COVID-19 IMPACT ON SERVICES - Please read
Temporary Service Changes
Due to the latest Government guidance all staff will remain working from home for the foreseeable future and the office remains closed. Our normal working hours will be reduced until further notice as follows:
Contact business hours for tenants will be reduced to Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm. We will operate an answering service from 1pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 1pm to 4pm on a Friday. We will monitor the answering service for emergencies each afternoon.
- Please only contact us by phone during our reduced business hours to report an emergency or urgent repair and try to avoid contacting us unless it is absolutely necessary.
- We have had to reduce our service as a result of the further lockdown restrictions and impact on our resources.
- It may take us longer than usual to deal with your requests but we will do all that we can to respond as quickly as possible.
- We thank you for your patience and cooperation during this time.
This is being kept under constant review inline with the guidance that is being issued from the Scottish Government and we will update you through this website and SMS text messaging as soon as this is likely to change. In the meantime please continue to contact us on either the main office phone number 01786 841101 or contact your Housing Officer directly. You can also send an email to our enquiries email address - enquiries@rsha.org.uk - We thank you for your continued cooperation.
We must all work together in order to try to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and protect our family, friends and the most vulnerable within our communities.
Please read our COVID-19 Safety Measures.
Or watch this short video

Self-isolation & Social Distancing
It goes without saying that you should all now be following the principles of social distancing within your communities. Please let us know if you have symptoms of Coronavirus or a member of your family has and you are currently in self-isolation. The information you share with us will be treated with the utmost confidence and only shared with a third party if emergency works are required within your home. We are grateful to all of our tenants and staff for their patience, support and understanding at this uniquely challenging time.
1. Paying your rent during the COVID-19 crisis:
We have updated our guidance on paying your rent and financial difficulties during the outbreak. You can read more here.
Please also see our frequently asked questions.
You can get free income related financial advice and support from the following agencies:
2. Allocations, Voids and Letting
We would encourage all new applicants to visit our website where you will find a copy of our application form available to download (here). This should then be e-mailed back to enquiries@rsha.org.uk to be processed more quickly. Lettings and voids will continue in order to do this and keep everyone safe, we need to follow certain procedures which will involve online communication. If this will be difficult for you, please contact us and we will help you.
3. Home visits and face-to-face appointments cancelled
We appreciate many of our tenants prefer to meet face-to-face with our staff. However, in the interest of protecting staff, tenants and the wider public, we will not be carrying out home visits or face-to-face appointments until further notice. We know this is a very worrying time which is causing deep anxiety and concern. We are here to help you where we can.
If you need to contact us urgently, please visit the Staff Team area of our website where you will find contact information for all members of staff. If you already had a home visit or appointment scheduled with a member of staff we will be in touch with you to discuss this and offer an alternative option. Where we are identifying that tenants' means of paying have been affected, we are offering a follow up call from our Income Maximisation Officer, Kevin McGhee, who is able to give specialist advice about benefits and other money advice.
4. Planned maintenance works & Inspections
Planned maintenance works such as new kitchens, Fire Safety and Electrical Upgrades are suspended until at least the end of January and will be planned to recommence from February, subject to easing of restrictions.
In keeping with Government Guidelines external services such as Landscaping, window cleaning, communal close cleaning, external painting, render cleaning, pressure washing etc are all designated as key works and can be progressed, if carried out by a sole operator who implements social distancing and has availability of PPE etc. This obviously is dependent on our contractors having the staff to undertake the works and we will assess whether works can be undertaken on a scheme by scheme basis.
Gas checks will continue as normal with controls in place. Electric checks will continue on voids only with controls. Major voids scheduled works will continue.
All routine technical, estate management and pre-inspections are suspended until at least the end of January and will be planned to restart from February, subject to easing of restrictions,
5. Repairs
Emergency and urgent repairs will continue to be processed. Routine repairs will be logged and processed when restrictions ease.
Emergency repairs
Please contact us on 01786 841 101 during normal working hours to report an emergency repair. Our out of hours emergency contact numbers remain the same:
• Gas repairs call Saltire on 0845 606 1555
• All other emergency repairs please call the McDougall Group on 0800 975 1234.
When you report an emergency repair, we will need to ask you some screening questions to protect both you and our contractors before visits can be confirmed. Our Contractors will also ask you a series of questions before they enter your home.
We will advise tenants as soon as possible if there are any further changes to the repairs service. In the meantime, please consider whether your repair is an emergency before requesting a visit.
Right to Repair
Due to current government restrictions for coronavirus we have suspended the Right to Repair element of our reactive repairs service. This is in line with guidance from the Scottish Government. We will review the service on an ongoing basis and keep you informed of any changes as and when it is appropriate to do so.
The wellbeing of our tenants and staff is of paramount importance to us, which is why we are following Government advice and have made some changes to the services we offer.
WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER