Scottish Government Model Tenancy Agreement: What Landlords Need to Know

The Scottish Government publishes an official Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement that any landlord can use for free. It incorporates every mandatory statutory term, it is regularly updated to reflect legislative changes, and it can be generated in minutes through the mygov.scot online tool. But it has limitations that catch first-time landlords off guard.

What the Model Agreement Includes

The Model PRT contains mandatory terms (printed in bold) that are prescribed by the Private Residential Tenancies (Statutory Terms) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (SSI 2017/408). These cover rent, deposits, repair obligations, the 48-hour access notice rule, subletting restrictions, and data protection. No landlord can alter, exclude, or contract out of these terms — they apply to every PRT whether the agreement mentions them or not.

The Model PRT also includes standard discretionary terms (printed in ordinary typeface) covering day-to-day matters: smoking, storage, refuse disposal, communal areas, and end-of-tenancy obligations. Landlords can modify these discretionary clauses, and the agreement provides a Clause 37 section for adding custom terms.

The current version was updated on 6 October 2026 to incorporate changes from the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, including rent-control-area provisions and damp and mould remediation standards.

How the mygov.scot Tenancy Tool Works

The Scottish Government operates an online creation wizard at mygov.scot that generates a combined PDF containing the Model PRT and the Easy Read Notes. You enter the property address, landlord details, tenant names, rent amount, deposit sum, and start date. The tool populates the mandatory terms automatically and lets you toggle the standard discretionary clauses on or off.

The output is a single-session PDF. Once you close the browser tab, your inputs are gone — there is no save function, no account system, and no way to retrieve a partially completed agreement later. If you need to make changes, you start from scratch.

What the Model PRT Misses

The Model PRT covers the statutory minimum, but self-managing landlords routinely need clauses it does not include:

Garden and exterior maintenance — no clause assigns routine garden upkeep. Without one, disputes over mowing, hedge trimming, and bin storage have no contractual resolution.

Utility account transfers — no obligation on the tenant to transfer gas, electricity, water, or council tax into their name by a specific date. Landlords sometimes discover they are still named on utility accounts months after the tenant moved in.

Parking and vehicle storage — no clause governs driveways, allocated spaces, or garages. Commercial vehicles, caravans, and boats in the front garden are a common dispute with no contractual anchor.

Check-in inventory format — the Model PRT references an inventory but does not prescribe a sign-off process. Without a signed, dated inventory at the start, deposit deduction claims at the end of the tenancy are difficult to prove.

RCD and electrical maintenance — the Model PRT covers the landlord's repair obligation but does not include a practical clause about the tenant's duty not to interfere with residual current devices and to report electrical faults promptly.

Model PRT vs Bespoke Agreement

If the Model PRT does not cover everything you need, you have two options:

1. Use the Model PRT and add custom terms under Clause 37 — this keeps the structure simple and you serve the Easy Read Notes alongside it
2. Use a bespoke agreement — drafted by a solicitor or assembled yourself, incorporating the mandatory terms plus whatever additional clauses you need. If you go this route, you must serve the Statutory Terms Supporting Notes instead of the Easy Read Notes

The notes-matching rule is strict. Serving the wrong notes is treated the same as serving no notes at all, with tribunal penalties of up to three months' rent.

Most self-managing landlords with one or two properties are well served by the Model PRT with Clause 37 additions. A bespoke agreement makes more sense for complex lettings — HMOs, properties with commercial elements, or lets with unusual shared facilities.

After You Generate the Agreement

Generating the PDF is step one. You still need to:

• Serve the agreement and Easy Read Notes to the tenant on or before the start date
• Record proof of delivery (the mygov.scot tool does not produce a delivery receipt)
• Complete a signed check-in inventory
• Lodge the deposit within 30 working days and serve the prescribed information

The Scotland PRT Setup Guide walks through the entire sequence from choosing the agreement format through move-in day, with a notes-matching matrix, Clause 37 additions, and a document delivery log that the mygov.scot tool does not provide.

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