The new private residential tenancy regime introduced by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016will come into force on 1 December 2017.
Existing short assured tenancies which are in place before1 December 2017 will continue but there are provisions which deal with the situation where a short assured tenancyis passed on to a successor. It will notbe possible to create short assured tenancies after 1 December 2017.
We have previously posted a legal updatewhich summarisesthe main points relating to the new tenancy regime.
The key feature of the new regime is increased security of tenure for tenants - the tenancy can only be terminated by the landlord on one of the 18 grounds specified in the legislation. These include that the landlord intends to sell the property orrefurbish the property. The tenancy will be open ended - a landlord cannot terminate the tenancy simply because the fixed term has expired.
There is a list of lettings which are excluded from the regime, such ashouses let within agricultural tenancies, student lets and holiday lets.
If you have any queries on private residential tenancies, please get in touch with your usual contact in the Land and Rural Business team.