Local authority powers

The local authority may carry out work to bring a property up to the repairing standard if it has been notified by the First Tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber that the landlord:

• has been unable to comply with the duty to repair and maintain the property to the repairing standard

• has been unable to comply with a repairing standard enforcement order

• has failed to comply with a repairing standard enforcement order. [1]

Unless the work required is urgent, the local authority will have to give the landlord and the tenant 21 days' notice before starting the work required. [2] If either party is aggrieved by the notice, s/he will have 21 days in which to appeal to the sheriff. [3] The appeal will not be able to raise an issue that could have been raised in an appeal of the tribunal's decision. [4] The work will not be able to be carried out until the last day that the decision can be appealed, or if an appeal is made, the day on which the appeal is abandoned or finally determined. [5]

If in the process of carrying out the work, the local authority discovers additional work that requires to be done, it will be able to do this too. [6] 21 days' notice will not be required if the work that was required initially cannot be completed until this additional work is carried out. [7]

The local authority are entitled to recover from the landlord any expenses involved in carrying out the work, including administrative expenses and interest. [8]