Notices to quit in Scottish commercial leases: preventing tacit relocation—timing and calculation of notice periods, service, parties, subtenants and form (practitioner checklist)

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Checklist

This Checklist outlines how to serve notices to quit aimed at preventing tacit relocation in commercial leases in Scotland. It covers:

Who may serve a notice to quit;
When it must be given; and
How service should be effected.

It does not address notices to quit for residential or agricultural property, nor does it cover the particular protection afforded to shop tenants under the Tenancy of Shops (Scotland) Act 1949 (see Practice Note: Protection for shop tenants), which are outside the scope of this Checklist and are not considered here. In Scotland, the principle of tacit relocation provides that a commercial lease will not end on the stated contractual expiry date but will continue, unless one of the parties serves a notice to quit in good time to bring it to an end at that date and then follows through by acting on the notice, or the tenant separately confirms it will vacate on the specified termination date. The notice to quit must be accurately drafted and properly served. Otherwise, tacit relocation will extend the lease by a further year, or by the original term if that term is for less than one year...

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Kenneth S Gerber

Mitchells Roberton

Ken joined Mitchells Roberton in 2019. He was previously a partner for 12 years at Anderson Strathern, and before that he was a partner at Kidstons.Ken handles landlord and tenant law, site assembly, property development, property financing, property purchase and sale and the property aspects of corporate transactions.He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in commercial leasing law. He regularly speaks on a range of commercial property subjects at conferences for MBL Seminars, as well as for other providers, and has presented online lectures for The Law Society of Scotland and University of Glasgow. Kenneth wrote the course on commercial conveyancing for the postgraduate Law Diploma at Glasgow University, and is senior tutor on that course. He also regularly provides specialist legal opinions to other firms on commercial lease matters....

Web page updated on 20/05/2026

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