The Scottish Government has set out a series of actions and long term commitments in its Heat in Buildings Strategy to accelerate the decarbonisation of homes and buildings across Scotland in order to meet its net zero target by 2045.

The 2021 Autumn Budget will be delivered on October 27 alongside a three-year spending review and HM Treasury’s call for representations to be considered as part of its decisions closed 30 September 2021.

The Welsh Parliament’s Local Government and Housing Committee recently invited views on what the priorities of the committee should be during the Sixth Senedd with emphasis on priority areas to be addressed.

The RoPA Steering Group recently consulted on its draft Block Management Sector Code as part of its commitment to elevate standards within the sector.

A new licensing scheme is being developed to help ensure that short term lets are safe and help address issues faced by local residents and communities. All Scottish councils will have to adopt a short-term lets licensing system by October 2022.

There is equally high demand for new housing between homes for private ownership, within the PRS and social housing with not enough homes available to fulfil the growth in demand.

The Law Commission has recently consulted on its draft 14th Programme of Law Reform, which sets out the areas of law that it intends to review.

Views on draft guidance for the UK internal market function and the role of the Office for the Internal Market (OIM), which was created to carry out independent advice were sought by the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).

The Department for Communities has issued a Call for Evidence on its Housing Supply Strategy, which sets out its intentions to increase the amount of housing across all tenures so that every household can access a good quality, affordable and sustainable home.

The New Homes Quality Board has consulted on its draft Code of Practice, which outlines the guiding principles and practical steps that new homes builders across the UK must follow if they opt to be registered with the NHQB.

We have urged consistency across tenancy agreements and suggested the introduction of a checklist to support landlords and agents to comply with the new rules.

The UK Government will introduce a legislative backstop where commercial property negotiations are not successful all sides go into binding mediation. This will help tenants and landlords work together to come to an agreement on how to handle the money owed.

We reiterated our long-standing views that the UK Government must ensure that the Flood Re scheme is extended, and insurance is provided at reasonable rates to private landlords, leaseholders and small businesses.

We responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation on improving building safety by supporting the proposed measures. However, we also urged them to consider the height of buildings, occupation and material used to build property to determine fire risk rather than simply the number of dwellings.

We responded to the UK Government’s consultation on improving home energy performance through lenders by raising concerns that the proposed targets are unrealistic, too simplistic and could deter people from moving home.

We submitted our formal written representation to HM Treasury on new policy ideas for both estate and letting agents to be included in the UK Government’s Budget on 3 March 2021.