Scotland’s largest membership organisation for landlords in the private rented sector has asked the UK and Scottish Governments to ensure the housing element of Universal Credit is paid directly to private and social landlords for all Scottish claimants. Giving oral evidence to the social secu
PRS
A property repair and maintenance reporting system to help residential tenants and landlords has been launched by Scottish Land & Estates (SLE). Believed to be among the first of its kind for the private rented sector in Scotland, the new app and website provides a 24/7 photo and video reporting
Ireland: Homeless man wins discrimination case over landlord’s refusal of housing assistance tenants
A landlord in the Republic of Ireland discriminated against a homeless man by telling him that they would not accept Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), a court has ruled. The case marks the first time a discrimination case from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on the “housing assistance
Scotland’s housing minister is to seek a meeting with the UK Government regarding the introduction of its ‘Right to Rent’ scheme after the High Court in London ruled the law was in breach of human rights legislation. Under the ‘Right to Rent’ law, landlords are faced wi
Property website Zoopla has announced plans to overhaul its rental adverts to ban posts which refuse to take renters on housing benefits. The move comes after the National Housing Federation found one in ten adverts on the Zoopla website specified "no DSS" (Department for Social Security) or "no hou
Scottish Mediation has received a £14,700 funding award from SafeDeposits Scotland Trust to develop and deliver eight workshops to improve relationships between agents, landlords, and tenants in the private rented sector (PRS). Designed for private sector letting agents in Scotland, the worksh
The Property Managers Association Scotland (PMAS) has named managing director of James Gibb residential factors Nic Mayall as its new vice president by unanimous decision. PMAS representative body for professional property factor firms in Scotland.
Landlords in Glasgow are facing stricter new conditions on how they operate their property as part of an effort to curb the impact that houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) can have on communities. The conditions, which cover cleansing issues, repairs to common property and dealing with neighbour comp
Tenancy deposit protection scheme SafeDeposits Scotland has announced a programme of nine new landlord and letting agent educational workshops taking place across the country in April. The workshops will offer two courses; a ‘Basic Workshop’, and a more advanced ‘Making the Case fo
A Highland landlord has been fined £4,000 for operating a house in multiple occupation (HMO) without a licence. Following concerns that several flats within Cruickshank Court in Dingwall were being occupied as unlicensed HMOs, Highland Council’s environmental health team led a joint inve
Scotland’s largest landlord membership organisation has called on the UK Government to scrap legislation which makes landlords responsible for checking the immigration status of tenants, after the High Court in London ruled the law was in breach of human rights legislation. Under the ‘Ri
Criminal offences relating to unlawful eviction – that have existed for half a century – are not being upheld, according to new findings. Writing for the SCOLAG Journal, Shaun McPhee presents the preliminary findings of research on enforcement in the Scottish private rented sector, in pa
The Scottish Parliament’s social security committee has launched an inquiry into whether the social security system adequately supports tenants in both the private rented sector and social housing. There are growing concerns that a system which should support people to be able to rent an affor
Rents in Scotland’s private rented sector (PRS) have continued to rise with an increasing number of families now living in privately rented homes. In its latest report, property letting portal Citylets said a 5% year-on-year increase during the final quarter of 2018 was underpinned by strong d
The Highland Council, in partnership with Under One Roof Scotland, is inviting all private landlords to a special seminar specifically to look at issues surrounding common repairs and building maintenance and how to deal with any problems that may arise. Under One Roof Scotland is an impartial