Housing Information and Advice
You are entitled to advice whether you are a council tenant, an owner/occupier, a lodger, living at home, privately renting, a Housing Association tenant or even a landlord.
We can help you get general financial, housing or legal advice where appropriate. We can also give general housing advice and assistance.
Please contact us if you would like information or advice on any housing problem including:
- Homelessness/homelessness prevention
- Your housing options
- Information and advice on managing debt
- Mortgage arrears
- Rent arrears
- Repairs and improvement grants
- Disrepair
- Housing Benefit/other benefit entitlements
- Discrimination or harassment
- Relationship breakdown and your housing rights/options
- Help to allow you to stay in your own home, such as support,
- Equipment or adaptations
- Your rights with respect to the legal process of eviction
- Mortgagers' rights under the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001 and
- Mortgage to Let Schemes
What help is available?
Sometimes all that is needed is an explanation of services that are available and how to access them.
In more complicated situations you may need to speak to someone in depth about your housing problem, to enable them to help you.
This will usually involve a confidential interview with a Housing Needs Officer or a specialist adviser. You will be interviewed in private to discuss your situation, but you can bring someone with you to the interview if you want to. Home visits can be arranged by appointment if you are unable to get to one of our offices.
Where can I get information & advice?
Get information and advice about any housing issue or problem by:
- Contact us through the WLC contact page
- Visiting your Local Council Office
- Going online to: Housing
Independent advice
You can get independent advice from the council's Advice Shop. This free service has specialist advisors who can assist you with Welfare Benefits, Housing & Energy advice and Money Advice.
These advisors will help you to claim any Welfare Benefits you are entitled to, negotiate with landlords, mortgage lenders and creditors
on your behalf, or provide you with advice or assistance on energy and its domestic uses, any grants available and billing issues.
Simply pop along to the Advice Shop at the Bathgate partnership or call 01506 283000.
Advice Shop opening hours
8:30am - 5:00pm Monday through Thursday
8:30am - 4:00pm Fridays
On occasion we may be able to assist you find independent mediation provider. This can sometimes be a helpful way of dealing with an issue; this involves a mediator (someone who does not take sides, but whose job is to help both parties find a solution to the problem). The parties in dispute, and not the mediator, decide what will happen in terms of any agreement made
