large-scale infrastructure projects impacting on a local area. Few of the Group’s members get new homes through Section 75 agreements, and the one that does noted a significant drop off in numbers as private developer scale back on building new homes. More widely, members recognised that more resources are needed in the planning system to reduce significant delays in getting permissions. They also highlighted grant benchmarks are no longer relevant in the context of current costs, and that it may be the right time for a fundamental review of the grant system.
The Group highlighted the impact that costs are having on determining whether it represents value for money to build new homes at this time. This led into a discussion on what the right standards for new build should be in the current context; members called for a more nuanced policy on fire suppression systems in new homes, and asked if this was the right time to move to the Scottish Passivhaus Equivalent. There was a concern that landlords may come under pressure to reduce space standards in new homes to reduce costs, and that this may impact adversely on tenant satisfaction with new homes.
Some, although not all, of the members noted a significant reduction in turnover of existing homes and that this, together with lower levels of new build, was a constraint on their ability to contribute to meeting local housing needs, including of those who are homeless.
The continuing uncertainty around future standards and expectations on landlords continues to be a concern for the group’s members, which limited their ability to plan effectively, including planning for new homes. Members are particularly keen to see certainty around the proposed Social Housing Net Zero Standard and Scottish Government guidance on damp and mould.
The Group touched on the upcoming phased switch off of the Radio Teleswitching Signal (RTS), which switches electricity meters between different tariff rates at different times of the day. Most felt that the majority of homes will have had smart meters installed before the signal is switched off, but there is still a concern that some will not have. The Group recognised that, while landlords are not responsible for energy supplies and meters in homes, they do have obligations to ensure homes have working heating systems, and this this may present some significant challenges for any homes that still rely on the RTS when it is due to be switched off.
Finally, the Group highlighted continuing cost inflation resulting in pressure on rents, although most of the members of the Group expected to be able to contain rent increases in the coming year to levels below 6%. The Group question whether the model of using CPI + 1% for rent increases is sustainable, and highlighted the risk that some rents in social housing could move above the level of Local Housing Allowance.