Scottish secure tenancy: model agreement 2019

6 Ending The Tenancy

The tenancy can be ended in any one of the following ways.

6.1 By Notice

You give us at least twenty-eight days’ notice. You must tell us at the same time if you are married, in a civil partnership or if you live in the house with another person as husband and wife. If you do, their agreement may also be required.

OR

6.2 By Written Agreement

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

OR

6.3 By Court Order

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 warning. We will also send that written warning to anyone else living with you who is a member of your family aged 16 or over, your lawful subtenants, lodgers and assignees. They will also have a right to take part in the court proceedings. The following is a summary of the grounds contained within that Act and does not change the legal position contained in that Act.

• 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 subtenant or somebody in your household.
• you, and your spouse, civil partner or co-habitee, have been absent from the house for more than six 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 antisocial manner towards (or has 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 unless we are relying solely on paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 of the Act and have served the appropriate notices within 12 months of the conviction or appeal in accordance with section 16(2)(aa) of the Act in which case the Sheriff must grant 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 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 six months.
• [we are an islands council, the house is held for education purposes, you used to be employed by us for education purposes but you are not now (or will soon cease to be) and 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), civil partner 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.

OR

6.4 By Abandonment by you.

We have reasonable grounds for believing that you have abandoned the house. In this case, we may forcibly enter the house to make it secure. We will also give you at least four 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 six months. We will secure the safe custody and delivery to you of any property which is found in the house. 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.

OR

6.5 By Death

By your death, if the tenancy does not pass to someone else (see Part 7 below).

OR

6.6 By Sale to You

If we offer to sell your house to you and you buy your house from us, your tenancy will terminate on the date of transfer of ownership. Until that point, this Agreement remains in force.

OR

6.7 By conversion to a short Scottish secure tenancy

If an antisocial behaviour order has been made against you, or anyone living with you, or if we believe that you, or anyone living with you or visiting you has been acting in an antisocial manner or pursuing a course of conduct amounting to harassment in the previous 3 years, we may serve a notice on you converting your tenancy to a short Scottish secure tenancy. Your tenancy under this Agreement ends on service of that notice. You have a right to make application to the sheriff if we do this.

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 four 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 person has a right to make application to the sheriff if we do this.

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 four weeks’ written notice to us and to the other joint tenant. That notice will not however terminate the tenancy which will continue.

6.10 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 subtenants 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 5.21 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.