A new duty will mean that private landlords or their agents in Scotland will have to give their tenants a Tenant Information Pack from next year.
The pack – to be known as a TIP – runs to over 30 pages with five sections, and will have to be prepared for all new tenancies. It must contain information on a number of points, including EPCs, gas safety, levels of occupancy, and rights and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords.
The requirement, for which Shelter has campaigned, forms part of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011.
The move will be watched closely by Westminster and the rest of the UK private rental sector, given that the Scottish Government – which has devolved powers over housing – is currently setting the UK agenda in terms of the private rented sector.
It has already, as of last month, explicitly banned fees charged to tenants, after a campaign by Shelter, which is now campaigning against letting agent fees in England.
The exact timing of the Scottish TIP implementation is vague, but officially is due for ‘early’ in 2013.
The Scottish Government says that a consultation on TIPs threw up a broadly positive response. It received 80 responses, including 24 from local authorities. Five large landlords and five letting agencies were additionally interviewed. However, there are concerns that the TIP is proving more unweildy than had been envisaged.
The Scottish Government is also preparing to produce an official strategy for the private rented sector, again following a consultation. Shelter is pressing ministers to introduce mandatory licensing for Scottish letting agents and to reform tenancy agreements in favour of longer tenures.
However, there is concern among Scottish agents that agents’ and landlords’ views are both being woefully under-represented.
Both ARLA and RICS, which had been part of the Private Rented Sector Strategy Group, were reduced to the status of ‘virtual’ member, severely limiting their input.
Scottish letting agents are also having to contend with strict timescales about physically placing tenancy deposit money into an approved scheme, while some are under pressure from tenants to refund money taken as fees.
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Comments
SO on the one hand we are told to be green and have wonderful EPCs and on the other we have to use THIRTY sheets of paper for this and ELEVEN sheets of DPS T & C.
Thank God it has not spread to England - but it will if Shelter get their way. Time for the Charity Commisiioners to look at their status since they now appear to be a political party.
We're doing it already at cmRENT, have done for years. Tenants comment how informative our move-in pack is compared to previous agents they've used :) Common sense really to provide as much info as possible to avoid regular calls over simple things
Its a great idea to provide tenants with a basic information pack. It's a common complaint that tenants aren't informed of something as basic as the location of a stop cock.
However I fear government will over complicate it and implementation will no doubt end up costing someone more money. Who will it be? Agents or landlords?
30 pages seems excessive. A tenant pack that is longer than a tenancy agreement?
The rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords are outlined in a tenancy agreement. Why should it be repeated in a tenant pack? If it needs clarity, standardise tenancy agreements with updated wording.
Great idea in my view, but a real worry as to what it will end up being and how it will be implemented.
We already provide such information to tenants - glad to know we are ahead of the game!
This is even worse research than Unsafe Deposits and look where that got us.
80 respondents of which 24 were LAs - and a policy is based on that?
I'd like to say "unbelievable" but of course it isn't.
E&W agents - beware this development