is our tenancy legal (scottish rental english landlord)

pretzelnut

I was looking at our tenancy agreement earlier for the property we moved into 4 weeks ago.

There are countless rpairs that need doing even though its a refurb and everything should be perfect.

We have had countless major problems over christmas and have tried to contact the landlords several times, which you wouldnt think was hard as they are a massive property company. They say things on the phone but when i request it in writing as it usually involves me paying money out for them to reinburse me i get nothing, so i havent paid a penny out, as im still waiting.

We live in a house in scotland. Our landlords are based in england. Our tenancy is an assured shorhold tenancy. The entire tenancy relates to english law. They are 2 speeling mistakes and they even have our postcode wrong, something we didnt know when we signed it as we didnt know whatthe postcode was supposed to be.

Our landlords are not registered with the local authority where we live i have checked the website - ssomething i only found out about tonight. This is a legal requirement in scotland.

We also havent recieved any info regarding our deposit which according to the tenacy agreement states that it will be held by the TDS. The tenacy clearly states we will have this within 14 days. Its now been 6 weeks as we paid or deposit and months rent 2 weeks before we moved into the building.

Anyway, i had a friend look at the tenancy (he knows a bit about scottish tenacies), i know nothing about scottish law but i am learning fast having only lived here a year. He looked at it and said that as we live in scotland and the tenancy is all based around english law it isnt worth the paper it written on and we are technically squatters in this house.

Can you imagine my worry.

We are hopefully going to see a solicitor tommorrow to clarify things further.

But i would be greatful of any advice as im totally confused and worrying like mad.

scottishblondie

I'm not entirely sure about the whole thing but I can tell you some things -

1. Scottish law doesn't allow for squatting in the same way England does. Up here it is a crime and you can be evicted without notice or a court order, fined or sent to prison. I don't think you would be classed as squatters tho, since you do have some form of written tenancy.
2. ASTs aren't a Scottish tenancy type, you should have been given a "Short Assured Tenancy", which is the Scottish equivalent.
3. The landlord does need to be registered, however the deposit protection stuff is not a requirement in Scotland.

In short, I'd say you need to get this sorted out ASAP. I could be wrong, but like your friend said I don't think the AST means anything much here, legally speaking, in which case none of the legal stuff meant to protect tenants would do you much good.

If the landlord is English and has other properties in England, it's probably just a lack of knowledge about the legal differences as opposed to a concious attempt to pull a fast one, but either way I think you should be looking to get a proper agreement in place under Scottish law.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

As blondie says, Scotland doesn't tolerate that squatters nonsense!


A "Short Assured Tenancy" must be supported with an AT5 form, if not it becomes an "Assured Tenancy"


Deposit protection scheme is likely to start in Scotland this year.

pretzelnut

Oh god - i have never liked squatters, We are just so worried with regards to where we stand.

I have even been checking companies house and they are a much bigger compnay than i ever thought but you wouldnt guess it as they are useless with their tenants.

They have directors and shares. They also have 3 different locations for offices.

We usually deal with them via email but i have been getting no response, i just dont know what else to do.

I think i will send a registered letting outlining thatthey need to register with the local authority etc etc and then list the problems we are having that theyhave ''said'' they will fix but thats as far as it ever goes.

And see where we go from there. We really dont want o alienate them as we live in a gorgeous area and the rent is very competitive for what we get, and we will never find another 3 bedroomed house with a garden where we live, these houses are like rocking horse doo doo.

We would quite happily live here till we die if things were fixed, cos once they were the LL wouldnt hear another peep from us.

We actually moved out of another one of there properties to move into this one, the layout was altered to our requirements as it was originally only going to be a 2 bed.

Thanks for al your help so far, im now off to research what an assured tenancy is. I think i had one of those AT5 forms last time as we got the property through the EA, but the LL then decided to do all the lettings themselves.

missile

Our landlords are not registered with the local authority

I would suggest you contact the council

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

I think i will send a registered letting outlining thatthey need to register with the local authority etc etc

Contact your local council first, they'll kick them in to line.

We usually deal with them via email but i have been getting no response, i just dont know what else to do.

Grrrrrrrrrrr,

Jowo_2

Try Shelter Scotland to understand your rights and the landlords responsibilities - have a look at their website for info on how to ensure the landlord undertakes repairs. They recommend that good records are kept and tenants should report problems in writing and keep a copy.

Report them to the local council for not registering on the Scottish landlord registration scheme. A council can prosecute the landlord for non-compliance with the scheme and can issue a rent notice which forbids the tenants from paying rent as a penalty. However, it could be the case that they've applied and their details are still being processed.

As per the previous posters, the tenancy deposit scheme does not apply - the property is in Scotland and scottish law applies.

Though housing law is different between England and Wales, so I can't assume this is also the case for Scotland, the acceptance of rent in E&W actually creates a tenancy. Your friend's casual remark about squatting is most unhelpful and uninformed - squatting is about occupying an empty property without the knowledge and permission of the owner which doesn't apply here when you've been given keys by the landlord...

Nosht

Registering as a Landlord will just take minutes if done online & most Scottish Councils have this facility on their websites.

Regards,

N.