Proposals for regulations and policy supporting the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016: analysis of consultation responses, 1 March 2017

Introduction

This report presents an analysis of responses to the Scottish Government's public consultation on Proposals for regulations and policy supporting the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.

Background

The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (the 2016 Act) was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 17 March 2016 and received Royal Assent on 22 April 2016. It creates the new private residential tenancy which will replace current assured and short assured tenancies. The purpose of the new tenancy is to improve security for tenants, balanced with appropriate safeguards for landlords, lenders and investors. It is expected to come into force in December 2017.

The purpose of this consultation was to seek views on the secondary legislation and further policy to support the new tenancy. As the consultation paper made clear, it was not seeking views on the provisions contained in the 2016 Act, which have been passed by the Parliament and will not change as a result of this consultation.

The consultation paper was divided into sections covering:

1. The prescribed notices to be used by tenants and landlords under the new tenancy;
2. The proposed Recommended Model Tenancy Agreement;
3. The option of serving documents electronically, if a tenant and landlord agree this as the preferred method of communications; and
4. Which terms should be 'statutory terms' (applicable to all private residential tenancies).

The consultation opened on 3 October 2016 and closed on 25 December 2016.

Profile of respondents

A total of 70 responses were available for analysis. The majority of these were received through the Scottish Government's Citizen Space consultation hub.

Respondents were asked to identify whether they were responding as an individual or on behalf of a group or organisation. Group respondents were then asked to identify their group type from a list of given options. A breakdown of the number of responses received by respondent type is set out in Table 1 below, and a full list of group respondents can be found in Annex 1.

It should be noted that, as with any public consultation exercise, those responding generally have a particular interest in the subject area. However, the views they express cannot necessarily be seen as representative of wider public opinion.

Table 1: Respondents by type

Analysis and reporting

One respondent did not make their submission on the consultation questionnaire, but submitted their comments in a statement-style format. When this response contained a clear answer to one of the Yes/No questions this has been recorded. The remaining content was analysed qualitatively under the most directly relevant consultation question. Other points to note are:

• To keep the main report as concise as possible, only the overall totals for answers to Yes/No questions have been presented in the body of the text, with a full breakdown by respondent type provided in Annex 2.
• Reflecting the consultation paper's focus, and in particular that it was not seeking views on the provisions contained in the 2016 Act, the analysis focuses on comments about the secondary legislation and further policy to support the new tenancy.
• In some parts of the report, the analysis presented draws on the further comments made across a small number of questions. For example, the comments made across Questions 1 to 4 have been taken together and reported in a single analysis of the issues raised across those questions.
• This report presents a summary analysis but the Scottish Government Policy team has access to the full text of all responses.

If the respondent gave permission to publish, their original response can be found on the Scottish Government's website at: https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/private-rented-sector-policy/regulations-and-policy-private-housing/

Please note that, given their length, the original draft documents have not been reproduced within this report and readers may wish to read the report alongside the original consultation paper. The consultation paper can be accessed at: https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/private-rented-sector-policy/regulations-and-policy-private-housing/.