The Scottish landlord compliance calendar.
Nine requirements every private landlord in Scotland has to keep current. How often each renews, the legislation behind it, and what a missed one costs.
Scottish private lets run under their own framework, and it differs materially from England and Wales. Most of these duties carry criminal liability or tribunal exposure when missed. Check each against your portfolio; an HMO or licence condition can add more.
Landlord registration
Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, Part 8. Mandatory for private landlords in Scotland, with limited statutory exemptions.
Renewal period
Every 3 years, per local authority. Registration is with the council where each property sits, not a single national body.
When it applies
Before letting any property. Registration must be in place before a tenancy starts. A landlord with properties in several council areas needs a registration in each.
If you miss it
Letting without registration is a criminal offence, with a fine of up to £50,000. The council can also serve a Rent Penalty Notice, so no rent or other consideration is payable while it is in force, and a court can disqualify a person from being registered at all. What the council cannot do is serve a notice stopping the property being let; Part 8 has no such power. Registration status is publicly searchable at landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk.
Gas safety certificate (CP12)
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, Regulation 36.
Renewal period
Annual. The inspection must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer and covers all gas appliances and flues at the property.
When it applies
Only where there is a gas supply or gas appliances. Existing tenants get a copy within 28 days of the inspection; new tenants before the tenancy begins.
If you miss it
A criminal offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Health and Safety Executive can prosecute: in Scotland the maximum on summary conviction is a £20,000 fine and up to 12 months in prison; on indictment the fine is unlimited and up to two years in prison is available. The unlimited summary fine quoted in most guidance is England and Wales only. A missing record is a serious breach in its own right and puts you in breach of the Repairing Standard, and an appliance known or suspected to be unsafe must not be used. Unlike England, Scotland has no rule making the tenancy itself unlawful or blocking an eviction notice for want of a certificate, but a conviction is reportable and can affect your landlord registration.
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, ss.19A to 19B, inserted by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 and in force since 1 December 2015; Repairing Standard s.13(1)(c) and the statutory guidance at Annex D3.
Renewal period
Every 5 years at most, or sooner if the report requires. An inspection must have been carried out before a tenancy starts and not more than 5 years before it, so a valid in-date EICR carries over and a change of tenant does not by itself need a fresh one. The inspection must be by a competent person and covers the installation and the electrical fixtures, fittings and appliances you provide. Scotland sets no fixed remediation clock: a C1 must be made safe immediately, a C2 needs urgent remedial action, an FI must be investigated as soon as practically possible, and a C3 is a recommended improvement that the Repairing Standard does not require. The 28-day deadline quoted by most online guidance is England’s 2020 rule and does not apply here.
When it applies
A copy of the most recent record goes to the tenant before the tenancy starts, and a copy of any inspection carried out during it. Keep each record for six years. Scotland has no 28-day-on-request supply rule; that is England’s.
If you miss it
An uninspected installation, or an unsatisfactory EICR left unremediated, breaches the Repairing Standard. Enforcement runs through the First-tier Tribunal, not the council: a tenant can apply, and if the Tribunal finds you failed to comply it must make a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order allowing at least 21 days for the work, and can follow it with a Rent Relief Order cutting the rent by up to 90% until the work is done. Ignoring an enforcement order without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £1,000, and can count against your fit-and-proper status on the landlord register. The council cannot serve a remediation notice or impose the £30,000 civil penalty quoted in most guidance; that is England’s regime. It can apply to the Tribunal itself, and the Tribunal passes every tenant application to the council for the landlord register.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Energy Performance of Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2008.
Renewal period
Every 10 years. A new EPC after improvements is optional but captures the better rating. It must exist before the property is marketed, and every advertisement in commercial media, a portal listing, a brochure or written particulars, must state the energy performance indicator. That has applied in Scotland since 9 January 2013 and covers Rightmove, Zoopla and Citylets listings, not just printed ads.
Minimum standard
Scotland has no minimum EPC band for private lets. The 2020 regulations that would have phased one in were approved in draft and then withdrawn before being made, so they never took effect; minimum band E is England and Wales’ MEES regime, not Scotland’s. A reformed EPC with a heat retention rating is appointed by the made 2025 regulations to commence on 31 October 2026; the Scottish Government has proposed moving that to 30 April 2028, but the amending instrument was still a draft when we last checked. A minimum heat retention rating of band C, for new tenancies from 2028 and all private lets by the end of 2033, was consulted on until 29 August 2025 with no government response published and no instrument laid. Nothing binds today, and band C is the number to plan against.
If you miss it
Marketing or letting without a valid EPC, or leaving the energy performance indicator out of adverts: a penalty charge notice from the council of £500 for a dwelling, £1,000 for any other building. There is no penalty tied to the rating itself and no power to stop a letting, because no minimum standard is in force. The £5,000 below-minimum penalty quoted in most guidance is England and Wales’ MEES regime.
Legionella risk assessment
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002; Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; HSE ACOP L8.
Period
Not a certificate with a fixed expiry. Statutory guidance says to review no more than two years after the last assessment, and sooner at a change of tenancy, if the water system changes, or if the assessment requires it.
Who can carry it out
A competent person, which can be the landlord for a simple domestic property; HSE says most landlords can assess the risk themselves without training or accreditation. HMOs, stored water tanks, hot tubs and cooling systems warrant a qualified assessor. Recording the findings is only a statutory duty for employers with five or more employees, but a dated record is the practical evidence that you assessed the risk. HSE does not require a legionella test certificate, and sampling is not usually needed for domestic hot and cold water systems.
If you miss it
Criminal liability under health and safety law if a tenant contracts Legionnaires’ disease and no assessment was in place. The HSE can prosecute: in Scotland the maximum fine on summary conviction is £20,000; on indictment it is unlimited. A current, recorded assessment is the key defence.
Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) agreement
Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, ss.10 to 11 and 16 to 17; Private Residential Tenancies (Information for Tenants) (Scotland) Regulations 2017, reg 3.
When it applies
Every new private residential tenancy since 1 December 2017 must use the model PRT or a compliant bespoke agreement. The tenancy has no fixed end date, and possession can only be recovered on the 18 prescribed grounds.
Documents at tenancy start
Signed PRT agreement; the prescribed supporting notes, which are the Easy Read Notes if you use the Scottish Government’s model agreement or the Statutory Terms Supporting Notes if you use your own, never both, given on paper or electronically by the end of the day the tenancy starts; gas safety certificate where applicable; EPC; EICR; landlord registration number.
If you miss it
A non-compliant agreement does not void the tenancy, but it limits which terms you can enforce and exposes you to First-tier Tribunal complaints. On the documents, the tenant can apply to the Tribunal for up to three months’ rent, or six months’ rent if both the written terms and the supporting notes were missed. The tenant must give you 28 days’ notice first, and the order can only be made if you still have not supplied the documents when the Tribunal considers the application, so supplying them late defeats it.
Tenancy deposit protection
Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011, as amended 2017 and 2019.
Deadline
The deposit must be lodged with an approved scheme within 30 working days of the tenancy start, and the tenant given the prescribed scheme information in the same window. The clock runs from the start of the tenancy, not from receipt of the deposit as it does in England, and the days are working days. Where the deposit is paid in agreed instalments, each instalment must be lodged within 30 working days of receiving it.
Approved schemes
SafeDeposits Scotland, MyDeposits Scotland and Letting Protection Service Scotland. The deposit stays protected for the whole tenancy and cannot be touched without the tenant’s agreement or a tribunal order.
If you miss it
The tenant can apply to the First-tier Tribunal within three months of the tenancy ending, and if any regulation 3 duty was breached the Tribunal must award a sum of up to three times the deposit. Only the amount is at its discretion; a nil award is not an option once breach is established, which is why the English one-to-three-times, at the court’s discretion, framing does not describe the Scottish sanction. It is awarded regardless of any damages claim. The 30-working-day deadline is strictly enforced; nearly on time is not a defence.
Smoke and heat alarms, interlinked
Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, s.86(1)(j) and (k), the tolerable standard, inserted by SSI 2019/8 as amended by SSI 2021/46 and applied to every tenure from 1 February 2022; reaches private lets through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, s.13(1)(h).
Standard
One interlinked smoke alarm in the room most often used for general daytime living, usually the living room, one in every circulation space on each storey, and one interlinked heat alarm in every kitchen, all ceiling mounted. It is one alarm in the main daytime living room, not one in every room that could be used as a living room. A carbon monoxide detector in every room with a fixed combustion appliance, a boiler, fire, heater or stove burning oil, solid fuel or gas, or a flue; appliances used solely for cooking are excluded, so a gas hob on its own does not need one. Alarms must meet BS EN 14604 (smoke), BS 5446-2 (heat) or BS EN 50291 (carbon monoxide).
When it applies
Private lets have needed a materially identical interlinked standard under the Repairing Standard since February 2019; 1 February 2022 extended it to every tenure. Older battery alarms may need replacing with sealed long-life or mains-wired units.
If you miss it
The property fails the Repairing Standard. A tenant can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order, and the council can apply as a third party. Ignoring an order without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence, but the fine is capped at £1,000; the real exposure is a rent relief order of up to 90% until the work is done. Scotland has no council civil penalty for alarms; the fine you will see quoted is England’s regime.
Repairing Standard
Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, ss.13 to 16; Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016; Modification of the Repairing Standard Regulations 2019.
What it covers
Wind and watertight and reasonably fit for human habitation; structure and exterior, including drains, gutters and external pipes, in reasonable repair and proper working order; installations for water, gas, electricity (including residual current devices) and any other fuel, and for sanitation, fixed space heating and hot water, in reasonable repair and proper working order; landlord-provided fixtures, fittings and appliances in reasonable repair; furnishings safe for their designed purpose; the tolerable standard met, which is where the alarm and carbon monoxide requirements now sit; common parts safely accessible and usable; satisfactory provision for, and safe access to, food storage and a food preparation space; and, in a tenement, secure common doors with satisfactory emergency exit locks. The common parts, food and tenement door elements, with the residual current device and fixed heating wording, were added on 1 March 2024. From 6 October 2026 the house must also be substantially free from damp and mould.
When it applies
Throughout the tenancy, from the first day. An annual inspection is not required by law but is the simplest way to document compliance before a tenant reports an issue.
If you miss it
The tenant can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order with a deadline for the works. Failing to comply can bring a rent relief order of up to 90%, and non-compliance with the order is a criminal offence. From 6 October 2026, statutory response times also apply to damp and mould: a competent person must investigate within 10 working days of you becoming aware, the tenant gets a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation finishing, and any required repair must start within 5 working days of it finishing.
HMO licence, if it applies
A property is a House in Multiple Occupation if three or more people who are not all from the same family, or from one or other of two families, live there as their only or main residence and share a toilet, washing facilities or cooking facilities. Every HMO needs a licence from the council under Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, ss.124 and 125, which replaced the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 regime on 31 August 2011. The two-family allowance is the part that catches people out: a couple plus one friend is three people from two families and not an HMO; three people from three families is. Term-time students count as resident. A licence runs for up to 3 years with a statutory minimum of 6 months, so check the expiry on your own licence rather than assuming a three-year cycle; one deemed granted because the council missed its deadline expires after one year. Letting an unlicensed HMO is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £50,000, and HMO status adds gas, electrical, fire safety and management duties on top of the nine above.
Every one of these dates, on every property, in one list.
Lar tracks the certificate, the deadline and the statute on every row, and keeps an overdue item on the dashboard until it is dealt with.
General information, not legal advice. Legislation changes and council requirements vary; take advice specific to your portfolio. Spotted an error or a change in the law? hello@uselar.com.