Albyn Housing Society and Cairn Housing Association have formed a partnership agreement, the first of its type in Scotland. The agreement, signed on Monday 23 November at the Park Hotel, Thurso means over 300 households across Caithness will have both a housing officer and a maintenance officer based locally.

Caroline MacAskill, Cairn’s Head of Services North and one of the orchestrators of the agreement, said: “We are delighted to formalise this agreement with Albyn after a year in planning. Sharing our resources in the far north makes perfect sense, both for us as organisations and for our tenants. Maintenance staff from both organisations and Albyn’s Housing Officer have, until today, spent a lot of time on the A9 driving north to carry out maintenance or visit tenants and properties.  We all felt we could get better use from the resources available to us by pooling them together locally."

Helen Barton, Albyn’s Housing & Communities Director said: “The partnership agreement we signed today is for one year but both organisations are keen for it to continue into the long term. Albyn and Cairn have a history of working together and we hope it will act as a pilot for future partnerships, which make a lot of sense for organisations serving rural communities. ”

Cairn’s full time Housing Officer Fiona Manson and Local Services Assistants Erin Walker and Kathleen O’Hare will now work across Albyn’s properties. Fiona regularly carries out estate management visits, deals with reports of anti-social behaviour, allocates empty properties, manages rent accounts and respond to housing benefit enquiries.

Kirsty Campbell, recently employed by Albyn as Maintenance Officer across Caithness and North Sutherland, will carry out the routine and cyclical maintenance requirements for both organisations.

Before establishing the Partnership Agreement both organisations consulted their tenants, holding open meetings and conducting a postal survey, to a largely positive response.