Housing Scotland Act 2025 and Rent Control: What Landlords Need to Know

Scottish landlord law has changed more in the past four years than in the previous two decades. The emergency rent caps and eviction restrictions under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 expired on 31 March 2025, but their legacy is permanent — the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 had already made all 18 eviction grounds discretionary on a permanent basis. Now the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 is adding a new layer of obligations.

Here is what has actually changed and what is still in the pipeline.

The Cost of Living Act: Expired but Lasting

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 imposed temporary rent caps and restricted evictions during the cost-of-living crisis. Those emergency measures expired on 31 March 2025. Since then, landlords can raise rents under the standard PRT framework and serve notice to leave on any of the 18 statutory grounds without the additional restrictions that were in place during the emergency period.

What did not expire: the permanent conversion of all eviction grounds from mandatory to discretionary. That change was enacted separately by the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022 and remains in force. Every eviction application goes through a reasonableness test at the First-tier Tribunal, regardless of how strong the factual basis is.

Housing (Scotland) Act 2025: What Is Live

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 and related legislation introduce several changes that affect landlords directly:

Anti-discrimination offence under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (live from 1 May 2026) — landlords and letting agents must not discriminate against current or prospective tenants because they receive benefits, including Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, or have children. A restriction on tenants with children can also fall within a temporary exception for an insurance term signed before 1 May 2026, until that policy ends or is renewed; otherwise, it is allowed only where it is a proportionate way to achieve a legitimate aim. There is no such exception for benefits discrimination. A conviction can carry a fine of up to £1,000. The rules apply to existing and prospective tenancies, regardless of whether the tenancy was signed before or after 1 May 2026.

Wrongful termination payments (live from 6 October 2026) — compensation increased to between three and 36 times monthly rent. If rent is below £840 per month, the Tribunal uses £840 as the monthly figure when calculating compensation.

Joint tenancy reforms (coming 1 April 2027) — under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, a joint tenant will be able to end a joint PRT for all tenants by giving the other joint tenants and landlord two months' written pre-notice, but no more than three months before serving a final 28-day notice. This changes how landlords deal with shared tenancies.

Updated prescribed form (coming 1 April 2027) — SSI 2026/279 replaces the current notice to leave form (Schedule 5 of SSI 2017/297) with a new version in Schedule 4, incorporating updated tenant-rights signposting and adjusted joint-tenancy provisions. Notices served on or after 1 April 2027 must use the new form.

Rent Control Framework

The 2025 Act provides the Scottish Government with powers to introduce long-term rent control in designated areas. In those areas, the statutory cap on rent increases is CPI plus 1%, up to a maximum of 6%, and it applies during and between tenancies. Ministers must designate an area before the cap applies there.

For notice-to-leave purposes, rent control does not directly change the eviction grounds or notice periods. But if rent is capped and a landlord's mortgage costs rise above the capped income, the commercial pressure to sell (Ground 1) or refurbish and re-let at a higher standard (Ground 3) will increase — making it more important that the notice process is done correctly the first time.

Energy Efficiency Standards on the Horizon

The Heat in Buildings Bill consultations propose Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards requiring private rented properties to reach EPC Band C for new lets by 2028 and all tenancies by 2033. These are still under development and do not currently affect notice validity or eviction grounds. When they come into force, properties that fall below the standard may face letting restrictions.

What This Means for Serving Notice Now

The core notice-to-leave framework under the 2016 Act has not changed. The 18 grounds, the notice periods (28 or 84 days), the prescribed form, the day-counting rules, the service methods, and the tribunal application process remain the same — with the critical caveat that every ground is discretionary. What has changed is the regulatory context the Tribunal weighs when deciding whether eviction is reasonable.

Our Notice to Leave in Scotland guide reflects the current law as at October 2026, including the permanent discretionary-grounds framework, the 2025 Act rent-control framework, the separate Renters' Rights Act anti-discrimination rules, and the April 2027 form changeover.

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