Housing (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2018
The Housing (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2018 received Royal Assent on 6 July 2018. This legislation is intended to lead to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reversing its decision of September 2016 to reclassify RSLs as pubic non financial corporations.
Scottish Government are now discussing with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) its plans for commencing the Act and for making the regulations on local authority influence under section 9 of the Act.
It is likely that the regulations will be similar to those that were introduced in England in November 2017, and that led to ONS reclassifying English housing associations as private bodies once again. It is intended that the regulations will commence in Scotland in October 2018.
SFHA continues to liaise closely with Scottish Government as this progresses, and will share more details of the regulations with members once these become available.