Meeting of the Parliament 30 September 2025
I will speak to amendment 309 and my other amendments in the group. Amendment 309 would require relevant bodies to ask individuals who they have reason to believe might be homeless or threatened with homelessness whether their situation arose as a result of either past or on-going experience of abuse.
Amendment 310 would define “abuse” under the definition that is outlined in section 43 of the bill, as conduct
“giving rise, or likely to give rise, to physical or mental injury, fear, alarm or distress”.
Amendments 311 and 312 would require the relevant body, where it is informed that a person is either homeless or threatened with homelessness
“as a consequence of ... having experienced or experiencing abuse”
to provide details of support to that person.
15:15Amendments 328 and 329 were lodged after discussions with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, which highlighted the need for greater security for victims of domestic abuse who may be left vulnerable to homelessness after ending a joint tenancy with their abusers.
Amendment 328 would allow a joint tenant who
“has experienced, is experiencing or is at risk of domestic abuse”
to end their interest in the tenancy
“without giving notice to each of the other joint tenants”.
The amendment, which would apply to registered social landlords, would require that, when a landlord receives notice under the provision, they
“must provide the tenant with details of such other support that may be available to the tenant in relation to domestic abuse”.
The amendment would address a gap in the law and similar issues, which I spoke to last week in relation to my amendment 293.
Social landlords are clear that they need such a statutory footing in order to be able to implement their domestic abuse policies—I stress that amendment 328 relates to social landlords, not the private sector. I raised the issue at stage 2 and discussed it with the cabinet secretary and her predecessor. Given that the amendment relates to domestic abuse in circumstances in which the landlord accepts that there is or has been domestic abuse, a longer period than one week’s notice should not be required; one week’s notice is sufficient.
As I said, the provision in amendment 328 has been requested by social landlords. For example, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations said in its briefing:
“We strongly support amendment 328”.
It believes that the new section that the amendment proposes is needed for registered social landlords to be able to implement domestic abuse policies, which has been asked for by various campaigns.
Amendment 329, which also relates to social landlords, would require a domestic abuse policy to include the steps that can be taken to write off rent arrears where there has been domestic abuse.
I move amendment 309.