Category: Being a Landlord

Maintaining and Repairing Windows

As winter comes to Scotland, and our homes are battered by the high winds, rain and snow which characterise this time of year, we reflect on the importance of our windows. They are vital for letting in the sparse daylight, and for keeping out the cold. So, let’s consider some of the common issues you …

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Propertymark Urges Scottish Government to Incentivise Investment in the Private Rental Sector     

Ahead of the Scottish Budget on 4th December 2024, Propertymark has urged the Scottish Government to start incentivising investment in the private rental sector. Following the appointment of John Swinney as Scotland’s First Minister on 7th May 2024, the professional body called on the Scottish Government to tackle Scotland’s housing emergency by reviewing all costs …

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Deposits and “Only or Principal Home”

We have blogged on issues around the duties on landlords under the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (as amended) (the Regulations), short-term lets and what is and what is not an “only or principal home” before.  In a recent appeal before the Upper Tribunal, these issues came together when a group of university students …

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Why it is Critical to Get Your Tenement Building Surveyed

On a sunny mid-afternoon in early October, large chunks of red sandstone, apparently from a second-storey window lintel, came tumbling down off a tenement building in Portobello in Edinburgh. Fortunately, the fallen stonework, which landed on the pavement adjacent to the entrance of a Scotmid car park, did not cause any injuries. But it does …

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Landlord Registration

Does absence of landlord registration invalidate the tenancy agreement? Readers will be aware it is an offence for a landlord to let property in Scotland unless registered with the local authority landlord register. If convicted, landlords face a fine of up to £50,000. While the absence of a landlord registration is a matter for which …

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Resetting Relationships with Those in Power – Lessons from Germany

A recent article published in The Herald, written by John Blackwood, Chief Executive of Scottish Association of Landlords, called for a reset in relations between the government and the private rented sector. In the same month, Scottish Labour signaled that they were, in principle, supportive of rent controls. The impasse between the PRS and those …

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