HOW TO USE THE MODEL. A Landlord is under a duty to provide the written terms of a private residential tenancy under section 10 of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the Act”). This is the Scottish Government’s Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement (“Model Tenancy Agreement”) which may be used to fulfil this duty. This Model Tenancy Agreement contains two categories of clause: The first category is the core rights and obligations, which includes, among other things, the statutory terms applicable to all private residential tenancies, the repairing standard and tenancy deposits. They are ‘mandatory clauses’ which must feature in any agreement prepared using this model. These terms are laid down in the Act, supporting secondary legislation and other relevant housing legislation and are indicated in bold typeface. These clauses should be read alongside the relevant legislation, as the legislation takes priority and may change from time to time. The second category is discretionary terms, which the Landlord may or may not wish to include in the written tenancy agreement. These are in ordinary typeface. The Model Tenancy Agreement contains a number of suggested terms which the Landlord may edit or remove as required. This category will also include any additional terms the Landlord chooses to add. Any additional terms added or edited by the Landlord must comply with the requirements of the Act, supporting secondary legislation and other relevant legislation. Some of the mandatory and discretionary clauses contain square brackets [ ], this indicates clauses with options depending on the terms of the tenancy (such as frequency of rent payments). Easy read notes on all of the clauses contained in this Model Tenancy Agreement are provided in the Easy Read Notes for the Scottish Government Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement. If your Landlord has used this Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement they must also give you a copy of these Notes. The Private Residential Tenancies (Information for Tenants) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 provide that if a Landlord chooses not to use this Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement, the Landlord is still legally required to give a Tenant a copy of the Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes. A key to the different categories of clause has been included as a footnote for ease of reference.
HOW TO USE THE MODEL. 1.1 The form of the Model Short Scottish Secure Tenancy Agreement (MoshSsta) is as follows. There are three categories of clause. The first category is the Core clause. This represents a summary of the landlord and tenant's Core rights and obligations which are expressed in the Housing (Scotland) Xxx 0000 and other relevant housing legislation. These Core rights include security of tenure and right to repair. The expression of these Core rights in the agreement can only be a gloss on the statute which takes precedence in the event of any dispute as to interpretation. Such clauses are mandatory. They are indicated in bold. The second category is those clauses which replicate, in a contractual fashion, the common law rights and obligations in respect of repairs, maintenance and use and care of the house. Such clauses are also mandatory. They are indicated in italics. (Where clauses are bold and in italics, the source is both the common law and statute.) The third category of Clause is optional. It deals with a variety of peripheral matters that landlords may or may not wish to include. It also covers optional improvements to the statutory and common law position that some landlords may wish to include. Such clauses are indicated in ordinary typeface. Clauses in square brackets [ ], indicate clauses with options depending on local arrangements (such as frequency of rent payments). Detailed references are given in the notes to each clause. A number of clauses derive from other statutory sources not specific to housing law but are not part of the Core rights. These are not highlighted in the text. Reference is made to them in the Notes. It is recommended that such clauses be maintained in any short Scottish secure tenancy agreement. Landlords are free to add other clauses to their own tenancy agreement or vary them so long as the requirements of the 2001 Act are met.
1.2 It is recognised that the full text of MoshSsta would probably not be read by the majority of tenants. It is also recognised that it would be impractical to expect housing officers to take tenants through the full text of MoshSsta in the signing-up process. However, MoshSsta is not designed to be read at a single sitting or to be used for the signing-up process. It is there to encapsulate the rights and obligations of both landlord and tenant. In effect, it provides a useful reference tool for landlord and tenant where more detailed information is required on the legal responsibilities of landl...
HOW TO USE THE MODEL. This Model Tenancy Agreement contains two categories of clause: The first category is the core rights and obligations, which includes, among other things, the statutory terms applicable to all private residential tenancies, the repairing standard and tenancy deposits. They are ‘mandatory clauses’ which must feature in all agreements when using this model. These terms are laid down in the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, supporting secondary legislation and other relevant housing legislation and are indicated in bold typeface. These clauses should be read alongside the relevant legislation, as the legislation takes priority and may change from time to time. The second category is discretionary terms, which the landlord may or may not wish to include in the written tenancy agreement. These are in ordinary typeface. This category includes any additional terms the landlord chooses to add. Landlords may do this provided the requirements of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, supporting secondary legislation, Statutory Terms, Regulations and other housing legislation are met. Any clauses which contain square brackets [ ], indicate clauses with options depending on the terms of the tenancy (such as frequency of rent payments). A legal commentary on paragraphs contained in the recommended model tenancy agreement is provided in section 4.1 A key of the different categories of clause has been included as a footnote for ease of reference.
1 This will be developed once the content of the model agreement has been finalised.
