First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber procedures: consultation

Annex B: Relevant and Associated Legislation

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Chambers) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/341/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/335/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/339/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Private Rented Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/337/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber and Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Composition) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/340/contents/made

• The Scottish Tribunals (Offences in Relation to Proceedings) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/342/introduction/made

• The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/232/contents/made

• The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Rules of Procedure) Amendment Regulations 2017 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/333/pdfs/ssi_20160333_en.pdf

• The Scottish Tribunals (Time Limits) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/231/contents/made

• The Private Rented Housing Panel (Tenant and Third Party Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2015 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2015/369/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Transfer of Functions of the Homeowner Housing Committees) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/336/contents/made

• The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Rules of Procedure) Amendment Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/333/contents/made

• The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/339/pdfs/ssi_20160339_en.pdf

• Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session 1994 and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (No. 2) (Miscellaneous) 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/229/contents/made

• The Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedures) 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/200/contents/made

• The Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations 2016 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/356/contents/made

• The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/14/pdfs/asp_20140014_en.pdf

• The Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2014/10/enacted

HOW WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO HELP

This consultation outlines proposals on the operational procedures of the draft First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber Rules of Procedure 2017 (the 2017 Rules).

Please read the consultation paper and give us your views on the 2017 Rules. Your answers will help us shape a single set of rules to apply across the expanded Housing and Property Chamber from December 2017.

Responding to this Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation no later than Friday 31 ^st March 2017. Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government's consultation platform, Citizen Space. You can view and respond to this consultation online at https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/better-homes-division/procedure-first-tier-tribunal-housing. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. However please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of Friday 31 ^st March 2017

Handling your response

If you respond using Citizen Space (http://consult.scotland.gov.uk/), you will be directed to the Respondent Information Form. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to published.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete the Respondent Information and question form, and return to:

Better Homes Division
Housing Services Policy Unit
Area 1H South, Victoria Quay
Commercial Street
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ

If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.scotland.gov.uk.

If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so.

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.scotland.gov.uk. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Consultations may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups, or other online methods such as Dialogue ( https://www.ideas.gov.scot)

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.