Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 - Changes to your tenancy agreement

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act) introduces a number of significant changes to the rights tenants have under the terms of their tenancy agreement. From 1 May 2019 all new tenants will sign a revised tenancy agreement. If you are already a tenant you will not have to sign a new tenancy agreement.

Changes made by the Act

The Act will change the following parts of your tenancy agreement:
• if you want to sublet all or part of your house to someone else;
• if you want to assign your tenancy (pass the tenancy on to someone else);
• if you want another person to become a joint tenant with you;
• some of the rules around when certain people can succeed to (take over) a Scottish secure tenancy on the death of the tenant; and
• the way in which a Scottish secure or short Scottish secure tenancy can be ended following a conviction for serious antisocial or criminal behaviour.

The most significant change is the importance of letting us know who is living in your household. This includes letting us know about anyone who has previously moved in with you who you have not already told us about. You should also tell us when anyone moved into, or out of your home in the future.

Keeping your household details up to date

You must always keep your household details up to date. This is important because our decision may be based on whether you have been a tenant at the property for a minimum of 12 months. For assignation, joint tenancy or succession requests, our decision will be based on if the person taking on the tenancy is recorded by us as living in the property for a minimum of 12 months. The 12 month period starts at the point when we have been told that the person is living in the property as their only or main home.

We have produced two leaflets to explain the changes made by the Act. You can read our leaflet for Scottish secure tenants or our leaflet for short Scottish secure tenants.

You can update your household details by completing our Tenant personal details form or by contacting us on 0300 123 4566.