Private residential tenancy statutory terms: supporting notes (December 2017)

Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes

It’s the law that your landlord must give you all the written terms of your tenancy.

If you have a private residential tenancy, there are nine tenancy terms which your landlord must include in your written terms by law. They are called ‘statutory terms’.

These Supporting Notes can help you understand the ‘statutory terms’.  The section numbers and titles relate to the number given to each tenancy term as they are listed in the Private Residential Tenancies (Statutory Terms) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

In order to make you aware of your other renting rights and responsibilities, we have also included some other essential housing information that you may find useful.

If you need more information about any clauses in your tenancy agreement which are not covered by these Notes, you may want to discuss them with your landlord,
or contact the advice groups listed at the end of these Notes.

If you have a new tenancy, your landlord must give you all your tenancy terms in writing and a copy of these Notes before the end of the day on which the tenancy starts.

If you have a different type of tenancy which is changing into a private residential tenancy, your landlord has 28 days after the day when the tenancy becomes a private residential tenancy to give you your new tenancy terms and a copy of these Notes.

If your landlord does not give you written terms of the tenancy and/or these Notes when they are supposed to, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber ("the Tribunal").  The Tribunal may then give you a written tenancy and/or order your landlord to pay you up to six months' rent.

You must give your landlord 28 days’ notice if you are going to apply to the Tribunal for this reason, and you must apply using the 'Tenant's notification to a landlord of a referral to the First-tier Tribunal for failure to supply in writing all tenancy terms and/or any other specified information'.   There are guidance notes available to help you to fill in this form if needed.

In these Supporting Notes:

• The word "Agreement" means the tenancy agreement or written tenancy terms for the property which is being leased; and
• The "Tribunal" is the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber, which deals with disputes for tenancies of homes.   The process should be easy and there is no cost to apply to the Tribunal.  You can access the form here:

https://www.housingandpropertychamber.scot/apply-tribunal

The Form has guidance notes to help.  You can also get help from the advice groups listed at the end of these Notes.

• The landlord might appoint an agent to manage the Agreement and if they do, then when these Notes refer to the landlord, in practice that might instead be a reference to the landlord's agent who will be acting on behalf of the landlord.