Housing (Scotland) Act 2001: model short Scottish secure tenancy agreement

Model Short Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreement

6 ENDING THE TENANCY

The tenancy can be ended in any one of the following ways described in paragraphs 6.1 to 6.7.

6.1 By Notice from you

You, give us written notice that you want the tenancy to end on the termination date. You must tell us at the same time if you are married or if you live in the house with another person as husband and wife. If you do, their agreement may also be required.

6.2 By Notice from us

We serve you with a notice to quit expiring on the termination date of this Agreement. This notice to quit will be served at least 40 days before the termination date. This notice will only have the effect of preventing the tenancy under this Agreement from automatically renewing. You will not have to leave the house unless and until we obtain a court order.

6.3 By Written Agreement

By written agreement between you, and us. You must tell us at the same time if you are married or if you live in the house with another person as husband and wife. If you do, their agreement may also be required.

6.4 By Court Order once the fixed period of the tenancy has ended

The sheriff grants an order for eviction following a request by us. At the end of the period of the tenancy stated at paragraph 1.4, (or at the end of any continuation of the tenancy), we may seek an order for your eviction from the sheriff. We may ask for such an order under Section 36 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Before we do so, we will first send you a written notice giving you the earliest date from which we will start court proceedings. We will also send you a notice to quit as described in paragraph 6.2 above. If we raise court proceedings, the court must make an order allowing us to repossess the house if it appears that:

• the original term of the tenancy has come to an end; AND
• the tenancy is not automatically renewing; AND
• there is no further tenancy agreement between us and you for the house; AND
• we have correctly sent you the written notice referred to above.

The court must grant decree for repossession providing the above procedures have been correctly carried out by us.

6.5 By Court Order on other grounds

The sheriff grants an order for eviction following a request by us. You have a right to defend any legal action taken by us against you. We may ask for such an order under Section 14 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 on any of the grounds contained within Schedule 2 of the Act. Before we do so, we will first send you a written notice. We will also send that written notice to anyone else living with you who is a member of your family aged 16 or over and your lawful sub-tenants, lodgers, and assignees. They will also have a right take part in the court proceedings.

The Schedule 2 grounds:

• you owe us rent or you have broken some other condition of this Agreement;
• you, someone residing in your house, or anyone visiting it, has been convicted of using the house or allowing it to be used for illegal or immoral purposes or a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment, which was committed in the house or the locality;
• the condition of the house or common parts, or furniture we have supplied, has deteriorated because of the fault of you, your sub-tenant or somebody in your household;
• you, and your spouse or co-habitee, have been absent from the house for more than 6 months without good reason or you have stopped living in it as your principal home;
• we gave you this tenancy as a result of false information given by you in your application for the house;
• you, someone residing in your house, or anyone visiting it, has acted in an anti-social manner towards (or harassed) someone else in the locality and it is not reasonable for us to transfer you to another house.

• In all the above cases, the sheriff must also be satisfied that it is reasonable to make an order for eviction.
• you or someone residing in your house has been guilty of nuisance or annoyance in or in the neighbourhood of the house, or has pursued a course of conduct amounting to harassment of someone else in the locality and it is appropriate, in our opinion, to transfer you to another house;
• the numbers of people in the house amount to the criminal offence of overcrowding;
• we intend to demolish or carry out substantial work to your house (or the building in which it is located) within a reasonable time and that work cannot reasonably be done if you are still living there;
• the house has been designed or adapted for people with special needs and no-one in your household has such special needs but we require the house for someone who has;
• the house is part of a larger group of houses which have been designed or adapted or located near facilities for people with special needs and no-one in your household has those needs but we require the house for someone who has;
• we have leased your house from somebody else and that lease has ended or will end within 6 months;
• [we are an islands council, the house is held for education purposes, you are not (or will shortly cease to be) employed by us for education purposes and now it is needed for someone else for those purposes.]

In the seven cases above, the sheriff must grant an order for eviction if we also offer you a suitable alternative house as defined by Schedule 2 (Part 2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

• we want to transfer the house to your husband or wife (or ex-husband or wife) or co-habitee, where one of you no longer wishes to live with the other. In this case, we will offer you a suitable alternative house as defined by Schedule 2 (Part 2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. The sheriff must also be satisfied that it is reasonable to grant the order.

6.6 By Abandonment by you

We have reasonable grounds for believing that you have abandoned the house. We will also give you at least 4 weeks' notice that we believe that you have abandoned the house. If, at the end of that period, we have reasonable grounds for believing that you have abandoned the house, we may repossess it by service of another notice. You have a right to make application to the sheriff against repossession within 6 months. We will secure the safe custody and delivery to you of any property which is found in the house if its value is sufficient to cover the costs of storage. We will have the right to make a charge for this and to dispose of any property if you have not made arrangements for its delivery within a given period.

6.7 By Death

By your death. Your tenancy cannot be inherited by anyone after you die. [However, if there is a surviving joint tenant, s/he will become the sole tenant on the death of the other tenant.]

6.8 Abandonment by a joint tenant

If we have reasonable grounds for believing that a joint tenant has abandoned the house, we may give that tenant 4 weeks' notice. If we are satisfied on reasonable grounds, at the end of the 4 week period, that the joint tenant has abandoned the house, we may serve another notice. This second notice will terminate that joint tenant's interest in the tenancy in not less than 8 weeks. That second notice will not, however, terminate the tenancy which will continue. That tenant has a right of appeal to the sheriff.

6.9 Termination by joint tenant alone

A joint tenant may, at any time, end his or her interest in the tenancy of the house by giving 4 weeks' written notice to us and to the other joint tenant(s). That notice will not, however, terminate the tenancy which will continue.

6.10 Conversion to Scottish secure tenancy

If you were given this short Scottish secure tenancy for one of the following three reasons, your tenancy may convert to a Scottish secure tenancy. These reasons are:

• an order for repossession of a house was made against you in the
  3 years before the beginning of this tenancy because of anti-social or similar behaviour;
• an anti-social behaviour order has been made against you or a member of your household before the beginning of this tenancy;
• an anti-social behaviour order was made against you, your subtenant, lodger or a member of your household and we converted the Scottish secure tenancy that you had over the house into a short Scottish secure tenancy by serving you with a notice.

In these cases, your tenancy will normally convert automatically to a Scottish secure tenancy 12 months after the creation of this tenancy.

• We will make available appropriate housing support services to you during your tenancy to enable conversion of the tenancy to a Scottish secure tenancy.
• However, if we have served a notice, within those 12 months, telling you that we intend to start legal proceedings to evict you, the tenancy may not convert at the end of that 12-month period. It will then convert only if:
• the notice expires or we withdraw the notice; OR
• we are finally unsuccessful in any court proceedings for your eviction.
• If the tenancy does convert to a Scottish secure tenancy, we will tell you this and the date when the conversion took place.

6.11 Before moving out of your house, you must do the following:

• leave the house in a clean and tidy condition;
• remove all your belongings;
• make sure any lodgers or sub-tenants leave with you;
• allow us access to your house before you move out, at reasonable times, to show new tenants round;
• hand in your keys to the housing office;
• remove any fixtures and fittings you have installed without our written permission and put right any damage caused. This does not affect your obligations under paragraph 5.23 above;
• check with us to make sure that you have paid all payments due to us;
• apply for any compensation you may be entitled to under paragraph 5.22 above;
• leave the house in good decorative order;
• do the repairs you are obliged to do;
• give us a forwarding address unless there is good reason for not doing so.