Legislation Updates
We will display legislation updates here as and when we get them. Please check regularly for updates.
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Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003
Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 came into force on 1 April 2009. It gives local authorities early notice of households at risk of homelessness due to eviction. Section 11 places a duty on landlords (except local authority landlords) and creditors to notify the relevant local authority when they raise proceedings for possession or serve certain other notices.
This doesn’t mean that a landlord must notify their local authority if they serve a notice to quit on a tenant or even a notice to recover possession of their property but ONLY if they require to evict the tenant through the enforcement of a court decree. We would suggest that in such an instance landlords request their solicitors handle this on their behalf.
Although adding yet more responsibility on the shoulders of the landlord this does mean that the tenants’ can’t simply turn up at court and plead the sympathy card by saying they have nowhere to go. If landlords’’ follow this course of action the housing department will be in communication with the tenants’ well before the court date and it is more likely a sheriff will grant the decree to evict.
With effect from the 4th January 2009
With effect from the 4th January 2009 every residential property available for let must have a valid EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) available for inspection. The EPC should be placed in the property, normally in an electrical cupboard and close to the boiler and should remain in the property at all times.
The certificate will last for 10 years and prospective tenants’ will be able to ask for sight of the certificate prior to agreeing a lease.
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
As yet it is not a legal requirement for letting Agents in Scotland to be registered as part of any Tenancy Deposit scheme although it has been law in England and Wales for just over a year. LET it however are hoping to become one of the first Agents in Scotland to Voluntarily join such a scheme, thus ensuring fairness to both tenants’ and landlords in the event a deposit dispute… More on this soon!
