Volunteer as a Tenant Advisor to help strengthen tenant voice in social housing in Scotland

The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is recruiting Tenant Advisors. This is an exciting opportunity for tenants of social landlords to inform the Regulator’s work and bring a tenant perspective to its scrutiny of landlords’ services.

SHR is the independent regulator of registered social landlords (RSL) and local authority housing services in Scotland, working to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants, people who are homeless, and others who use social housing services.

SHR is looking for 16 motivated tenants to take on the role of Tenant Advisor– to provide their independent and unique perspective on SHR’s work, helping to ensure tenants are at the heart of SHR’s regulation of social landlords.

Applications are now open. All social housing tenants and residents of Gypsy/Traveller sites provided by RSLs and local authorities are welcome to apply. We particularly encourage applications from young people, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people and those who are care experienced. Tenant Advisors will be instrumental in helping to shape the future of social housing services in Scotland. Tenant Advisors help with SHR’s regulation work and support the Regulator by:

• Testing landlord services by assessing information, materials and services produced by landlords for their tenants.
• Reviewing and testing SHR draft publications and website facilities to help the SHR to make sure material is both accessible and user friendly for tenants.
• Participate in group discussions with other tenants and service users to discuss and assess the quality of service provided by social landlords and SHR; to give SHR a direct, user perspective to add to other regulatory evidence.

The Tenants Information Service (TIS) will work in partnership and support the SHR in the recruitment of Tenant Advisors.

Garry Coutts, Chair at the Scottish Housing Regulator explains:

“Our role is to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and service users, and we can only do this if we understand what matters to them.

“Tenants are a diverse group with different needs and priorities, so it’s important that we work with as broad a range of people as possible to reflect these in our work.

“I’d encourage tenants from all backgrounds, with experience of the wide range of services social landlords provide, to apply. We will work closely with our Tenant Advisors to gain their perspective on the services delivered by social landlords across the country.”

The skills we’re looking for from Tenants Advisors include:

• good communication skills – both written and verbal
• good interpersonal skills
• able to listen to other views and opinions and challenge others in an appropriate and constructive way
• able to interpret information from different documents and provide feedback
• working knowledge of IT equipment, email, and word processing

Applicants don’t need any formal qualifications, training, or experience to become a Tenant Advisor, and volunteers will get ongoing support with their role.

Kerry Clayton, Chief Executive at TIS added:

“We are thrilled to work alongside the Scottish Housing Regulator in their recruitment of 16 Tenant Advisors. This voluntary role is a fantastic opportunity for tenants across Scotland to get involved and play an active role in helping to improve social housing services.

“Tenants from all backgrounds are invited to apply and will gain opportunities to take on new challenges and build on personal development skills. If you are passionate about making a positive change, we would love to hear from you.”

This is a voluntary position with a small allowance and reasonable expenses like travel and childcare costs covered when carrying out Tenant Advisor work.

How to apply

If you’re interested in this voluntary role and you would like to apply to be a Tenant Advisor you can:

Find out more by reading the Volunteer Tenant Advisor information pack Information Pack – SHR Volunteer Tenant Advisor

or Volunteer Tenant Advisor flyer: Volunteer Tenant Advisor- flyer

Apply online here: Volunteer Tenant Advisor- Scottish Housing Regulator  – Fill in form

Download an application form to fill in and send to us: Application Form – SHR Volunteer Tenant Advisors

Contact TIS on our free phone line 0800 488 0982 or email info@tis.org.uk