Scotland Landlord Record Keeping and Certificate Tracking

Scottish housing law does not just require you to get the certificates done. It requires you to keep them, serve copies to tenants on specific deadlines, and produce them if the tribunal or council asks. Missing a deadline on the work is bad. Missing a deadline on the paperwork can be just as costly.

The Mandatory Records

Here is what you must retain, with the statutory minimum holding period:

Gas Safety Record (LGSR): Keep every record for at least 2 years or until two subsequent annual checks have been completed and documented. Serve a copy to existing tenants within 28 calendar days of the check. New tenants must receive a copy before they move in.

EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report): Retain for at least 5 years or until superseded by the next report. Serve a copy to existing tenants within 28 days and to new tenants before move-in. If the report flags any C1 (Danger Present) or C2 (Potentially Dangerous) defects, keep the follow-up remedial certificate (EIC or Minor Works Certificate) alongside it.

PAT/ISIT Testing: Retain the register of portable appliance test results alongside your EICR for at least 5 years. Each tested appliance should have a label showing the test date and result.

Interlinked Alarm Records: Record the installation date, manufacturer, model, expiry date, and power source of every smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide alarm. Test all alarms before each new tenancy and log the test date. Replace units before the manufacturer's stamped expiry (typically 10 years from manufacture).

Damp and Mould Logs (Awaab's Law): Under the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026, retain dated records showing when you received the tenant's report, when the investigation was instructed (within 10 working days), when the written summary was delivered (within 3 working days of investigation), and when repair work commenced (within 5 working days of investigation). Keep these for at least 5 years.

EPC: Valid for 10 years. Must be in place before the property is advertised for let.

Legionella Risk Assessment: No statutory retention period is specified, but keep your current assessment plus at least one historical version. Review and update whenever the water system is modified or between tenancies.

Verifying Contractor Work

Collecting certificates is not the same as verifying them. The most common gap is accepting a trade report at face value without checking whether it actually covers the statutory requirements.

Before paying an invoice, confirm:

• The engineer or electrician holds the correct registration (Gas Safe, SELECT, NICEIC, or NAPIT)
• The report covers every item the law requires (for an EICR: all circuits and RCD protection rated at 30mA or below); keep the separate PAT register for landlord-supplied appliances alongside it
• The document is properly signed, dated, and identifies the property by its full address
• Any defect codes (C1, C2, FI) are clearly noted with remedial actions and timescales

Serving Records to Tenants

The delivery clock starts on the date the inspection is completed, not the date you receive the report. If your gas engineer completes the check on 1 March but you do not receive the report until 15 March, you have until 29 March to serve it — not 12 April.

Keep a log of when you sent each document and how (email with read receipt, recorded post, or hand delivery with a signed acknowledgment). The 28-day rule applies to the Landlord Gas Safety Record and the EICR. For other documents, best practice is to serve them before the tenancy starts and include them in the Tenant Information Pack.

Putting It Together

A single property in Scotland generates at least six types of compliance document on overlapping schedules. The annual gas check, the five-year EICR, the ten-year EPC, alarm replacements every decade, PAT testing every one to two years, and now the tightly timed damp and mould investigation logs. Miss one deadline and the tribunal has a documented breach.

The Repairing Standard Compliance Guide includes ready-to-use tracking logs for every certificate type, with pre-printed fields for issue dates, expiry dates, tenant delivery dates, and contractor registration details — one property file that keeps everything in one place.

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