Private residential tenancy model agreement: easy read notes

2. Letting Agent

The landlord might use an agent to manage the tenancy. The Agreement will then have details of how to contact the agent.

All letting agents are required by law to follow a Letting Agent Code of Practice.

From 2 October 2018, all businesses who carry out "letting agency work" as defined by section 61 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 must have applied to join a register of letting agents. Where this applies, the registration number should be provided in the Agreement. Not all agents will be carrying out letting agency work as defined by this Act so not all agents will have a registration number. Those agents will still need to be assessed by the local authority under the landlord registration scheme. The idea of these schemes is to make sure that private landlords and their agents are "fit and proper persons" to be involved in letting properties. Tenants can check if their agent has registered by searching the Letting Agents Register or the Scottish Landlord Register.

The Agreement says which services the agent will be doing for the landlord. The landlord might use an agent for some things, for example sorting out repairs or cleaning of common areas.

The Agreement will state the matters the tenant should contact the agent about, instead of the landlord. For example, the landlord might want the tenant to contact the agent (instead of the landlord) if there is problem with water coming into the property or if something (like a cooker or fridge or boiler) has broken down.

Where the agent is a company, the Agreement should say which person is the first person that the tenant should try to contact.