Short Scottish Secure Tenancy for homeowners: guidance for social landlords

11. Procedures for recovery of possession of a short SST for homeowners

11.1 Landlords can, at any time, use the procedures available under the full SST^[9] to recover possession of any property let under a short SST, for example in cases of non-payment of rent or antisocial behaviour. Further information about using these procedures can be found in the guidance on ‘Short Scottish Secure Tenancies for Antisocial Behaviour and Other Miscellaneous Changes to Short Scottish Secure Tenancies’.

11.2 To recover possession of the property after the specified term of the short SST has ended, all that is required is that the tenancy has come to an end and that the following procedures have been followed:^[10]

• the landlord has served a notice of proceedings for recovery of possession on the tenant which must be in the Notice of Proceedings form prescribed by Scottish Ministers in regulations.^[11]

11.3 The notice must:

• state that the landlord requires possession of the house;
• state the reason why the landlord is seeking recovery of possession;
• specify a date, not earlier than two months from the date of service of the notice on or after which the landlord may raise proceedings for recovery of possession.

11.4 The notice of proceedings ceases to be in force six months after the date specified in it or when it is withdrawn by the landlord, whichever is earlier.

11.5 Section 11 of the 2014 Act amends section 36 of the 2001 Act to introduce a right for the tenant to request a review of the landlord’s decision to seek repossession of the property. The tenant has 14 days from the date that the notice of proceedings for recovery of possession was served to apply to the landlord for the decision to be reviewed. In such cases, the landlord must, by the date specified in the notice, do the following:

• confirm its decision to seek recovery of possession or withdraw its notice;
• notify the tenant of the outcome of the review; and
• where the decision is to continue to seek recovery of possession, the landlord should give the tenant its reasons for doing so.

11.6 Landlords should set out clearly in their tenancy information:

• which methods of application for a review they will accept, for example, telephone, email or writing;
• who the application should be made to;
• what information should be provided, for example the reason why the tenant thinks the decision to take action to recover possession of the property is wrong, and any evidence for the landlord to consider;
• their timescale for carrying out the review;
• how the review will be carried out;
• who will carry out the review (this should be carried out by a member of staff who was not involved in the original decision to take repossession action);
• how the landlord will advise the tenant of their decision; and
• whether or not they will consider a request for a review received out-with the 14 day timescale and if so, how it will be dealt with.