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Private Residential Tenancies Explained
The benefits of a PRT for tenants are summarised by the Scottish Government:
- more security – it’s an open-ended tenancy so your landlord can’t just ask you to leave because you’ve been in the property for a set length of time
- protection from frequent rent increases – your rent can’t go up more than once a year and you must get at least three months’ notice of any increase
- any rent increase can be referred to a rent officer, who can decide if they’re fair
- if you’ve lived in a property for more than six months, landlords have to give 84 days’ notice to leave (unless it’s because you’ve done something wrong)
Here are some of the responsibilities that tenants have when they are given a PRT:
Pay rent on time!
If you make any rent payments in cash, your landlord has to give you a written receipt saying how much was paid and how much you still owe them.
Allow the landlord access to the property when: repairs are needed or the landlord wants to inspect the property for repairs or carry out a valuation.
Landlords should always give tenants at least 48 hours’ notice if they require access for repairs, unless they need access urgently to carry out work or assess what work they are obliged or entitled to do. Landlords should not enter a tenant’s property without consent, except in an emergency.
Ask for the landlord’s permission to let other people live in the property
If a tenant wants to rent the property to another person, take in a lodger, give up their tenancy for someone else person, they must get written agreement from the landlord.
Tenants also have to tell their landlords in writing if other people are living in the property and are not named on the tenancy agreement or not known to the landlord where they are aged 16 or over and using the property as their only/main home.