Tenement law changes: Discussion Paper on compulsory owners’ associations

The Scottish Law Commission has published a Discussion Paper on Tenement law: compulsory owners’ associations today. 

In March 2018, a Scottish Parliament Working Group was convened to explore what actions could be taken to improve the condition of Scotland’s tenements. The Working Group made a number of recommendations for changes in legislation and practice, one of which was that every tenement building in Scotland should have an owners’ association to coordinate work to the building. The Scottish Law Commission received a reference from the (then) Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government (Shona Robison MSP) under the Law Commissions Act 1965, which asked us to make recommendations for law reform to implement the Working Group’s recommendation on owners’ associations.

The Discussion Paper which we have now published sets out our provisional proposals for the introduction of owners’ associations. The paper seeks views on these proposals and asks a number of related questions. 

The Commission is very keen to hear from everyone with an interest in the issues raised in the Discussion Paper. The consultation is open for comment until 1 August 2024. 

For more information see our Discussion Paper and news release along with the Executive Summary and other related documents available on our current consultations page. The project webpage is available here. 

We have also arranged two online webinars, at which Professor Frankie McCarthy (the lead Commissioner for the project) will talk through the most important aspects of the paper with a short opportunity for questions.

The webinars will take place on: 

• Thursday, 9 May 2024 between 1 and 2pm; and
• Wednesday, 29 May 2024 between 5.30 and 6.30pm.

If you wish to attend either webinar please click the relevant link above to access the registration form. Registration is required to attend, but otherwise the webinars are free and open to all. Each webinar will cover substantially similar material, so there is no need to attend both.

Please note that we intend to record the presentation parts of both webinars with a view to making a recording available on our YouTube channel at a later date. There will be an opportunity for questions after the presentation, but we do not intend to record that part of the seminar.