News archives
Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 – update
As members will be aware, this Act was approved by parliament last year but most provisions won’t come into force for another year or two. The government has now published regulations to give dates for when some measures will come into force. 1 April 2026 – this is...
Awaab’s Law duties set to commence in October 2026
New draft regulations to protect tenants from damp and mould have been laid in the Scottish Parliament. If approved by parliament, the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 will introduce new duties on landlords to investigate reports of...
Letting agent business and market survey 2025
In December 2025 SAL conducted a survey of its letting agent members to find out how their businesses were faring in the current climate. Many of the survey questions mirrored those asked in previous surveys we have run annually since 2022, allowing trends to be...
Landlord portfolio and investment survey 2025
In December 2025 SAL conducted a survey of its landlord members to find out about the size of their rental property portfolios and how this has changed/will change over time, along with the reasons behind their investment decisions. Many of the survey questions...
Housing (Scotland) Act 2025
The Housing (Scotland) Bill, which the Scottish Parliament has been considering since March 2024, has now received Royal Assent which means that it is now law. However, the provisions in the Act will not come into force for some time yet. Most will require further...
Scottish Law Commission – Report on Tenement law: compulsory owners’ associations
As we reported in enews sent to members on 2 May 2024, the Scottish Law Commission was asked by the government to make recommendations on how to legislate to introduce compulsory owners’ associations for tenement buildings. This is part of a wider project to reform...
Concerns raised over implementation of Housing (Scotland) Act
An independent group, setup by the Scottish Government to support Scottish Ministers in improving the regulatory environment for businesses, has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Housing to make recommendations about the implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Act...
Housing (Scotland) Bill completes passage through parliament
The Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was first laid before parliament in March 2024, has now completed its final stage of scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament and will become law once it receives Royal Assent from the King. In the final stage of voting there were no...
SAL gives evidence to parliament on EPC reform
On Tuesday 30 September SAL’s chief executive, John Blackwood, gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament on the government’s plans to reform Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). John outlined SAL’s opposition to the proposal to reduce the EPC renewal timescale from...
Request for rent data
Rent Service Scotland (RSS) is the body which oversees rent setting in Scotland. RSS is reliant on data supplied by landlords and letting agents in Scotland to assist in the assessment of open market rental values in different areas. This data is used as comparable...