Landlord-level duties
A landlord in Scotland must be registered before a property is advertised or let, and the registration number must appear in every advert.
Register on the Scottish Landlord Register
Registration is required under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. You apply to each local authority in which you let property, and one online application on the Scottish Landlord Register covers all of them. Registration lasts three years and can be renewed up to three months before it expires. From 1 April 2026 the fees are a principal fee of £85 per applicant, a property fee of £20 per let property and a late application fee of £170; discounts apply to joint owners, landlords with an HMO licence and landlords registering in more than one authority. Letting an unregistered property is a criminal offence, and the local authority can refuse or revoke registration if it decides the landlord is not a fit and proper person. Every owner named on the title must be registered, not only the lead applicant. The full process, the 2026 fees table, the fit and proper person test and the council's enforcement powers are in our guide to registering on the Scottish Landlord Register.
Use a registered letting agent, or none
If an agent manages the property, the agent must appear on the Scottish Letting Agent Register and follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice. The landlord remains responsible for compliance whether or not an agent is used.
Accreditation
Landlord Accreditation Scotland is voluntary. It is worth having for the training record it produces, and some local authorities and universities prefer accredited landlords, but it does not replace any statutory duty. Our landlord accreditation entry covers the schemes.
Property-level duties
Every private let in Scotland must meet the Repairing Standard from the first day of the tenancy, and the landlord must hold current safety certificates that prove it.
The Repairing Standard
The Repairing Standard is set by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and was widened on 1 March 2024. A property must be wind and watertight and reasonably fit for human habitation; its structure and exterior in reasonable repair; its water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation installations in proper working order; furnishings safe; fire and carbon monoxide detection adequate; and, since March 2024, it must have a safe kitchen with accessible food storage, a fixed heating system, secure common doors, no lead pipes, and residual current devices on the consumer unit. Tenants can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland if the standard is not met, and the tribunal can issue a repairing standard enforcement order and a rent relief order.
Safety certificates Scottish landlords need
Gas safety: annual check by a Gas Safe registered engineer under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, which apply across Great Britain. Give the tenant a copy within 28 days.
Electrical safety: an Electrical Installation Condition Report every five years, plus portable appliance testing of any appliances you supply. Scotland has required this since 1 December 2015, so it predates the English rules by five years.
Smoke and heat alarms: since February 2022 every home in Scotland must have interlinked alarms, with one smoke alarm in the living room, one in every circulation space on each storey, a heat alarm in the kitchen, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fuel-burning appliance or flue.
Legionella: a legionella risk assessment is required under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, as it is elsewhere in the UK.
Energy Performance Certificate: required before the property is marketed and lodged on the Scottish EPC Register. No minimum EPC rating is in force for Scottish private lets at the time of writing; the Scottish Government has consulted on introducing one.
Awaab's Law in Scotland from 6 October 2026
From 6 October 2026 the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 apply to private landlords. A competent person must investigate any report of damp or mould within 10 working days of the landlord becoming aware of it, the tenant must receive a written summary within three working days of the investigation ending, and any repairs the investigation identifies must begin within five working days after that and be completed as soon as reasonably practicable. Reports made before 6 October are outside the timescales. The regulations amend the Repairing Standard so that a property must be substantially free from damp and mould. Scotland's Awaab's Law timescales differ from the English version, so an England checklist will not keep a Scottish property compliant.
Houses in multiple occupation
In Scotland an HMO licence is mandatory nationwide wherever three or more people from three or more households share a property as their main residence. The threshold is lower than England's mandatory scheme, which starts at five occupants, and there is no selective or additional licensing layer because registration already covers every landlord. Licence conditions, fees and inspection regimes are set by each local authority. Our houses in multiple occupation entry explains the definition.
When we built August's Scottish compliance journey, the checklist ran to 46 separate tasks across landlord, property and tenancy level, against 35 for England and Wales. The difference is not that Scotland asks for more certificates. It is that the tenancy and rent rules add tasks that have no English equivalent, and the alarm and electrical standards arrived earlier and go further. August's Scottish compliance journey tracks each of those 46 tasks by property and tenancy, with the recurrence built in.
Tenancy-level duties
Every new private let in Scotland since 1 December 2017 is a private residential tenancy, and its terms, notices and rent rules come from the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.
The private residential tenancy
A private residential tenancy has no fixed term and no end date. The landlord must give the tenant written terms and either the Easy Read Notes (with the model agreement) or the Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes by the end of the day the tenancy starts, or within 28 days where an existing tenancy becomes a PRT. The Scottish Government publishes a model tenancy agreement that most landlords use as drafted. Short assured and assured tenancies created before December 2017 continue on their old terms; the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 contains powers to convert them to private residential tenancies, but that provision has not yet been commenced. How the PRT works in practice, and how it differs from a short assured tenancy, is in our guide to the private residential tenancy.
Deposits
A deposit must be lodged with SafeDeposits Scotland, the Letting Protection Service Scotland or mydeposits Scotland within 30 working days of the tenancy starting, and the tenant must receive the prescribed information in the same period. All three schemes are custodial, there is no insured option in Scotland. A landlord who fails to lodge a deposit can be ordered by the tribunal to pay the tenant up to three times its value. The UK-wide mechanics are covered in our guide to the tenancy deposit scheme.
Rent increases in Scotland
Rent under a private residential tenancy can be increased once in any 12 months by serving a rent increase notice on the prescribed form giving at least three months' notice. The tenant has 21 days to refer the notice to a rent officer, who sets the rent at open market value. Since 1 April 2025 there has been no cap and no taper outside a rent control area; the emergency rent cap ended on 31 March 2024 and the adjudication taper that replaced it ended on 31 March 2025. From 1 April 2027 the tenant's window to refer a notice rises from 21 to 30 days, and a rent officer or the tribunal will no longer be able to set a rent above the figure the landlord proposed. Our rent increase calculator models the England mechanism, the Scottish process is explained in full in our guide to when landlords can increase rent.
Ending a tenancy: notice to leave and the 18 grounds
A landlord can only end a private residential tenancy on one of the 18 grounds in Schedule 3 to the 2016 Act, by serving a notice to leave and, if the tenant does not go, applying to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) for an eviction order. There is no Section 21 and no Section 8 in Scotland. Every ground has been discretionary since 1 October 2022, so the tribunal must be satisfied that eviction is reasonable even where the ground is made out. Notice periods are 28 days where the tenant has lived in the property for six months or less and 84 days where they have lived there longer, except for the conduct grounds, where 28 days always applies. A landlord who obtains possession on a ground that was not genuine, for example by claiming an intention to sell and then re-letting, can be ordered to pay a wrongful termination award; the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 raises the award from a maximum of six months' rent to between three and 36 months' rent for tenancies ended on or after 6 October 2026. Our guide to eviction in Scotland walks through the 18 grounds and the tribunal process.
Joint tenancies, pets and alterations
From 1 April 2027 a single joint tenant will be able to end a joint private residential tenancy without the agreement of the other tenants, under provisions commenced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2026. The 2025 Act also gives tenants the right to request a pet and to make changes to the property, with the landlord unable to refuse unreasonably; those sections are commenced only for the purpose of making regulations, and the substantive rights are not yet in force.
Landlords who moved onto the Scottish journey when it went live in September 2026 had, almost without exception, been working from England and Wales task lists. The Scottish list is longer, and the additions sit mostly at tenancy level: the supporting notes, the three-month rent notice, the 21-day referral window and the tribunal route are the tasks an English checklist does not contain.
Housing (Scotland) Act 2025: the timetable
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 was passed on 30 September 2025, received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025 and is being commenced in stages. The dates that matter to private landlords are:
1 April 2026: the rent control framework (sections 1 to 21) came into force, so local authorities and Scottish Ministers can now designate rent control areas, and can require landlords and tenants to disclose the rent charged. The pet, alteration and joint tenancy provisions were commenced for regulation-making only.
6 October 2026: wrongful termination awards rise to between three and 36 months' rent to tenancies ended on or after this date; the succession qualifying period for a private residential tenancy falls from 12 months to six; and, under separate regulations, Awaab's Law timescales for damp and mould begin.
31 May 2027: local authorities must submit their first rent condition assessments. No rent control area can be designated before this.
1 April 2027: for rent increase notices served on or after this date, a rent officer or the tribunal cannot set a rent higher than the landlord proposed; a single joint tenant can end a joint tenancy. Not yet commenced. A bar on any rent increase in the first 12 months of a tenancy (section 24), the right to request a pet and to make alterations (section 35), and conversion of remaining assured tenancies.
The Act also provides for Scottish Ministers to review eviction grounds within two years of Royal Assent, and for further regulations on exempt properties, student notice periods and letting agent registration. If you hold one Scottish property, set the reminders once for each of these dates; if you hold several, the dates recur per tenancy.
