Tenancies
Tenant Information Pack
This pack only applies to tenancies created before 1 December 2017. Tenancies created after this date should be new Private Residential Tenancies which do not require a Tenant Information Pack. Further information is available from the Scottish Government (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).
Cost of living: rent and eviction Emergency Measures
The current tenant protection measures (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) in place until 30 September 2023 are due to be extended until 31 March 2024 (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).
This would mean that:
- Most in-tenancy private rent increases would continue to be capped at 3%
- Alternatively, private landlords could apply for increases of up to 6% to help cover certain increases in costs in a specified time period where these costs can be evidenced.
- Enforcement of evictions would continue to be paused for six months for most tenants, except in a number of specified circumstances.
- Increased damages for unlawful evictions of up to 36 months’ worth of rent would continue to be applicable.
Further Guidance is available from the links below:
Rent cap: private landlord guidance (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
Temporary moratorium (pause) on evictions (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
Private Residential Tenancy Agreements
The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) introduced the Private Residential Tenancy on 1st December 2017. It is no longer possible to create an assured or short assured tenancy (existing tenancies that were taken out before 1 December 2017 will continue to operate as they do currently until they come to an end).
Guidance documents are available at:
Tenants: Private Residential Tenancies: Information for Tenants (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
Landlords: Private Residential Tenancies: Information for Landlords (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)
It is the law that a landlord must give their tenant(s) a written tenancy agreement. The Scottish Government has produced a ‘Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement’ to help do this which includes both mandatory clauses that must be included when using the model tenancy as well as discretionary terms which a landlord may or may not choose to include.
The new Model Tenancy is available here: Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).
When a landlord uses the ‘Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement’ they must also provide their tenant(s) with a copy of the ‘Easy Read Notes for the Scottish Government Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement’ which explain all of the different parts of your tenancy agreement. The Easy Read Notes are available here: Easy Read Notes (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).
The Scottish Government Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) can also be completed online
Sometimes a landlord will choose not to use the ‘Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement’. A landlord can use a different tenancy agreement as long as it sets out all of the statutory terms. If a landlord decides to do this they must provide their tenant(s) with a copy of the ‘Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes’ which includes information about the nine tenancy terms which must be provided in the tenancy agreement by law. The supporting notes are available here: Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).
Evictions
It is a Legal Requirement (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) that landlords must inform the Comhairle’s Homelessness Service in writing via a Section 11 Notice (») (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) when they take action to recover property. The aim is to prevent homelessness by allowing the Comhairle to contact affected households with the offer of appropriate support, including money advice. Failure to comply with this may be taken into account by the Comhairle when considering an application for landlord registration.