Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill: business regulatory impact assessment

Enforcement, sanctions and monitoring

Landlords are required to follow the correct legal procedure in order to increase rents and tenants have a legal right to seek a determination from a Rent Officer in respect of any rent increase notice issued by their landlord. The right of tenants to seek a determination will remain in place, in an amended form, during the period the emergency measures are in place.

Private residential landlords must follow the correct legal procedures for ending a tenancy and not doing so is a criminal offence and enforced by Police Scotland. The First-tier Tribunal For Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) and Sheriff Court for social housing have a role in ensuring landlords comply with all their legal requirements before granting a repossession order.

The Scottish Government undertakes monitoring and evaluation of repossession cases that come before the First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber). The impact of these proposed measures on the outcome of applications for repossession will be monitored through the publically reported decisions of the Tribunal.

Social landlords are required to report their performance annually to the Scottish Housing Regulator, this includes the number of notices served and the number of repossessions. This will allow the impact of these provisions to be monitored.

In student halls and PBSA landlords tend to work with students to arrange a payment plan to support them where rent arrears have accumulated rather than pursue an eviction. If a landlord in student halls or PBSA attempted to apply an in-tenancy rent increase contrary to the legislation, tenants will not be liable to pay the additional sums requested.

The Bill commits to a review every three months to measure the impact of the legislation and allows for the restrictions to end earlier than the initial six month period if they are no longer necessary.