October 26, 2017
The Government have now released the Model Tenancy Agreement that we have been waiting for since it was introduced under section 10 of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the Act”). This new tenancy model should be used for all residential tenancies from 1st December. We will refer to it as a Provate Rented Tenancy ("PRT") as opposed to a Short Assured Tenancy ("SAT")
This Model Tenancy Agreement contains two categories of clauses - Core Rights and Obligations and then Discretionary Terms:
Core Rights and Obligations:
"which includes, among other things, the statutory terms applicable to all private residential tenancies, the repairing standard and tenancy deposits. They are ‘mandatory clauses’ which must feature in any agreement prepared using this model. These terms are laid down in the Act, supporting secondary legislation and other relevant housing legislation and are indicated in bold typeface. These clauses should be read alongside the relevant legislation, as the legislation takes priority and may change from time to time.
Discretionary Terms:
"The second category is discretionary terms, which the Landlord may or may not wish to include in the written tenancy agreement. These are in ordinary typeface. This category will include any additional terms the Landlord chooses to add. Any additional terms added by the Landlord must comply with the requirements of the Act, supporting secondary legislation, Regulations and other relevant legislation."
If you decide to use this agrement in its curent form (30 pages) you should give the tenant the Easy Read Notes (all 50 pages of them!) : If you are adapting the model agreement into your own style you must give the tenant the Statutory Terms Supporting Notes. Failure to supply these documents could result in sanctions of up to 6 month's rent.
It is important that a written lease is given to the tenant however it can be issued by email and signed electronicaly. As an agency though we will still require hard copy leases and lease signing sessions with the tenants so they fully understand what is being signed and what their obligations are. Also we are still nervous that electronic signatures are sa valid form of signing
A Copy of the agreement can be found here. Chapmans will be working on their own documentation now in time for the 1st December.
