Scotland's Private Rented Sector: Landlord and Letting Agent Registration, Repairing Standard including Damp and Mould, Energy Performance and HRR Reforms, HMO Licensing, Tenancy Deposits, and FTT Enforcement and Appeals

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Practice notes

STOP PRESS—Draft Repairing Standard (Scotland) Regulations:

Proposals tabled before the Scottish Parliament in January 2026 set out focused changes to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (H(S)A 2006) and the linked repairing standard framework. The instrument would revise H(S)A 2006, s 13 to state explicitly that a private let must be largely free of damp and mould. It would likewise add duties in law obliging landlords to look into notifications (or awareness) of damp or mould within ten working days and, where necessary safety work is flagged, to begin remedial works within an additional five working days. Non‑compliance may amount to a breach of the repairing standard; see ‘Statutory Repairing Standard—common repairs exemption’ below.

Landlord Regulation

Private landlords must follow various statutory rules when letting homes, as outlined below.

Landlord registration

When to register and exemptions

From 2006, under section 1 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 (AB(S)A 2004), private sector landlords are required to register with their local authority. This obligation arises where a ‘relevant person’ enters into a tenancy or occupancy agreement with an ‘unconnected person’. A ‘relevant person’ is any party who is not otherwise connected or associated under the arrangement as described in the content...

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Claire Mullen

TC Young LLP

Claire is a civil litigation solicitor in the court team at TC Young LLP. Claire leads the First-tier Tribunal team and specialises in all matters of dispute including eviction, repairing standards, letting agent code compliance, property factor code compliance. Claire trained at a Law Centre gaining significant exposure to both eviction in the social and private rented sector and mortgage repossession. Since 2014 Claire has acted for landlords and lettings agents throughout Scotland in connection with a variety of residential disputes in the social and private rented sector. Since 2016, Claire has focused on the private residential tenancy sector. She provided vital training to members of the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property) Chamber in preparation for the transfer of function from the Sheriff Court. In 2020, Claire was certified as an accredited specialist in Housing and Residential Tenancy Law by the Law Society of...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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