Protection for Residential Tenants
Adèle Nicol
Partner Rural Land and Business | Specialist in Agricultural Law | Member of Law Society Rural Affairs Committee
Coronavirus (Scotland) No. 2 Act 2020
Regulations applying to Evictions for Rent Arrear
The Coronavirus (Scotland) No. 2 Act was enacted on 26th May and will go live on the day after Royal Assent, likely to be early June. It contains further provisions in relation to private residential tenancies. The Act will remain in place until 30 September 2020 although provisions can be extended if required.
Schedule 2 Part 2 deals with private residential tenancies where an order for possession or eviction order has been issued on the ground of rent arrears. If a landlord establishes that rent arrears exist which would justify the First Tier Tribunal to issue an order, then if it is the case the arrears relate to the period during which the The Coronavirus (Scotland) No. 2 was in force First Tier Tribunal is obliged to consider the extent to which the landlord has complied with pre-action requirements before raising the proceedings for possession
Pre-action requirements means such requirements as the Scottish Minister may specify in regulations. The regulations still have to be published but they may, in particular, make provision about information to be provided by a landlord to a tenant, including information about the terms of the tenancy rent, arrears and other outstanding financial obligations; steps to be taken by a landlord with a view to seeking to agree arrangements with the tenant for payment of future rent, rent arrears and such other matters as Scottish Ministers consider appropriate. These provisions apply to eviction orders for all types of tenancies, i.e. Protected, Regulated, Assured and PRTs.