Not-for-profit repair service. With almost half of Scottish homes failing basic quality standards, we need to make it easier for people to make necessary improvements and manage large-scale work. We will propose a not-for-profit service to manage major repairs including to tenements. This could be done by existing housing associations, or a network of local services, including local authority companies, housing associations, and voluntary agencies. Such a network would develop expertise in commissioning and managing repair works and would have better purchasing power by operating on a large scale.
Financial support for building repairs. The cost of repair work is a barrier to improving our housing stock. People need to be able to carry out essential repairs and improvements at an affordable rate. We will press for the removal of VAT on building repairs, and we will propose targeted help with financing repairs – for example, energy efficiency grants for low income households, interest-free loans paid back through an incremental increase on property tax, or options to defer paying repair costs until the property is sold.
End fuel poverty. Over one third of people in Scotland are in fuel poverty; this is a national disgrace and we need a bold approach to meet the challenge of ending fuel poverty once and for all. Green MSPs will continue to make energy efficiency a national priority, calling for the expansion of area-based retrofitting schemes and pushing the boundaries of newly devolved powers to design a Scottish fuel poverty scheme funded by the largest energy companies. We will push for all homes to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate of Band C by 2025 and support the introduction of minimum energy efficiency standards at the point of sale or rent. Some current schemes are over-complicated (for customers and for suppliers) – we’ll push to streamline the processes for getting access to funding and enhance the national advice service currently provided by Energy Saving Trust.
