Scottish Secure and Short Scottish Secure Tenancies: guidance for social landlords

2. Notifying Tenants and Publicising the Changes

2.1 Landlords were required in the Commencement Order^[1] to notify all of their tenants with a Scottish secure tenancy or short Scottish secure tenancy in writing by 1 November 2018 of the changes to their tenancy agreement as a result of Part 2 of the 2014 Act coming into force. These changes include new notification and residency requirements for assignation, subletting, joint tenancies and succession and 2 new reasons a landlord can refuse an application for assignation which all take effect from 1 November 2019. Further information about these changes is provided at sections 4-7 of this guidance.

2.2 There are provisions in the Order^[2] commencing the relevant part of the 2014 Act which will apply where a notification of a household member has been received by the landlord before 1 November 2019 (section 3 below refers). These are known as 'transitional provisions' in the legislation.

2.3 Tenancy agreements will already set out a requirement for tenants to inform their landlord of any change in circumstances, including if someone moves into their home. However, landlords will want to publicise the revised qualifying criteria for assignation, subletting, joint tenancies and succession more widely through their website, tenants' handbook or newsletters so that applicants and tenants can get this information easily. This information should be provided in plain English, as well as in other formats and languages as required. It is important that landlords make it clear to tenants that they have to notify them directly of any changes to their household, which methods of notification they require and who the notification should be made to.

2.4 The revised Model Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreement and Short Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreements published in January 2019 include a specific section on tenant responsibilities for notifying their landlord of changes in household circumstances including when anyone moves into, or out of, their home.