31 March 2016
Revised 2016 Tenant Information Pack potentially misleading to tenants.
The Scottish Government has recently issued its revised Tenant Information Pack (“TIP”) for 2016. The TIP requires to be issued by landlords to tenants at the commencement of a private residential tenancy and is supposed to provide a summary of both parties respective rights and responsibilities. However, we note that some of the information contained within the revised 2016 version is inaccurate and incomplete. An example of this is in relation to the discretionary grounds for removal, where the TIP states that a tenant may be removed if they have been served a Notice to Quit and does not leave. The relevant legislation in fact provides that it is a ground for removal if the tenant has given a Notice to Quit which has expired.
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Notification of some of the issues with the TIP has been given to the Scottish Government and it has been acknowledged that there are problems with the TIP. Nevertheless, it has been stated that the errors cannot be rectified at this time due to the dissolution of parliament pending the forthcoming election. This results in a wholly unsatisfactory situation with landlords statutorily required to serve on tenants a document that is inaccurate and misleading in several respects.
Contact: David Young, Associate dyo@bto.co.uk T: 0141 221 8012