Private Rented Sector

The Housing Strategy Team are currently developing a range of services aimed at Private Sector Landlords. These include:

implementing the private landlord registration scheme
co-ordinating the Private Landlords Forum and publishing a quarterly newsletter
raising awareness of new legislation such as the Antisocial Behaviour Act (Scotland) 2004 and the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006
implementing the Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme
providing advice on HMO licensing, gas and electricity certification and trading standards regulations.

Landlord registration

From 30 April 2006, all private landlords need to be registered with the local authority in which they rent residential property to ensure that they are a "fit and proper person" to let property. This is a legal requirement under the Antisocial Behaviour Act (Scotland) 2004 and it is now an offence to let any house without being registered.

There are a number of benefits to registration for both landlords and tenants. Landlords can access the services provided by the Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Unit. They can also get advice on legal requirements such as drafting tenancy agreements. Tenants will be able to identify their landlords (if not already known) in order to request repairs and maintenance.

Landlord Training Events - Tenancy Law March 2008

The Team held two training events in March in conjunction with Letwise (City of Edinburgh Council) and T.C. Young, Solicitors. Topics covered included the legal requirements and pitfalls when creating assured and short assured tenancies, the rights and obligations of both landlord and tenant, the action that can be taken against a tenant if things go wrong, grounds for repossession, repossession notices, what can go wrong when seeking possession and how to avoid this. Documents related to the training are available from the City of Edinburgh Council website. You can also contact the Housing Strategy Team for more information on 01835 825169.

More information

More information about landlord registration is available in the following briefing sheets:

Private Landlord Registration (pdf 74.2kb)
Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 - Background to the Act (pdf 160kb)
Private Landlords Newsletter No. 7 - April 2007 (pdf 259kb).

Information packs have also been produced which are available in all Council Contact Centres or from the Housing Strategy Team.

Useful links

Better Renting Scotland provides information on all aspects of private rented housing, including private landlord registration.
Landlord Registration (Scotland) allows landlords to apply for registration online. Members of the public can search the registers of all local authorities to find out whether a person or organisation is registered, or to get contact details for a particular rented property.

Both these links will take you to external websites.

Contact us

Housing Strategy Team
Social Work Services
Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells TD6 0SA
Tel: 01835 825169