The statutory guidance includes the changes effective from March 2024: safe food storage and preparation, fixed heating, safe common access and common-door requirements. Electrical safety and fire detection are also covered.
Inspect the home as a working system
Use the current Scottish statutory guidance to assess the structure, installations, fittings and facilities. A collection of certificates is only part of the evidence.
- Walk through the home and relevant common access, checking that essential facilities are usable and safe. Include water, heating, sanitation, electrics and fire precautions.
- Review the electrical inspection and landlord-supplied appliance evidence, gas records and alarm provision. Check report outcomes and follow-up work.
- Consider changes to the standard and the property's circumstances, including shared parts and access arrangements. Ask a competent person about specialist or uncertain matters.
Respond to a repair report
Keep the report, urgency assessment, contractor instruction and tenant updates in one case.
- Identify any immediate danger and arrange suitable professional action. Explain interim arrangements if heating, water or a room cannot be used.
- For damp and mould, apply the specific Scottish duties in force from October 2026 alongside the general Repairing Standard.
- Agree access and keep evidence of attempts where it is refused. A missed visit should lead to a new plan, not a closed repair.
Verify the result and handle escalation
Completion means the required work is done and supported by evidence appropriate to the fault.
- Obtain test results, certificates or a written completion account where relevant. Check that every observation in a report has been addressed.
- Ask the tenant whether the reported problem has stopped. Reopen the case if it recurs and use the previous history to inform the investigation.
- If the tribunal or council becomes involved, preserve the chronology and respond to the actual requirements and dates. Obtain advice on a contested order or liability.
Example: a supplied appliance is unsafe
A fictional furnished flat has a current installation report but a damaged landlord-supplied washing-machine lead. Arrange safe isolation or replacement through a competent person and update the appliance record. The installation report does not remove the separate appliance issue.
What to do
- Review the relevant annexes against the actual property.
- Record problems in the flat and common parts separately.
- Document repair requests, owner decisions and completed work.
Evidence to keep
- Condition survey and safety reports
- Common-parts correspondence and repair records
Sources and guidance
- Repairing Standard: statutory guidanceScottish Government · checked 20 October 2026