Landlords rejoice! Extended tenancy termination periods will end from 30 March 2022.

Finally some good news for private residential landlords. The provisions of the incoming Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Early Expiry of Provisions) Regulations 2022 will cause required termination notice periods to revert back to their pre April 2020 durations from 30 March 2022. That means from 30 March 2022 landlords will no longer be required to give tenants extended minimum notice to vacate their property, which in the majority of cases at present is six months.

As a reminder, the pre April 2020 periods are as follows:

Private Residential Tenancies

28 or 84 days depending on the length of time the tenant has resided in the let property or the ground of eviction being relied upon by the landlord.

Assured/Short Assured Tenancies

If the landlord is relying on a specified ground for eviction (using a form AT6), the notice period will revert to either 2 weeks or 2 months (depending on the eviction ground being used).

Short Assured Tenancies

Where the landlord intends to terminate on the “no fault” grounds, the notice period required will go back to 2 months.

Landlords who have served notice prior to 30 March 2022 may be tempted to re-serve notice come 30 March 2022 to take advantage of the reduced notice periods available. The regulations will prohibit this practice. Where a notice has been served prior to 30 March 2022 and has yet to expire, landlords cannot rely on service of a post 30 March 2022 notice which specifies the same ground(s) as the prior notice and would expire earlier than the prior notice. This provision will be a kick in the teeth to some landlords who have been following the rules up until recently but will no doubt curb the influx of notices being served come 30 March 2022.

If you have been apprehensive about serving notice during the pandemic, we would be delighted to discuss how the termination process will work from 30 March 2022 and how we can assist you with that process.

Should you require assistance with recovery of your heritable property from a tenant or those occupying without right my team would be delighted to hear from you.

If you would like further information regarding the topics discussed in this blog, please contact:

Scott Runciman by email:  srunciman@gilsongray.co.uk or by phone: 0131 516 5387 

You can also visit our Debt Recovery Team page by clicking here. 

The information and opinions contained in this blog are for information only. They are not intended to constitute advice and should not be relied upon or considered as a replacement for advice. Before acting on any of the information contained in this blog, please seek specific advice from Gilson Gray.