What was the Eviction Moratorium in Scotland?
The Tenant Eviction Moratorium came into place in 06 September 2022 by the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 which meant that Landlords could still take steps toward evicting tenants such as giving Notice and subsequently taking action with the First-Tier Tribunal for an order to evict a tenant. The moratorium however prevented these orders from being enforced. The Moratorium came to an end on 31 March 2024.
There were the following exemptions to the Moratorium:
- The Landlord intends to live in the Property due to financial hardship
- The Landlord intends to “sell to let” the property to ease financial hardship
- The Tenant has accrued significant rent arrears of six months’ rent
- Evictions for anti-social behaviour, criminal behaviour, tenant abandoning the property and where a lender wants to sell the property.
Now that the Moratorium has been lifted, if Landlords require to carry out evictions there are processes that should be followed and considered.
Serving Notice to Leave:
The Notice Period is not linear for evictions, it can be either 28 or 84 days and it is dependent on what eviction ground is being used and how long the Tenant has lived in the Property. There is an online calculator available so that Landlords or solicitors acting on behalf of Landlords can check and make sure that the Notice Period for the Notice to Leave is correct. It should also be bore in mind that an additional 48 hours should be accounted for postal delivery time.
Tribunal Proceedings:
The First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) is required where a Tenant does not vacate the Premises after the Notice period. An application must be made to the Tribunal to obtain an Eviction Order. The process for this is that the Landlord or solicitor acting for the Landlord submits an application for Eviction Order and regarding timescales for the Tribunal Process, the Tribunal tend to acknowledge the application within 1 week of receipt and a Case Management Discussion can be assigned and this tends to be within 3 months of the application being lodged with the Tribunal. An Order for Eviction can be granted at the Case Management Discussion and if an order is granted, there is a further 30 day period before the Order for Eviction is issued. One key point to bear in mind is that the timescales Tribunal Process can vary if the Tenant defends the application for Eviction, as the case can be continued or a full evidential hearing can be assigned.
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