Private Residential Tenancy Scotland: Landlord Rules and Obligations

Any new tenancy starting on or after 1 December 2017 is a Private Residential Tenancy if the property is let as a separate dwelling, the tenant occupies it as their only or main home, and the tenancy is not excluded under Schedule 1 of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. Calling it a "holiday let" or "licence to occupy" does not change the statutory test.

The PRT replaced the Assured Tenancy and Short Assured Tenancy that ran under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988. Those older tenancy types still exist for agreements signed before 1 December 2017 and not yet ended, but no new ones can be created.

What Makes a PRT Different

The PRT is open-ended. It has no fixed term, no expiry date and no "no-fault" termination mechanism. A landlord cannot end the tenancy simply because a lease period has run out — there is no Scottish equivalent of the English Section 21 notice. The only way a landlord can end a PRT is by serving a notice to leave citing one or more of the 18 statutory grounds in Schedule 3 of the 2016 Act.

A tenant, by contrast, can end a PRT at any time by giving 28 days' written notice to the landlord.

The 18 Eviction Grounds

The grounds cover three broad categories:

Estate grounds (Grounds 1–9) — the landlord needs the property back for a purpose unrelated to the tenant's conduct. Selling the property (Ground 1), moving back in (Ground 4), major refurbishment (Ground 3), a family member moving in (Ground 5). These require 84 days' notice if the tenant has lived there longer than six months, or 28 days if six months or less.

Conduct grounds (Grounds 10–15) — the tenant has breached the tenancy or engaged in antisocial behaviour, criminal activity, or is no longer occupying the property. These require 28 days when the notice relies exclusively on one or more of Grounds 10–15.

Regulatory grounds (Grounds 16–18) — the landlord's registration has been refused or revoked, the HMO licence has been lost, or a statutory overcrowding notice has been served. They require 28 days if the tenant has occupied the property for six months or less, and 84 days if longer.

Since the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Act 2022, every one of these grounds is discretionary. Proving the factual basis of the ground is only the threshold — the First-tier Tribunal still decides whether eviction is reasonable in the circumstances.

Core Landlord Obligations Under a PRT

Landlord registration is compulsory under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. The fee is £85 for a single local authority application, plus £20 per property; when applying online to more than one local authority, the principal fee is £42.50 per authority. Letting an unregistered property is a criminal offence carrying fines up to £50,000.

Tenancy deposit protection must be completed within 30 working days of the tenancy start date, or within 30 working days of each instalment being paid. Scotland has three approved schemes: SafeDeposits Scotland, Letting Protection Service Scotland, and mydeposits Scotland. Failure to protect carries penalties of up to three times the deposit amount.

The Repairing Standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 requires landlords to keep the property wind-and-watertight, with working installations for heating, water, sanitation, and cooking. Gas and electrical safety certificates must be current. The Housing and Property Chamber can order the landlord to carry out repairs, and a pending repair complaint will count against the landlord in a reasonableness assessment at an eviction hearing.

Anti-discrimination became a criminal offence from 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. 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.

How the PRT Affects Ending a Tenancy

The open-ended nature of the PRT means the entire eviction process is front-loaded with procedure. You choose the ground, gather the evidence, serve the notice using the prescribed form on mygov.scot, wait out the notice period (including a two-day postal allowance for posted or emailed notices), and then apply to the Tribunal if the tenant has not left.

The Tribunal application (Form E, Rule 109) is free, but proceedings currently take eight to twelve months from submission to hearing. Self-help eviction — changing locks, cutting utilities — is a criminal offence under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984.

Our Notice to Leave in Scotland guide covers each of the 18 grounds in detail, with the evidence requirements, the notice period calculations, and a step-by-step workflow from notice to tribunal application.

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