Housing & Planning

A stong rural economy is dependent on a good supply of housing. Scotland is currently suffering from a nationwide housing emergency and SLE is working tirelessly to promote policy that will help alliviate this.  

Residential Tenancies 
Land-based businesses deliver much needed rural rented housing, often at affordable rents and in areas where social providers find it most challenging.  

We are working with members, the Scottish Government, local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that the rural Private Rented Sector provides a good quality, effective housing supply, contributing to the sustainability of rural communities. SLE promotes policy that encourages the provision of rental housing, including policy which would result in better use of underutilised housing where occupation options are limited due to a lack of flexibility in the Private Residential Tenancy.   

Members can login to find an updates to legislation, including the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 and Awaab's Law in the Document Library.  

New Housing Supply
Many of our members are delivery partners in meeting Scottish Government housing targets through both large and small developments. Building rural and island housing in the current economic environment is challenging.  SLE works to increase the affordable housing supply in rural Scotland by raising awareness of the opportunities and seeking supportive policies that will improvie the viability of projects.

Please see the following case studies which illustrate some of the innovative work members have undertaken to bolster housing supply in their communities:
•    Stracathro – Affordable housing development that saved the local primary school
•    Dormont – How a Passivhaus development has helped address fuel poverty
•    Glengorm – Making more permanent and affordable homes on the Isle of Mull 
•    Kincardine Estate – Driving better funding strategies

Energy Efficiency
Rural properties are mostly traditional buildings that are known for being harder to treat so far as energy efficiency is concerned.  The EPC assessment process has not served these types of buildings well in the past and we are pleased that the Home Energy Model is being as part of the wider system improvements. In Scotland a reformed EPC, based on this new software, will provide a much more meaningful measure of a property's performance. We continue to lobby for better funding availability to assist with energy efficiency upgrades to rural properties and call for policy that promotes growth and skills development of local trades in this area.  Past Webinar Recordings are available to members wishing to learn more about energy efficiency options.  

The Private Rented Sector MEES has been published in draft.   A summary of this is available in the Document Library.   Proposals are that all PRS properties must meet Heat Retention Rating requirement of Band C or have an exemption, from 1 April 2028, at change of tenancy with a hard long stop for all properties of 2033.  SLE is working with the Scottish Government to ensure that the proposals are set fair with minimal bureaucracy for securing exemptions where Band C is unattainable. The implementation of future regulations for the PRS MEES is contingent on the introduction of the reformed EPC certificate in Scotland, which is in turn contingent on the UK government introducing the Home Energy Model. The UK has delayed the implementation of the Home Energy Model until later in 2027.  This has stalled the introduction of the reformed EPC certificate and consequently the PRS MEES until further notice. 

The Buildings (Heating and Energy Performance) and Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill has been published in draft.  This replaces the proposed Heat in Buildings Bill. This will inform how homes are heated and upgraded by setting future standards for clean heating and the expansion of heat networks.  The legislative process is expected to start early in the new parliament.    

We are also always keen to hear lived experiences of what energy efficiency measures members have carried out on their properties so we can share learnings with other members. Please contact Anna Gardiner with your stories.  A feedback survey on the ECO4 scheme can be accessed via the Policy Update page.

Empty Homes
Empty Homes are becoming increasingly common in rural areas. We are working to ensure that the complex reasons for a home being empty are understood and to make sure landlords are given assistance to bring their homes back into use where it is appropriate to do so.

Repairing Standard
New changes to the Repairing Standard came into effect on 1 March 2024.  An information sheet detailing these is available in the Document Library.

From 28 March 2027, the Repairing Standard will apply to houses on most agricultural holdings. We are working with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to ensure policymakers understand the framework of agricultural holdings legislation and how these interplay with housing. 

Planning
Planning is also fundamentally important to our rural communities. We are working to influence planning policy at a variety of levels to achieve an efficient planning system that is fit for purpose in a rural context. We are currently working on the implementation of NPF4, development management, development planning and community engagement.