Cost of living legislation extension

The Scottish Government has now laid draft legislation before parliament to extend the eviction moratorium to 30 September 2023. As a reminder landlords can still serve notice as normal to end a tenancy on any ground but could face a delay of up to 6 months at the final stage of the eviction process if the tenant hasn’t chosen to leave by then. Full guidance on the eviction moratorium can be found here.

The draft legislation also ends the rent freeze on 31 March 2023 and replaces it with a rent increase cap of 3% for any rent increase notices issued from 1 April 2023. To increase rents by this amount landlords must wait until 1 April 2023 to issue the rent increase notice. For tenants on a PRT the notice period is 3 months so the increase can’t come into force until July 2023. The government will be amending the rent increase notice in legislation and once amended it will be available to download here.

Any rent increase notices issued prior to 1 April 2023 are capped at 0% and therefore voided by the current legislation, even if they come into force after 1 April 2023.

Alternatively, from 1 April 2023 landlords can apply to the rent officer for an increase of up to 6% to cover increases in prescribed property costs incurred in the 6 months leading up to the application being made. Guidance on how to do this can be found in our factsheet here.