Thousands of Scots face major change to rules about their front door – check if you’re affected

Thousands of households are set to face a building regulation shake-up as soon as this year.

The Scottish Government is exploring options for implementing a ban on low-level letterboxes in the front door of new homes.

The plans are to protect posties from back pain and dangerous dogs.

It would make Scotland the first country in the UK to introduce this ban.

The Communications Workers’ Union warned that the low-level boxes made it easier for dogs to attack posties.

It also claimed the location of the letterboxes left thousands of posties with back pain every year.

The union called on Scottish ministers to extend any ban to include replacement doors.

Stuart McMillan, MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde, raised the issued on Thursday at Holyrood, saying that the discussions between officials and unions had been positive, according to the Times.

He reportedly said: “I welcome the fact that Scotland could soon lead the way in the UK by banning low-level letterboxes from being installed in future housing developments.

“This is a reasonable request that will benefit postal workers.”

It is thought that different legislation will be required to mandate the height of in replacement doors.

A bill seeking to update building standards guidance in new builds could be introduced this autumn, with implementation next year.

Officials were “assessing options to update building standards guidance to limit such installations within new dwellings,” according to housing minister Paul McLennan.

CWU’s regional secretary, Craig Anderson, said: “The bigger problem comes when people are replacing doors,” he said. “A lot of new doors now have glass panels with the letter boxes placed near the bottom for aesthetic reasons.

“I looked down my own street a few nights ago and saw that many of the replacements were like this. If we are really to solve this problem, then the design of new doors has to be looked at.”

The union claimed that about 2,000 Royal Mail workers have been attacked by dogs.

It also claimed that every year, more than 16,000 have had time off due to back pain complaints.

It wants the governments to set and specify a minimum height of 70 cm including the positioning and design of letterboxes.

In 2001, Ireland introduced a ban on low-level postboxes but the UK has failed to follow despite support of an all-party group as far as 2019.