You may have seen our recent posts about the Heat Well Angus initiative. All of the funding has now been allocated and the fund is closed.
If you are still struggling with the costs of heating your home, we suggest you contact Scarf for further advice about what help may be available.
Scotland’s Housing Network and the Tenants Information Service (TIS) are doing a survey of social housing tenants across Scotland to help understand tenants’ views and attitudes towards climate change.
The Scottish Government recently published Housing to 2040 which sets out their vision for housing in Scotland over the next twenty years. As part of this, they have committed to adapt existing homes to make them more environmentally friendly. An important part of Housing to 2040 is also to reduce climate change by decarbonising heating systems. This means moving away from gas heating systems and using more energy efficient options, such as solar panels and heat pumps.
Meeting these aims is a big task and social landlords will need to invest a large amount of time and money. This is why they need your help, as a social-rented tenant, to plan how to manage the improvements needed to people’s homes, especially as this will involve carefully assessing the impact that these changes could have on rent levels.
Completing this survey will also help social landlords across Scotland understand what tenants and residents views on climate change are and what they would like to know more about. This will help us to develop a communication strategy that can be used across the social housing sector.
The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. As a thank you for taking the time to do so, you will be able to enter a prize draw to win £50 of high street vouchers at the end of the survey.
QR code for Climate Change and you Home survey:
We recently published some helpful information about Fire Alarms, within which we incorrectly named the organisation ‘Angus Care & Repair’. This should have been ‘Caledonia Care & Repair’. We apologise for this error.
The new fire regulations came into force on 1 February 2022. The law on fire alarms has changed which means that all Scottish homes need to have interlinked alarms. Interlinked means if one goes off, they all go off, giving people more time to escape and call emergency services.
If you think you might be eligible for assistance, all enquiries should be made to Caledonia Care and Repair.
But we also wanted to make you aware that the Caledonia Care & Repair Service assists disabled homeowners and private sector tenants to arrange major adaptations and provide other services which enable older and disabled people to repair, maintain or adapt their homes and promote independence. Due to service re-design, small repairs are no longer available so please do not contact them for these types of enquiries.
Caledonia Care and Repair have some funding available to help home owners with the costs of the new alarms. To be eligible for support from Care & Repair Scotland, you must live in and own your home that has a Council Tax banding of A-C. You must also either be of state pension age and in receipt of guaranteed Pension Credit or have a disability and be in a support group for Employment and Support Allowance.
If you meet the criteria, then please contact
Caledonia Care & Repair by email at anguscr@caledoniaha.co.uk
Alternatively, if you do not meet these criteria then you may be able to get some advice and assistance from the Scottish Fire Service. For more information see the Fire Scotland website.
We do not offer any funding to support with the installation of alarms, and all enquiries relating to this should be made direct to Caledonia Care & Repair and/or the Scottish Fire Service.
Have you had rent arrears as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?
The Tenant Hardship Fund could clear some of the arrears. The fund will close on 31 March 2022 – apply now so you don’t miss out.
You may be able to get limited financial help if you’re a social or private sector tenant in Angus who built up rent arrears between March 2020 and August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
You will need to apply for help and provide evidence that the pandemic affected your ability to pay rent.
How to apply
Tenants who live in Angus can apply online.
As part of your application, you will need to provide details about:
You will also be asked to provide evidence of your income during the period. For example:
Funding is limited and applicants must provide full evidence of their arrears and why the pandemic affected their ability to pay their rent.
To apply for funding, please use our online application form.
The Scottish Government is thinking about introducing a new law on the prevention of homelessness duties and the Rock Trust would like to get young people’s views about it.
They believe this new law will be better at helping people earlier, so they do not become homeless.
It’s the idea that preventing homelessness and helping those at risk of homelessness, should be a shared responsibility – that all of us have a duty to ensure it doesn’t happen, by picking up on signs or issues as early as possible before someone actually becomes homeless. This could be teachers, council staff, doctors and nurses, police, social workers and others.
This is called ‘Prevention of Homelessness Duties’
The Rock Trust wants to hear what you think because you have experience of this, and that experience, while difficult, is important.
To complete the survey, please use the survey monkey link
At the end of the survey, there is an opportunity to enter a free prize draw for a £50 Amazon voucher.
Do you live in Angus?
Have you lost income because of COVID-19?
You can still apply for a limited number of fuel vouchers on a first-come, first-serve basis, subject to eligibility checks and proof of residence.
The Scottish Government scheme, administered by the national advice service Advice Direct Scotland, aims to stop households falling into fuel poverty.
The Home Heating Support Fund is open until March 31 and applications can only be made on behalf of individuals by ‘referral partners’.
The referral partner for Angus residents is Save Cash and Reduce Fuel (SCARF) and their Angus Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT team). Their expert debt advisers will assess eligibility and apply for funding on the individual’s behalf if appropriate. Targeted funding will reflect each individual’s circumstances, with extra support available for households where one person is over 75, they rely on electric heating, or live in a remote or island community.
Eligibility is based on households that are ‘self-rationing’ their energy, meaning those who are deliberately limiting their energy use so that they can afford to spend money on other goods or services. This could be as a result of home-working or home-schooling due to the pandemic. Any households which are ‘off-supply’ are not eligible for the fund and should seek support from their energy supplier or organisations which can refer them to the Fuel Bank Foundation.
For more information and to check eligibility, Angus residents should call HEAT on 0808 129 0888 or apply online via the SCARF website
From Friday 18 March 2022 until 11 April 2022, we will be operating a RESTRICTED repairs service only for Angus Council tenants in the following areas
Montrose, Brechin, Forfar and Kirriemuir
The outgoing Reactive Repairs Contractor MPS are unable to deliver a full service to the end of their contracted period. To ensure the continued to deliver Right to Repair and Emergency repairs we have made the decision to go to a restricted service.
Who will deliver the service?
The restricted service will be delivered by the incoming Reactive Repairs Contractor and will remain in effect until that contractor commences full works on 11 April 2022.
What Restricted Repairs will be possible?
We will only carry out new emergency repairs, including repairs covered by right to repair legislation, in occupied properties and this includes:
All emergency repairs can be reported to the ACCESSLine on 03452 777 778.
Can Non-emergency Repairs still be reported?
Yes, please continue to report any non-emergency repairs to allow these to be logged. Whilst these cannot be addressed right now, it will allow us and our repairs contractor to plan out all repairs and allocate them to the appropriate trade as soon as restrictions are eased.
Non-emergency repairs can be reported by phoning the ACCESSLine on 03452 777 778.
What about repairs that have already been reported?
We are aware that a number of tenants in these areas are waiting for outstanding repairs being completed in their properties. The current contractor MPS will continue to address these.
If you have reported a repair before 1 February 2022, and this has not yet been completed, we would ask that you email us oustandinghousingrepairs@angus.gov.uk with the following details, and we will escalate this for you.
• Name
• Address
• Date repair was reported (if you have this)
• Details of the repair required.
• Contact email address and telephone number
We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the recent repairs disruption and would like to assure our tenants of our continued efforts to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.
We’re now accepting applications for our Shared Equity Scheme at Sunnyside Estate, Montrose.
To qualify, you would need a deposit and mortgage for at least 60% equity share advertised at £132,000.
We have 2 three-bedroom houses (Tiree style) to buy under the Scottish Government’s New Supply Shared Equity Scheme in the former Sunnyside Royal Hospital and its grounds:
The Tiree specification Download
More details on the specification of the properties can be found on the Sunnyside Estate website.
Please note that any incentives listed on the Sunnyside webpage are not available in conjunction with the purchase of a shared-equity home.
How to apply
For further updates check our Developments Website.
If you are interested in this scheme, we advise you to seek independent financial advice about gaining a mortgage promptly, as this will be a requirement of the scheme. Further requirements of the scheme can be found on the Scottish Government website and we would advise familiarising yourself before contacting us.
Qualifying criteria
For further information please contact: affordablehousingteam@angus.gov.uk
The completion of 38 new council homes for rent at Arbroath’s Emislaw Drive concludes the second phase of our Timmergreens regeneration project in Arbroath – providing affordable housing in re-designed spaces that people can be proud to call home.
As a part of this transformative project, contractor CCG (Scotland) Ltd has built in-demand affordable homes for families and single residents, with a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom properties, including accommodation suitable for older disabled tenants.
Breathing new life into the area, the development replaces unattractive low demand flats and garages with a much more pleasing pedestrian-friendly environment. It complements our investment in the nearby refurbished Timmergreens Primary School, providing new safe Active Travel routes to the school, as well as improvements to the park and a new play area.
A number of tenants have already moved into their new homes and say they are delighted with the high-quality accommodation they now enjoy, which is energy-efficient and takes advantage of solar power to help minimise energy costs.
Our Communities and Finance Convener, Cllr Mark Salmond, who visited the project today, said: “This is another example of Angus Council delivering high quality homes and spaces for our citizens.
“We are focused on providing modern, energy efficient homes that are affordable for our tenants to run. This is particularly important at the moment when we see increases in the cost of living putting pressure on household incomes. We also pay close attention to creating well designed green spaces around our homes that encourage people to walk and cycle safely, as we know how important that is for physical health and mental wellbeing.”
The Scottish Government provided additional grant funding for the project and the new properties will be managed by our Arbroath Community Housing Team.
CCG Director, John Baggley, said: “Emislaw Drive is the second development CCG has delivered as part of a strategic partnership with Angus Council. Over 50 homes have now been created and we are proud to have brought high-quality, high energy-efficient affordable homes to Arbroath. on behalf of the CCG Group, I extend my best wishes to the residents as they settle in and my thanks to the council for their efforts over the last two years”.
Angus Council Housing News 