The Housing Bill is proposing significant changes to the law relating to many aspects of social housing including Short Scottish Secure Tenancies.

One significant part of the Housing (Scotland) Bill deals with proposed changes to the regime of Short Scottish Secure Tenancies (SSSTs).

The Housing Bill proposes:

• New grounds for creating SSSTs
• New provision for converting SSTs to short SSTs
• New rules on initial length of certain SSSTs
• New rules on extending the initial period
• New rules about eviction from certain SSSTs

New grounds for

There are many challenges facing vulnerable adults entering into tenancy agreements in Scotland.

The Adults with Incapacity Act is now well established in Scotland. It sets rules which deal with the appointment of guardians for people who lack capacity to deal with their own affairs. Many adults who are 'incapable' as defined in the Act are now in their own tenancies with significant support networks. Earlier this year I spoke at an event on this topic.

This event looked at the challenges faced by adults

If a landlord finds himself in a situation where a tenant has requested terminating a tenancy agreement early, the tenancy agreement should have clear terms under which the tenant can give notice to terminate the agreement. In most circumstances the tenant will have to give two months notice prior to the end date of the tenancy. If the tenant tries to get out of the agreement early without giving notice in terms of the tenancy agreement, the landlord may have a claim for any losses

More and more landlords are now requiring tenants to provide guarantors, in addition to carrying out the usual referencing checks. This gives a landlord some added protection against the risk of the tenant failing to pay rent under the tenancy agreement. However, it is important that landlords ensure that the guarantor signs an express agreement, so that the landlord can legally enforce the obligations against the guarantor, should the tenant fail to fulfil theirs. So how do you put a guarantor agreement in place?

Our

As a private landlord, you really need to be on the ball to avoid the pitfalls of Scottish tenancy law. One of the biggest danger areas involves the perils of picking the wrong date. This can occur in a number of circumstances. So how do you get the notice to quit date right?

The Short Assured Tenancy Agreement Scotland

• The law says that a short assured tenancy agreement must be for a minimum of six months. e.g. 8 December 2010 to 8 June 2011.
• Always