Housing Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Housing Law - Essay Example At some stage when the social housing was on the verge of collapsing, the Right to Buy made great contributions to the improvement of social change in council housing. However, only the high-income tenants were able to purchase the finest council estates. Those belonging to the small-earning tenants who are mainly dependent on welfare assistance were deprived of the privilege of better housing. The Right to Buy rather became discriminatory when only the rich tenants were favoured (Wilson, 1999). Whilst there were advantages from the elevated Scottish home ownership, the Right to Buy had its shortcomings too. This paper will show how the rights of tenants in the public sector in Scotland have gradually improved and how these tenancy rights have deteriorated in the private sector due to issues on repair and eviction. Some tenant associations crusaded for a constitutional ‘tenants charter’ with rights such as occupancy protection, reasonable rental fees, discussions, and membership. Through this campaign, the Tenants Rights (Scotland) Act 1980 established protected occupancies and other rights for tenants. The rights of the 1980 Act included the Occupancy protection; Right to a rent in print; Right to defy unfair rental provisions; Right to sublet, or occupancy transfer; Right to modify the house; Right to information about relocation and swap rules; Right to succession; and Right to purchase (â€Å"A New Single Social Housing Tenancy for Scotland: Rights, Obligations and Opportunities,† n.d.). The introduction of the Tenant’s Charter for Scotland in 1991 established protected occupancy existing rights and made an assurance to further develop these rights by lawful ways, leading to the introduction of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act in 1993. This 1993 Act consisted of the right to repair; right to reimbursement for improvements; changes to the right to buy; rent to mortgage; and right to