The Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill was formally introduced before the Scottish Parliament on 31 March 2020.
Like the UK Coronavirus Act, it protects commercial tenants from termination for non-payment of rent by extending the notice period from 14 days to 14 weeks.
The Scottish Government has reserved the power to extend the 14 weeks' time limit, meaning that a 14 weeks' notice could be extended after it had been served.
Any pre-irritancy notices served on tenants prior to the Bill coming into force become void if they haven't expired.
The Bill doesn't prevent landlords irritating leases for non-monetary breaches. However, a fair and reasonable landlord would be likely to take into account the impact of the Coronavirus when deciding whether to terminate a lease. There may therefore be very little opportunity to terminate quickly for a non-monetary breach.
It also does not stop landlords from pursuing tenants by other means to recover arrears. But as we discussed here, recovering arrears is a challenge at present.
The Bill should come into force after 1 April 2020.
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