If you are interested in mutually exchanging your home with another tenant, we can help you. Cairn tenants can swap houses with another Cairn tenant or a tenant from a different landlord. You must receive written permission from us before you are able to exchange your home. You can find out more information in our Mutual Exchange leaflet or by contacting us. Once you have found someone you want to swap with, you can fill in this application form. You should fill in this form if you live in the Highland area.
All tenants have the right to carry out certain improvements and alterations to their homes. You must ask for permission before work is carried out. We will not refuse permission unreasonably.
If you would like to make an improvement to your home, you must fill in an application form. We may come and inspect your home before we give you permission to carry out the work. Once the work is complete, you must tell us. We may ask to inspect the work to make sure it meets our standards.
Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 you may be able to receive compensation from us for certain improvements you have made to your home. For you to qualify for this, we must have approved the improvement to your home and your tenancy must have ended.
You can find our more information in our Improvements & Alterations leaflet or by contacting us.
We take antisocial behaviour very seriously and are committed to helping you if you are experiencing problems with your neighbours. We will work in partnership with the council, the police and other agencies to resolve problems. We will try the following options before we take any legal action.
- Mediation: we will offer this to you and your neighbours if you have a dispute with them.
- Warnings: we will usually use this in the initial stages of antisocial behaviour if it is not too serious.
- Acceptable behaviour contract: This is an agreement signed by the tenant causing the problem agreeing to keep to the terms of their tenancy agreement.
In most cases legal action is not appropriate and we will make every effort to sort out a dispute without going to court. However, in very serious cases we will consider applying for an Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) or eviction if we can’t resolve the problem in any other way.
Remember that serious antisocial behaviour or criminal behaviour, such as violence or drug-dealing, should always be reported to the police. We need an incident report number to progress all serious cases so it is really important that you report all serious cases to the police.
We understand that antisocial behaviour can be very stressful and frustrating for our tenants. Remember that your housing officer is always here to help you and will offer help and guidance if you need it.
You can find out more information in our Antisocial Behaviour leaflet or by contacting us. You can report instances of antisocial behaviour through My Cairn.
Every year, we apply to the Scottish Government or relevant local authority for funding to enable us to carry out medical adaptations to properties where the tenant is having difficulty with certain tasks such as getting in and out of the bath, climbing stairs or turning on taps.
An example of adaptations we have carried out recently are:
- Wet floor showers
- Ramps for wheelchair access
- Stairlifts
- Specialist smoke alarms for hard of hearing
- Handrails and grabrails
- Lever taps
If you think we might be able to assist you, you should contact your local occupational therapist or doctor to arrange an assessment of your needs. This assessment should then be sent in to your local Cairn office.
Once received, we will look at the priority of the assessment and the funding we have available. We will also look at whether we have another home available that would be more suitable to your needs. You can then choose whether you wish to move home.
Once our funding allocation for the year has been spent, we will keep your assessment until the following financial year. You also have the option to pay for the adaptation yourself so that work is carried out more quickly. Please speak with your Housing Officer if this is something you’d like to do. You will need to fill out an application form which you can get by contacting your local Cairn office.
If you would like to keep a pet in your house you must get our permission first by filling out this application form. Permission is usually given to tenants who have their own front door. It is our policy not to give permission to tenants who share a front door, such as most of our retirement courts and blocks of flats; however, we will consider all applications on a case by case basis. There are conditions to keeping a pet, such as ensuring that it is kept under control and is not a nuisance to your neighbours.
If you want another person to be a joint tenant, both of you must apply to us in writing. The other person must use the house, or intend to use the house, as his or her only or principal home. You can fill out an application form here.
You can apply to take in a lodger here.
If you would like to transfer your rights over to another person, this is called Assignation, and you can fill out an application form here. You must have had your tenancy for at least 12 months before we would usually agree to transfer a tenancy over to someone else.
If you live in one of our sheltered or retirement courts, you must ask for permission before you get a mobility scooter so that appropriate storage and charging arrangements can be agreed. If agreement has been given, you must make sure you do not to block fire exits. It is important for the safety of other tenants that mobility scooters are used and stored properly.
You can ask for our permission by contacting us.