The Repairing Standard for Rented Homes in Scotland

The standard is being widened. New provisions include a minimum standard for safe kitchens, a fixed heating system, safe access to and use of common facilities including secure common doors, residual current devices, all fuel types supplying the property in a reasonable state of repair and proper working order, and a requirement that landlords have regard to Scottish Government guidance on the condition of pipes supplying water². Separately, all houses in the private rented sector must meet the statutory tolerable standard³.

For a household, the standard is the main lever on energy independence while renting. It obliges the landlord to provide working heating and hot water, but it does not hand the tenant control of the building: improvements still need the landlord's consent, and Warmer Homes Scotland no longer funds work a landlord is already legally obliged to do⁴.

What the Repairing Standard requires landlords to do

The Repairing Standard is the statutory condition a private rented house must meet. Its established elements cover the structure and exterior, water and gas supplies, drainage, heating and hot water, and the common parts of a building. The Scottish Government has consulted on modifications that add a minimum standard for safe kitchens, a fixed heating system, safe access to and use of common facilities including secure common doors, residual current devices, all fuel types supplying the property to be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order, and a requirement that landlords have regard to Scottish Government guidance on the condition of pipes supplying water².

The duty is not self-executing. Independent guidance is clear that the landlord is usually only responsible for repairing the problem when they become aware of it, so tenants should report the problem straight away⁷. That timing point matters more than any list of elements: a defect the landlord has never been told about is a defect the tribunal is unlikely to treat as a breach.

Scotland also runs a separate tolerable standard, and the new regulations mean that all houses in the private rented sector must meet the statutory tolerable standard³. The tolerable standard has itself been extended: the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (Tolerable Standard) (Extension of Criteria) Amendment Order 2021, instrument 2021 No. 46, moved the commencement date for adding fire and carbon monoxide detection and warning equipment to the tolerable standard from 1 February 2021 to 1 February 2022⁸. The earlier Order, the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (Tolerable Standard) (Extension of Criteria) Order 2019, extends to Scotland⁹.

For comparison, the social sector has its own regime. The Scottish Housing Quality Standard was introduced in February 2004 and means social landlords must make sure their tenants' homes are in a good state of repair, with a target agreed that all social landlords must ensure that all their dwellings pass the SHQS by April 2015¹⁰. The SHQS is made up of 55 different elements grouped into 5 higher-level criteria¹⁰. The Repairing Standard is the private rented counterpart, narrower in scope but enforceable by the tenant directly.

Which homes and tenancies the standard covers

The standard applies to private rented housing in Scotland, and the private rented sector must meet the statutory tolerable standard³. Two exclusions and extensions are worth knowing precisely. Amendments clarify that tenancies of less than 31 days for the purpose of a holiday will not be subject to the repairing standard³. At the other end, tenancies under the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993, the Small Landholders (Scotland) Acts 1886 to 1931, and the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 will then be subject to the duty to meet the repairing standard².

Energy performance sits alongside the Repairing Standard rather than inside it. Landlords of privately rented homes were required to ensure their properties achieve EPC Band E from 1 April 2020 at a change of tenancy, and then EPC Band D from 1 April 2022 at a change of tenancy¹¹. The Scottish Government's stated aim is all privately rented properties, as far as possible, reaching the equivalent of EPC C under a new, reformed EPC¹². The scale of the task was set out in an earlier consultation: dwellings below EPC D numbered 95,000 in the private rented sector, on 2015 Scottish House Condition Survey figures¹³.

Tenements and other flats account for around 40% of all homes in Scotland, so a large share of rented households sit in buildings where common parts and shared repair obligations are part of the picture¹⁴. That is where the standard's provisions on safe access to common facilities and secure common doors do real work.

Warmer Homes Scotland: why Repairing Standard tenants no longer qualify for improvements

Warmer Homes Scotland is the national improvement scheme, and its eligibility rules now draw a line at the Repairing Standard. Private rented sector properties that are covered by the statutory Repairing Standard no longer receive improvements that a landlord is legally obliged to provide, but they remain eligible for other improvements if recommended⁴. In practice, a private rented tenant whose home needs the kind of work the landlord must already do cannot route that work through the scheme.

The scheme's general eligibility is otherwise broad. Applicants must be a homeowner or the tenant of a private-sector landlord, use the property as their main residence, have lived there at least six months unless in receipt of an SR1, DS1500 or BASRiS form, have a poor energy rating, a floor area of 230m2 or less, a tolerable living standard, and council tax band A to G⁴. The scheme mainly supports owner occupiers, but it also covers tenants in private rented homes¹².

Refusals are not a new phenomenon. Scottish Government figures record applications turned down by Home Energy Scotland of 4,409 in 2016-17, 2,226 by Warmworks in the same year, 728 in 2019-20, 739 in 2020-21, 1,800 by Warmworks in 2020-21, 941 in 2021-22, 680 in 2023-24 and 249 in 2024-25, with 1,343 turned down by Warmworks in 2024-25⁵. A refusal therefore does not by itself indicate that the Repairing Standard rule was the reason.

What this means for tenants' independence from landlord decisions

The Repairing Standard gives a tenant a floor, not control. It obliges the landlord to keep the property in repair, and it gives the tenant a tribunal route when they do not. What it does not do is let the tenant decide how the home is improved. Tenants should speak to their landlord first and should not make any changes without the landlord's consent¹⁶. Independent guidance is blunter: if you rent your home, it is likely you will need permission from your landlord to make changes to your home¹⁷.

That consent requirement is the boundary of a renter's energy independence. A tenant can require repair; a tenant cannot install measures unilaterally. The landlord's own duties in this area are set out in fitness guidance: in a property rented to tenants, the landlord should make sure roof spaces are insulated, replace draughty, ill fitting windows and doors, draught proof external doors and windows but not rooms containing an open-flue gas appliance, insulate exposed water pipes, and fit the hot water tank with a good quality insulation jacket¹⁸. Those are landlord actions, not tenant ones.

There is one counterweight. Landlords must not unreasonably refuse tenant requests for energy efficiency improvements funded at no cost to the landlord, for example through grants or third-party funding¹⁹. That gives a tenant a route to ask for work that costs the landlord nothing, and it is the closest the Scottish rules come to tenant-initiated improvement in the private rented sector.

The dependence that remains is structural. The tenant depends on the landlord's willingness to act, on the tribunal to enforce, and on the landlord's own access to grant funding. Policy work in Scotland has flagged one further constraint: Electrical Safety First asks for amendment of the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 to allow a tenant or co-owner to install a charging point more easily²⁰. Until that changes, even an electric vehicle charging point in a tenement depends on others' consent.

How tenants can check and enforce the standard

The enforcement route is the defining Scottish difference. Tenants have a right to refer any landlord not complying with the carbon monoxide duty or any other element of the Repairing Standard to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber¹. That is a direct referral by the tenant, not a complaint to a council. In England, by contrast, if a landlord will not make improvements a tenant can complain to the council, which can give the landlord a fine²¹.

Before referring, the practical steps are the ones the guidance implies. Report the problem to the landlord straight away, because the landlord is usually only responsible for repairing the problem when they become aware of it⁷. Keep the report in writing. Where the property is rented, it has to be fit for habitation and it is the landlord's responsibility to ensure this²².

Quality assurance of the work itself is a separate matter. The Scottish Government has stated it will work with TrustMark to develop a new quality assurance scheme for Scotland which will enable domestic consumers, including private sector landlords, to use the scheme in accordance with BSI PAS 2035/30 standards²³. Independent consultation on Scottish building standards has also called for a requirement for the contractor to rectify any defects found, upskilling and training of installers, and incorporation of some form of post occupancy assessment and improvement²⁴.

The wider regulatory machinery sits with other bodies. The Scottish Government creates the building standards regulations and technical guidance, oversees the building approval process, and strengthens the building standards system in Scotland²⁵. The parties responsible for operation of the energy performance certificate system are the 32 Scottish local authorities and the Scottish Government²⁶. The EESSH, the social sector standard, is monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator²⁷.

For a household, the sequence is: report in writing, allow the landlord to become aware and act, and if the duty is still not met, refer to the tribunal. The standard is enforceable, but only after the landlord has had the chance to respond.