Scottish House Condition Survey: 2024 Key Findings

5 Housing Conditions

5.1 Disrepair

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) measures disrepair for a wide range of different building elements ranging from aspects of roofs and walls, to chimney stacks, internal rooms, and common parts of shared buildings like access balconies, and entry doors.

This is reported in two categories:

• Critical elements. This refers to disrepair to building elements central to weather-tightness, structural stability and preventing deterioration of the property, such as roof coverings or the structure of external walls. These elements are listed in section 2.7.1 of the Methodological and Technical notes.
• Non-critical elements. This relates to any damage to a non-critical element (such as skirtings and internal wall finishes, staircases, boundary fences or attached garages) which requires some repair beyond routine maintenance.

Elements in both of the above categories can be assessed according to the severity of disrepair, as follows:

• Urgent disrepair. This relates only to external and common elements (a mixture of critical and non-critical). Urgent disrepair to these elements is recorded where immediate repair is required to prevent further deterioration to the building fabric or health and safety risks to occupants. Not all disrepair to critical elements is necessarily considered urgent by the surveyor. However, internal room floor structures and floor finishes as well as internal walls and the presence of dry / wet rot are the only critical elements for which urgent disrepair is not recorded.
• Extensive disrepair. Damage which covers at least a fifth (20%) or more of the building element area. This can apply to any element whether critical or otherwise.

Disrepair, which is not to a critical element, is not urgent or extensive, is referred to as basic. This is the minimum category of disrepair in the survey.

A correction has been applied to the extensive disrepair to one to more critical element timeseries figures, See section 2.7.3 of the Technical and methodological notes for more details.

More detailed description of the categories of disrepair is given in section 2.7 of the Methodological and Technical notes.

It is fairly common for dwellings to display elements of disrepair in more than one category. The SHCS surveyor manual provides guidance for our surveyors on assessing the type and severity of disrepair for each element, for example:

• A leaking tap in the bathroom (disrepair to a non-critical element).
• A large section (covering over 20% of the area) of the render on an external wall has broken off but is not considered an urgent repair by the surveyor (extensive disrepair to a critical element).
• A small area of guttering is damaged, causing rainwater to pour down an external wall surface. This is marked as urgent by the surveyor as it is likely to lead to further damage and compromise the weatherproofing of the building in the short term (urgent disrepair to a critical element).

Key Points

• Disrepair to critical elements, which are central to weather-tightness, structural stability and preventing deterioration of the property, stood at 48% in 2024. Less than half of these (19% of all dwellings) had urgent disrepair to critical elements and just 2% had extensive disrepair (covering at least a fifth of the element area) to critical elements.
• Overall, this is an increase of around 3 percentage points compared to 2023, when 45% of dwellings had disrepair to critical elements.
• 16% of dwellings had disrepair to non-critical elements only, with 4% of dwellings requiring some urgent repair to non-critical elements, and 1% having extensive disrepair to non-critical elements.
• Levels of damp and condensation were similar to those seen in 2023: 90% of properties were free from any damp or condensation. The proportion of dwellings without mould improved in 2024: 92% of properties were free from mould compared to 90% in 2023.

Infographic 5.1: Number of dwellings to display elements of disrepair in more than one category, 2024. 

Infographic 5.1 is an upset plot which shows the overlap of different types of disrepair in Scottish dwellings graphically. The vertical axis shows the number of dwellings with different combinations of disrepair. For example, 486,000 (19%) had urgent disrepair (to any element) as well as disrepair to critical elements, while 100,000 dwellings (4%) had disrepair to critical elements as well as urgent and extensive disrepair (to any elements). In 2024 around 32,000 dwellings (1%) had extensive disrepair (to any element) and disrepair to critical elements. 917,000 (36%) dwellings had no disrepair to any element.

The horizontal axis shows the total number of dwellings within each type of disrepair including overlaps between groups. For example, around 1.23 million dwellings had disrepair to a critical element (48%) while 157,000 (6%) dwellings were recorded as having some extensive disrepair.

It should be noted that where categories overlap in the above figure, this means that the properties have instances of each type of disrepair. However, this disrepair may be to different elements. For example, 486,000 (19%) of properties have disrepair to critical elements and urgent disrepair. This can include properties where disrepair to an element (e.g. guttering) is both critical and urgent as well as properties which have critical disrepair to one element (e.g. external wall finish) and urgent disrepair to another (e.g. flashings).

Data Source: Table HC1 in ‘SHCS 2024 - Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 10] [note 11] [note 12]

5.1.1 Rates of Disrepair

Levels of disrepair to critical elements increased from 45% in 2023 to 48% in 2024.

Figure 5.1: Percentage of dwellings with disrepair to critical elements, 2012-2024.

Description of Figure 5.1

Figure 5.1 provides details of rates of disrepair over time for dwellings with disrepair to critical elements. In 2024, disrepair to critical elements stood at 48% of all dwellings. Less than half, 19% of all dwellings, had instances of urgent disrepair to these critical elements and only 2% of dwellings had extensive disrepair to one or more critical elements. These dwellings may also have other instances of disrepair (including urgent and extensive) to non-critical elements.

Data Source: Table HC2a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 9] [note 10] [note 11] [note 12]

In 2024, 16% of dwellings had disrepair only to non-critical elements.

Figure 5.2: Percentage of dwellings with disrepair only to non-critical elements, 2012-2024.

Description of Figure 5.2

Figure 5.2 shows the rates of disrepair over time for dwellings with disrepair to non-critical elements only. In 2024, 16% of dwellings had disrepair to non-critical elements, with 4% of dwellings requiring some urgent repair to non-critical elements, and 1% having extensive disrepair to non-critical elements.

Data Source: Table HC2a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 10] [note 11]

In 2024, 27% of properties had some instances of urgent disrepair.

Figure 5.3: Percentage of dwellings with any disrepair 2012-2024.

Description of Figure 5.3

Urgent and extensive disrepair can apply to both critical and non-critical elements. Figure 5.3 shows the rates of this type of disrepair regardless of element type. In 2024, 27% of properties had some instances of urgent disrepair, an increase of 4 percentage points since 2023. However, in 2024, 6% of the housing stock had some extensive disrepair present, an improvement from 9% in 2012.

Data Source: Table HC3 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 10] [note 11]

5.1.2 Disrepair to Critical Elements

This section examines in more detail disrepair to critical elements (affecting 48% of dwellings in 2024) and its prevalence across tenure, dwelling age bands and location.

As shown above in Infographic 5.1, in some of those dwellings with disrepair to critical elements there was also some urgent disrepair (not necessarily to the same element, or the critical elements), accounting for 23% of the housing stock.

In 2024, 4% of the housing stock, in addition to the presence of disrepair to critical elements and urgent disrepair, had some disrepair to the property assessed as extensive.

5.1.2.1 Dwelling age and location

The prevalence of disrepair to critical elements is associated with age of construction.

Figure 5.4: Disrepair to critical elements by dwelling age, 2023 and 2024.

Description of Figure 5.4

The prevalence of disrepair to critical elements is associated with age of construction, with newer dwellings significantly less likely to fall within this category. Figure 5.4 shows that dwellings built pre-1919 have a rate of disrepair to critical elements of 68%, with 32% having urgent disrepair to critical elements. Comparatively dwellings built after 1982 have lower rates of disrepair to critical elements at 28%, with 11% also having urgent disrepair to critical elements.

Overall, rates of disrepair, extensive disrepair, and urgent disrepair to critical elements across all dwelling age bands remained broadly similar between 2023 and 2024, with some notable exceptions. Specifically, the proportion of dwellings recorded as having urgent disrepair to critical elements increased between 2023 and 2024 for dwellings built after 1982, (from 6% to 11%) and in urban dwellings from 16% to 19%. Additionally, the proportion of pre 1919 dwellings with any disrepair to critical elements, and any urgent and any extensive disrepair increased between 2023 to 2024 from 4% to 7%.

Data Source: Table HC4a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 9] [note 10] [note 11] [note 12]

In 2024, rates of disrepair to critical elements were similar between urban and rural areas for most categories.

Figure 5.5: Disrepair to critical elements by dwelling location, 2023 and 2024.

Description of Figure 5.5

In 2024, rates of disrepair were similar between urban and rural areas for the three categories shown. Furthermore, rates of disrepair were similar between 2023 and 2024 for most of the categories and areas shown with the exception of rates of urgent disrepair to one or more critical elements for urban areas which were higher in 2024 (19%) compared to 16% in 2023.

The above figures consider the presence of critical, urgent, and extensive disrepair within a dwelling. However, these do not necessarily apply to the same elements in every case.

Data Source: Table HC4 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 1] [note 9] [note 10] [note 11] [note 12]

Table HC4 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’  provides further breakdowns for dwellings which have disrepair to critical elements and urgent disrepair as well as dwellings with extensive or urgent disrepair to critical elements. In general, the prevalence of disrepair to critical elements is associated with age of construction, with newer post 1982 dwellings significantly less likely to have extensive disrepair to critical elements (1%) or urgent disrepair to critical elements (11%) than pre 1919 dwellings 3% and 32% respectively.

5.1.2.2 Tenure

In 2024, levels of disrepair to critical elements differ by housing tenure.

Figure 5.6: Disrepair to critical elements by tenure, 2023 and 2024.

Description of Figure 5.6

As shown in Figure 5.6 private rented properties tend to have the highest levels (65%) of any disrepair to critical elements. In contrast, housing association, local authority and owner occupied properties have lower rates than private rented properties. Additionally in 2024 rates any disrepair to critical elements were statistically similar between housing association, local authority and owner occupied properties and ranged from 48% to 45%.

Data Source: Table HC5a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’

Notes:[note 9] [note 10] [note 11] [note 12]

5.1.2.3 Type of Disrepair to Critical Elements

As shown in Infographic 5.2 although some disrepair to critical elements is fairly common it tends to be at a relatively low level in each property, affecting on average (median) 2.5% of the relevant area. A full list of elements in this category is provided in section 2.7.1 of the Methodological and Technical notes along with details of how the extent of disrepair is recorded in the survey for each type, and how an average extent is calculated.

Infographic 5.2: The number of dwellings affected and average (median) extent of disrepair to external critical elements.

Description of Infographic 5.2

Wall finish, gutters / downpipes, roof coverings and chimney stacks are most commonly affected. Around 25% of dwellings had some disrepair to wall finish, 16% had some disrepair to gutters / downpipes, 16% had some disrepair to roof coverings- and 24% to chimney stacks; however, in all four cases the average (median) disrepair covered around 2.5% of the area. Where stone pointing, render or harling on walls is damaged, moisture can seep into the structure of the walls and cause further damage. Similarly slipped roof tiles or slates can allow water to access the roof structure or the tops of internal walls. Unchecked disrepair to chimney stacks can lead to water ingress and eventually falling masonry.

Data Source: Table HC6 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes [note 10] [note 12] [note 13] [note 14]

5.1.3 Damp, Mould and Condensation

The definitions of mould, damp and condensation are provided in section 2.8 of the Methodological and Technical notes.

Condensation, rising or penetrating damp, or mould recorded in the SHCS can cover anything from a small damp patch or area of condensation on a single wall in one room (caused for example by ineffective ventilation whilst cooking) to prevalence throughout the entire dwelling. Therefore, it does not indicate a serious housing quality issue in all cases.

The incidence of these defects in isolation and together is given in Figure 5.7.

In 2024, around 92% of all dwellings in Scotland were free from mould.

Figure 5.7: Presence of damp, mould and condensation, 2012 to 2024.

Description of Figure 5.7

Around 90% of all dwellings in 2024 were free from any form of condensation or damp. This rate has been stable in recent years but represents an overall improvement from 86% in 2012. In 2024, 92% of all dwellings were free from mould, an improvement from 90% in 2023.

In 2024, 3% of the housing stock (around 80,000 dwellings) suffered from some degree of penetrating damp. The presence of penetrating damp has fluctuated between 2% and 4% across the past 12 years of the survey. There were a very small number of properties with rising damp in the survey sample in 2024, suggesting that their share in the housing stock is less than 0.5%. Condensation was observed in 8% of the surveyed stock (around 199,000 dwellings) which is similar to recent years. However, this represents a reduction from 11% in 2012. In 2024, mould was observed in 8% of the housing stock (around 195,000 dwellings). This percentage has fluctuated between 8% and 10% since 2013.  Breakdowns of the prevalence of mould and damp by housing characteristics such as dwelling age, and tenure are available in an interactive dashboard.

Data Source: Table HC7a in  ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

5.2 Housing Quality Standards

Key Points

• In 2024, 28% (or 702,000) of all dwellings fell below the Tolerable Standard, similar to 2023.
• The vast majority of dwellings failing the Tolerable Standard did not have satisfactory equipment for detecting and warning in the event of fire (76% or 532,000 dwellings) or against high levels of carbon monoxide (55% or 383,000 dwellings).
• For dwellings failing the smoke alarm criteria this represents a decrease of around 5 percentage points compared to 2023. However, the proportion of dwellings failing the carbon monoxide criteria was similar to 2023.
• The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) failure rate in the social sector was 41%, this has fallen from 60% in 2010. Failures of the Energy Efficient criterion were the biggest driver of failures overall. In 2024, 25% of social sector properties did not meet the Energy Efficient criterion.
• The SHQS failure rate in the private sector was 58% and is driven primarily by failures of the Below Tolerable Standard criterion (32%) and the Energy Efficient criterion (35%).
• The majority of dwellings falling below the SHQS failed on a single criterion; this accounted for more than 7 out of 10 failures in the social sector.
• For 69% of social homes failing the SHQS this was due to falling short on just one of the 55 elements which make up the standard.

5.2.1 Housing Standards

Two housing quality standards are set by the Scottish Government and monitored through the Scottish House Condition Survey. These are:

• The Tolerable Standard. A "condemnatory" standard which means that it is not reasonable to expect people to continue to live in a house that falls below it[1].
• The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). This was introduced in February 2004 and means social landlords must make sure their tenants' homes are in a good state of repair, energy efficient, healthy, safe and secure. A target was agreed that all social landlords must ensure that all their dwellings pass the SHQS by April 2015.
• Since 2012 this target has been incorporated in the Scottish Social Housing Charter, and the performance of landlords has been monitored by the independent Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). For more information on the SHQS see section 2.11 of the Methodological and Technical notes.
• Private owners and private landlords are currently under no obligation to bring their properties up to the SHQS standard. However, SHCS collects the same data for all dwellings to allow comparison across the housing stock.

5.2.2 Tolerable Standard

In 2024, 28% of all dwellings (around 702,000) fell below the tolerable standard.

Figure 5.8: Dwellings below tolerable standard (BTS), 2012 to 2024.

Description of Figure 5.8

Figure 5.8 shows that in 2024, 28% of all dwellings in Scotland fell below the tolerable standard, similar to 2023. The sharp increase in the proportion of below tolerable standard dwellings from 2% in 2019 to 29% in 2022, is due to the two new below tolerable standard criteria that were introduced in 2022 (assessing the presence, type and condition of smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms).

Data Source: Table HC8 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 15]

In 2024, 32% of private sector and 12% of social sector dwellings fell below tolerable standard.

Figure 5.9: Dwellings below tolerable standard (BTS) by tenure, 2024.

Description of Figure 5.9

As shown in Figure 5.9 the 32% of dwellings in the private sector fell below the tolerable standard, higher than the social sector at 12%. Looking at the private sector in a more disaggregated way we see that the proportion of owned outright and mortgaged dwellings failing the tolerable standard was similar at 33% and 35% respectively, while the rate for private rented sector dwellings was lower at 25%.

The proportion of dwellings estimated below tolerable standard was higher for older dwellings, 33% for pre-1919 dwellings compared to 24% for post 1965 dwellings.

Data Source: Table HC9a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Dwellings which failed the tolerable standard in 2024 most commonly did so because they failed the two criteria assessing the presence, type and condition of smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms.

Figure 5.10: Below tolerable standard (BTS) dwellings by individual tolerable standard criteria failures, 2024.

Description of Figure 5.10

Figure 5.10 shows that of the 702,000 dwellings which failed to reach the tolerable standard in 2024 the majority failed due to the two criteria assessing the presence, type and condition of smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms.

• 76% of below tolerable standard dwellings (around 532,000 dwellings) did not have satisfactory equipment for detecting and warning in the event of fire, a decrease of around 5 percentage points compared to 2023.
• 55% of below tolerable standard dwellings (around 383,000 dwellings) did not have satisfactory equipment for warning against high levels of carbon monoxide, similar to the 2023 figure of 59%.

Other reasons causing dwellings to fail the tolerable standard in 2024 were:

• not free from rising/penetrating damp[2] (14,000 or 2% of BTS dwellings).

• unsafe electrical systems (11,000 or 2% of BTS dwellings).

Data Source: Table HC10a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

 

5.2.3 Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS)

The SHQS is made up of 55 different elements grouped into 5 higher-level criteria:

• Tolerable Standard (A)
• Serious Disrepair (B)
• Energy Efficiency (C)
• Modern Facilities and Services (D)
• and Healthy, Safe and Secure (E)

In the SHCS 54 of the 55 individual elements are assessed by surveyors trained to collect detailed information on housing characteristics. Only one element is not assessed using SHCS data: no information is collected on external noise insulation[3]. The data collected is subsequently aggregated by Scottish Government analysts into higher level measures for each of the 5 criteria and the standard overall.

In 2024, 54% of dwellings failed to meet the SHQS.

Figure 5.11: Dwellings failing SHQS, 2010 to 2024.

Description of Figure 5.11

Figure 5.11 shows the overall results for the Scottish housing stock, covering the period 2010 to 2024. In 2024, the SHQS failure rate was 54%, similar to 2023. Similar, to overall failure rates of the tolerable standard, the introduction of the two new below tolerable standard criteria in 2022, led to a sharp increase in the proportion of dwellings failing to meet the SHQS from 43% in 2019 to 58% in 2022.

Data Source: Table HC11a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 15] [note 16]

In 2024, the highest failure rate was with respect to the Not Energy Efficient criterion (33%) followed by the BTS criterion (28%).

Figure 5.12: Dwellings failing SHQS individual criteria, 2010 to 2024.

Description of Figure 5.12

As in previous years, the highest failure rate was with respect to the not Energy Efficient criterion at 33%, which is similar to 2023 levels. This was followed by the below tolerable standard criterion at 28% again similar to 2023 levels.

In 2024 the failure rate for the Healthy, Safe and Secure criterion (10%), Modern Facilities criterion, (7%), and the Serious Disrepair[4] criterion (1%) were all also similar to 2023.

Data Source: Table HC11a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 15] [note 16]

​​​​​​​5.2.3.1 Compliance with SHQS by Tenure, Dwelling Age and Location

The overall SHQS failure rate in 2024 stood at 41% for the social sector and 58% for the private sector.

Figure 5.13: Dwellings failing SHQS by dwelling characteristic, 2024.

Description of Figure 5.13

Figure 5.13 shows the proportion of properties failing the SHQS by selected characteristics. The lowest failure rates are found in the newest dwellings (post-1982, 31%) and in Housing Association (36%) and Local Authority properties (44%). Conversely, households in the PRS had the highest failure rates at 64%. Subsequently the overall SHQS failure rate for social sector housing in 2024 stood at 41%, lower than the private sector at 58%.

Data Source: Table HC12a in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

​​​​​​​5.2.3.2 Individual SHQS Criteria

Failure rates for each criterion of the SHQS for private and social sector housing since 2010 are available in Table HC13 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

As shown in Figure 5.12 between 2010 and 2017, there was a consistent trend of falling rates of SHQS failures, which then remained similar between 2018 and 2019. Although in some cases the survey sample is not large enough to measure accurately year-on-year changes for each criterion. In 2022, the sharp increase in Below Tolerable Standard (BTS) criterion failure and SHQS failures overall is due to the introduction of two new BTS criteria.

In 2024, the highest failure rates in the private sector were with respect to the not Energy Efficient criterion (35%), and the BTS criterion (32%). Comparatively in the social sector it was the not Energy Efficient criterion (25%).

Figure 5.14: SHQS criteria failure rates by tenure, 2024.

Description of Figure 5.14

The SHCS estimates that 41% of social sector housing failed to meet the SHQS in 2024. This was predominantly due to the not Energy Efficient criterion, where 25% of properties failed. Other failure rates were lower with 12% failing the Below Tolerable Standard criterion, while 6% failed the Healthy, Safe and Secure criterion and 8% failed the Modern Facilities criterion. A small proportion (1%) failed the Serious Disrepair criterion.

If the SHQS applied to private sector housing, around 58% would have failed to meet it in 2024. This would be primarily due to 32% of private sector properties failing to meet the Below Tolerable Standard criterion and 35% failing to meet the Energy Efficient criterion. Additionally, 11% of the properties would also fail the Healthy, Safe and Secure criterion and 7% would fail the Modern Facilities criterion. A small proportion (1%) would fail the Serious Disrepair criterion.

Data Source: Table HC13 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

​​​​​​​5.2.3.2 Number of Criteria and Elements Failing

In the large majority of cases failure to meet the SHQS is due to a dwelling not passing one criterion or even a single element. As the standard incorporates 55 different elements, it is generally sufficient for a dwelling to fail on a single one of these in order to be considered not satisfying the higher level criterion requirement and the SHQS overall[5].

Since 2010, the majority of failures in both the private and social sector were due to failure on a single SHQS criterion.

Figure 5.15: Proportion of dwellings by numbers of SHQS criteria failures and sector, 2010 to 2024.

Description of Figure 5.15

Figure 5.15 shows the distribution of dwellings for the private and social sector by number of criteria failed. Since 2010, the majority of failures in both private and social sector dwellings have been due to a single criterion.

In 2024, 37% of private sector dwellings, and 30% of social sector dwellings failed due to not passing one SHQS criterion.

Data Source: Table HC14 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

Notes: [note 15] [note 16]

In 2024, the majority of dwellings failing the SHQS failed due to a single criterion.

Figure 5.16: Proportion of dwellings failing by number of SHQS criteria failures and sector in 2024.

Description of Figure 5.16

Figure 5.16 presents the distribution of dwellings which failed the SHQS by number of criterion failed and tenure. For dwellings which failed the SHQS the majority of failures in 2024 were due to a single criterion: 63% in the private sector, 75% in the social sector and 65% of all dwellings failed due to single criterion.

Data Source: Table HC14 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’.

In 2024, 56% of dwellings failing the SHQS did so because of a single element.

Figure 5.17: Proportion of dwellings failing the SHQS by numbers of SHQS elements failed and sector, 2024.

​​​​​​​

Description of Figure 5.17

Figure 5.17 presents the distribution of dwellings failing the SHQS by number of elements failed and sector. The majority of failures in 2024 were due to a single element failure: 53% of private sector, 69% of social sector, and 56% of all failing dwellings failed due to 1 element.

Data Source: Table HC15 in ‘SHCS 2024- Chapter 05 Housing Conditions - tables and figures’

 

[1] The Tolerable Standard was amended by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (Tolerable Standard) (Extension of Criteria) Order 2019 and from 2022 includes a new element covering smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarms. For more information on the Tolerable Standard see section 2.10 of the Methodological and Technical notes.

[2] In general, fewer dwellings fail the tolerable standard based on the presence of rising or penetrating damp than experience this issue overall. For more information see section 2.10 of the Methodological and Technical notes.

[3] Compliance with this element will be considered in social landlords’ annual reporting to the Scottish Housing Regulator on properties meeting the SHQS.

[4] ‘Serious disrepair’ under the SHQS is not always equal to the disrepair categories quoted in the Section 5.1 of this report. In general a primary element fails the SHQS if more than 20% of the element requires repair or replacement, whereas disrepair recorded in the SHCS does not need to meet this threshold.  More information about the ‘Serious Disrepair’ criterion failures and a full list of assessed elements is available on the  SHQS Technical Guidance for Social Landlords (pdf).​​​​​​​

[5] There is an exception to this principle with respect to 14 secondary building elements where failure on at least two is required for a building to be considered not meeting the standard overall. The full guidance is available at Improving housing standards - Social housing.