Tenant Handbook

Your tenancy agreement is the document you signed at the start of your tenancy.

We give all our tenants a Scottish Secure Tenancy, although we can use a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy in special circumstances.

Your tenancy agreement sets out the terms and conditions of your tenancy. This will also let you know what rights and responsibilities you have for the property as well as what you can expect from us. Please keep your tenancy agreement in a safe place. You must use the property as your main home.

Scottish Secure Tenancy (SST)

The Scottish Secure Tenancy gives you ‘security of tenure’, which means you can keep your tenancy for as long as you want, unless you break the conditions of the tenancy.

The Scottish Secure Tenancy can only end in one of the following ways:

• If you give us 28 days’ notice in writing that you want to end your tenancy
• If we agree with you in writing that you can end your tenancy
• If we take court action to take back your home under one or more of the grounds set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001
• If you die and no-one meets the legal conditions to take over your tenancy
• If you, or a member of your household has an antisocial behaviour order, and we take action to change your tenancy to a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy
• A joint tenant (someone who shares your tenancy) can end their part of the tenancy by giving us and you (and any other joint tenants) 28 days notice.

Short Scottish Secure Tenancy (SSST)

There are some circumstances in which we may offer you a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy (SSST). You can find out more about different tenancies and your rights at www.scotland.gov.uk

When you signed your tenancy agreement you agreed that you would pay your rent monthly in advance due on the 1st of each month.

Your rent account should be one month in advance even if you pay weekly, fortnightly or four weekly rather than monthly. It is your responsibility to make this happen whether you are working or claiming benefits.

It is important that your rent and service charges are paid regularly and on time. If you don’t pay your rent you are at risk of losing your home.

You can pay us your rent and service charge in the following ways:

• By direct debit (contact our office for a direct debit form)
• Over the phone by calling our office on 0141 429 3900 You can also call Allpay direct on 0330 041 6497
• At any pay point (including Post Office using a rent payment card
• By Housing Benefit, which is paid directly to us
• By Universal Credit
• Using a debit or credit card
• Online at allpay.net

We do not accept cash payments at our office.

If you are struggling to pay your rent, our Welfare Rights Officers may be able to help. They can help you find out what benefits you are entitled to, and help you with the application process. Contact us to see what they can do for you.

Our rents are calculated using a formula that takes account of the size and type of property and any amenities, improvements or adaptations we have provided. This means that the rent for larger properties with more features, such as a balcony or extra bathrooms, is higher than for smaller properties without these features.

We aim to keep rent charges affordable for our tenants, particularly those on low incomes, while also covering the costs of managing and maintaining our properties.

Our rents are reviewed each year, taking into account our costs and affordability for our tenants. Any rent increase agreed upon will be applied once a year, at the end of March.

We will consult you on any changes we plan to make to rent and service charges. The Management Committee take your views into account before a decision is made. We try to keep rent increases low. We will give you at least 28 days’ notice in writing of any increase to rent or service charges.

We will also send you a yearly statement of your rent account to let you see the payments you have made in the previous year. We will also provide you with an annual calendar so you know when payments are due for the year ahead.

• The maintenance of all installations provided for heating, water heating and sanitation and for the supply of water, gas and electricity
• To maintain drains, gutters and external pipes (excluding blockages caused by tenant carelessness)
• Internal and external walls, floors, ceilings, doors and doorframes (excluding internal decoration)
• To provide buildings insurance
• Chimneystacks and flues
• Pathways, steps or other means of access
• Boundary walls and fences
• Bulk waste uplift (this is included in your rent).

• To keep the interior of your home clean and in good decorative order
• To keep common areas, such as communal stairs and bin sheds, clean and tidy
• To keep the common grounds tidy
• To report all repairs, including those caused by accidental damage or vandalism, to New Gorbals Housing Association
• To allow our employees and our approved contractors access at all reasonable times to inspect the property and carry out repairs or safety inspections
• To repair any items damaged through your, a member of your household’s or a visitor to your home’s, neglect or carelessness e.g. blocked toilet
• To ensure reasonable precautions are taken to protect your home from fire, flood or frost
• To protect your personal belongings with a contents insurance policy
• To carry out minor routine repairs such as sink plugs or chains, light bulbs, and smoke alarm batteries
• To cover any costs that result from forcing entry due to lost keys

• Pests/vermin
• Roads
• Fly Tipping

You can report any of the above through the MyGlasgow App.

All repairs related to your property should be reported to us. If you have a repair that requires attention, please help us fulfill our responsibilities by reporting it to us without delay either by telephone on 0141 429 3900 or via our online form.

Repairs fall into three categories:

• Emergency repairs
• Right to repair
• Routine repairs

We follow different timescales based on the type of repair reported:

• Emergency Repair – we will make safe within 4 hours
• Urgent Repair – we will aim to complete within 3 working days
• Routine Repair – we will aim to complete within 10 working days.

All emergencies related to your property should be reported to New Gorbals Housing Association.

In an emergency out with our office opening hours you should call 0800 783 7937.

Please do not call out our emergency contractor after hours for non-emergency repairs. If this is found to be the case, we reserve the right to recharge you for the cost.

During your tenancy we will carry out any necessary repairs to keep the property windproof, watertight and fit to live in.

Normally we will arrange to have these repairs carried out as either a routine or urgent repair.

There are some small repairs which are considered urgent and which are covered under the Scottish Government’s ‘Right to Repair’. These are known as qualifying repairs and you can find a full list of qualifying repairs over the page.

When you report a repair to us, we will let you know if it is a qualifying repair. If our contractor does not attend to the qualifying repair within the specified timescale, then you can instruct another contractor from our list to carry out the work. We will provide you with the contact details of another contractor, in writing when you report a qualifying repair to us.

If our contractor fails to attend to your repair within the given timescale then you will be entitled to £15 for the missed appointment and an additional £3 for each working day until the repair has been completed. This amount can add up to a maximum payment of £100 for any one repair.

Sometimes there may be circumstances which we as your landlord or the contractor has no control over which means we are unable to do the repair within the time frame, such as severe weather. In these circumstances we may have to extend the maximum time. We will let you know if the maximum time must be extended.

If your repair is not a qualifying repair, we will deal with it as one of the following:

• Emergency Repair – we will make safe within 4 hours
• Urgent Repair – we will aim to complete within 3 working days
• Routine Repair – we will aim to complete within 10 working days.

To find out more about our, and your own, repair responsibilities you can check our website, www.newgorbalsha.org.uk, call us on 0141 429 3900, or visit the office.

You can find out more information about Your Right to Repair in our leaflet here

Your tenancy agreement gives you the right to request certain changes to your tenancy.

You must ask us in writing for permission if you want to do any of the following:

• take in a lodger
• sub-let all or part of your home
• pass on the tenancy to someone else
• carry out an exchange with someone else
• move out for other reasons.

You should write to us giving details of the change you wish to make, any payments involved, and when you would like it to happen.

If you want another person to become a joint tenant, you have a right to make this request and you must apply to us in writing. We will generally agree to your request unless there is good reason to refuse it.

You must tell us in writing within 28 days’ if there is any change in who is living in your home. If you are on housing benefit or universal credit, you must also inform Glasgow City Council housing benefit office and/or Department for Works and Pensions (DWP).

You must not allow your house to become overcrowded. If this happens because more children are born, we will help you apply for transfer to a larger property.

If your relationship has broken down in some circumstances you may still have the right to occupy the house, even if the tenancy is in your partner’s name. You should contact your Housing Officer who will be able to give advice on your rights and your housing options.

If you die, other members of the household may have a right to take over your tenancy. These include your husband/wife or partner, a joint tenant or a member of your family over 16. If there are no family members, a carer may qualify to take over the tenancy in certain circumstances. In all cases the person who takes over must have been living there as their main home. This does not apply to some types of property that have been specially adapted, although we may be able to offer alternative accommodation.

If noise or other behaviour becomes frequent and causes significant disturbance, this can be unacceptable. Antisocial behaviour includes actions that cause — or are likely to cause — fear, alarm or distress. Antisocial behaviour can cover a wide range of issues, such as:

• Persistent, excessive noise
• Leaving items and black bags in the common areas including closes and backcourts
• Dog fouling
• Verbal or physical abuse of neighbours by you or a member of your household
• Racial or sexual harassment by you or a member of your household
• Vandalism in the neighbourhood or damaging neighbours’ property
• Drug abuse or selling drugs
• Dirtying closes
• Using your home for a business.

You are also responsible for the behaviour of family or friends visiting your property and we may take action against you if you have broken a clause in the tenancy agreement which refers to antisocial behaviour.

If you are affected by other people’s antisocial behaviour, you should keep a written record of the incidents, with dates and times. Depending on the seriousness of the situation and how badly it affects you, you should contact us, the Police or your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau.

Your local council’s antisocial behaviour team, Glasgow Community Safety, should also be able to give you more information if you are experiencing any issues or difficulties.

We will investigate all complaints of antisocial behaviour with the view to stopping the behaviour impacting on our tenants. If necessary we will take legal action to resolve the situation.

You can read our full Anti-social Behaviour Policy here.

You must get written permission from us if you wish to keep an animal as a pet. To tell us about pets, please call the office on 0141 429 3900 or email enquiries@newgorbalsha.org.uk

Permission may be given under certain conditions:

• Your pet is not prohibited by the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
• You will supervise and keep your pet under control
• You will not allow your pet to foul or cause damage to the property, common areas or neighbouring properties
• You are responsible for the behaviour of your pet. If you do not keep to the conditions as detailed above, then permission to keep your pet will be withdrawn

If you live in a building higher than 5 storeys you are not allowed to keep cats and dogs, except for registered assistance dogs.

Most properties will have their own drying facilities either outside or inside. However, in tenement properties most drying areas are shared. In these cases, you should talk to your neighbours to make sure everyone has enough space to dry their clothes.

You require our permission in writing before carrying out any alterations or improvements to your home.

We will not withhold permission unreasonably. However, we will not give permission for extensions, loft conversions or conservatories.

Application forms are available from our offices or our website www.newgorbalsha.org.uk. A member of staff can help you complete the form if you need help. We will consider your request and will let you know our decision. We may also carry out a home inspection before the work is approved.

You must carry out any work to an acceptable standard. We recommend that you always employ fully qualified tradespeople to carry out work to your property. It is your responsibility to get all legal permission for work, such as building warrants or planning permission.

We will always carry out an inspection after the work is completed to make sure the quality of work you have carried out to your property is satisfactory. When dealing with electricity or gas, we may carry out a safety check to make sure that the work is safe.

If you do carry out improvements to your property, you may be entitled to compensation for the work if you decide to end your tenancy. Improvements which you may be able to get compensation for include:

• Central heating
• Bathroom suites
• Double glazing
• Fitting a new kitchen.

We work out how much compensation you may be entitled to using a system that takes into account the cost of the improvement, how long ago you carried out the work and how long we expect the improvement to last. You can get full details of the way we work out compensation and other information on improvements from our office and our website. We will not give compensation for improvements made without our permission.

If you do not ask for permission, we may return any alterations or improvements to their original condition and re-charge you the cost of these works.

It is your responsibility to maintain the property to the standard recorded at the start of your tenancy agreement.

If you live in a block of flats with a shared entrance, we will provide a service to clean your stairs. For the majority of our flats this service covers the following:

• Stairwells and landings swept and washed, and small areas of graffiti removed. However no mopping will be carried out in temperatures below 0.
• Glass in windows and doors cleaned every four weeks
• Tiles and walls washed every four weeks
• Stair railings dusted.

The cost of this service is included in your service charge. We monitor our cleaning contracts to make sure you are satisfied with the service.

Between cleans, it is the responsibility of you and your neighbours to make sure that the close and landings are kept clean and tidy.

If you have a garden, you must keep it tidy and free from litter. We provide a grass cutting service during the growing season and this is included in your service charge.

Our estates team make sure that shrub areas are maintained, the grass is cut and landscaped areas free from litter and weeds. The cost of this is included in your service charge.

You are responsible for keeping communal bin stores clean and tidy. Glasgow City Council will empty the bins, but they will not deal with rubbish or debris left lying loose in the bin stores.

Bulk waste uplift is included in your rent charge. If you have bulky waste items such as furniture which you need uplifted, please leave it outside in the designated area the night before your bulk collection date.

Bulk waste is collected on a weekly basis and details of the collection route and dates can be found on our website:

Please do not leave bulk items lying in bin stores or back courts.