Eviction Rights in Scotland: What to Do If You Get a Notice

Who this guide is for

People who rent their home in Scotland, from a private landlord, a council or a housing association, or who rent a room in their landlord's home, and who are being evicted or pushed out. It covers:

• Eviction notices: which notice applies, how much notice is needed, and when a notice is not valid.
• What happens when a notice runs out: the First-tier Tribunal, the sheriff court, sheriff officers, and your options.
• Illegal eviction and harassment: lock-outs, belongings, cut-off gas, electricity or water, and what to do the same day.
• Rent arrears and a landlord selling as reasons for eviction, and rent increases.
• Deposits, and being misled into leaving.
• People who rent a room in their landlord's home.
• Council help if you are homeless or about to be.

What this guide does not cover

• Homes in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. The law is different there, so this guide does not cover them.
• Landlords asking about their own duties or how to evict a tenant: see our landlord guide.
• Complaints about how a council or housing association has treated you: see our housing complaints guide.
• Repairs, damp and mould: see the repairs, damp and mould guide for Scotland.
• Problems with neighbours: see our neighbour disputes guide.
• Taking a landlord to court for money, such as getting a deposit back: see our small claims guide.
• Benefits to help pay rent, such as Universal Credit housing costs or Housing Benefit: see our benefits guide.
• Debts other than rent owed to your landlord: see our debt guide.
• Homeowners whose own mortgage lender is repossessing their home, older tenancy types (regulated tenancies, assured and short assured tenancies), and immigration or right to rent questions. UK Work Rights does not give immigration guidance.

What the rules depend on

• Who the landlord is: a private landlord, a council or housing association, or someone who lives in the same home.
• What notice was given (a notice to leave, or a notice of proceedings from a council or housing association), on what date, how it was sent, and what grounds it names.
• When you moved in, and how long you had lived there when you got the notice.
• Whether the Tribunal or the sheriff court has made an order yet.

Renting privately in Scotland: the basics

• If you rent from a private landlord and moved in on or after 1 December 2017, you normally have a private residential tenancy. It has no end date. Section 21 and Section 8 notices are not used in Scotland.

"My landlord has given me a notice to leave"

• To end the tenancy, the landlord must give you a notice to leave, in writing, naming one or more of the 18 eviction grounds.
• The notice period is 28 days if you had lived there for 6 months or less when you got the notice. It is also 28 days if the only grounds are about you: not living there, breaking the tenancy, being in rent arrears for 3 or more months in a row, a relevant conviction, antisocial behaviour, or associating with someone who has a relevant conviction or has behaved antisocially. Otherwise it is 84 days. If grounds with different periods are used, the longer period applies.
• A landlord who sends a notice by post or email must add 2 days to the notice period.

The 18 eviction grounds

A private landlord can only use one or more of these grounds, and needs evidence for it. For every ground, the Tribunal must also decide that it is reasonable to evict you.

• Ground 1: the landlord intends to sell the home (see "My landlord says they are selling").
• Ground 2: the mortgage lender is repossessing the home, or needs you to leave so it can sell it.
• Ground 3: the landlord intends to refurbish, with work so disruptive that you cannot live there at the same time, for example shown by planning permission or contracts with builders.
• Ground 4: the landlord intends to live in the home as their only or main home for at least 3 months.
• Ground 5: a member of the landlord's family intends to live in the home as their only or main home for at least 3 months. Family means the landlord's spouse, civil partner or someone living with them as if married; their parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister, including step and half relatives and anyone treated as their child; the same relatives of the landlord's spouse, civil partner or partner; and the spouse, civil partner or partner of any of those relatives.
• Ground 6: the landlord intends to use the home for something other than a home, for example shown by planning permission for a change of use.
• Ground 7: the home is needed for a religious worker, such as a minister, priest, imam or rabbi, and has been used for that purpose before.
• Ground 8: you were let the home because you were, or were going to be, the landlord's employee, and you no longer are.
• Ground 9: you were let the home because you needed community care, and you have been assessed as no longer needing it.
• Ground 10: you no longer live in the home as your main home. The landlord cannot use this ground if you are not living there because the home does not meet the repairing standard.
• Ground 11: you have broken a term of the tenancy other than paying rent.
• Ground 12: you have been in rent arrears for 3 or more months in a row (see "I'm behind with the rent").
• Ground 13: you have a conviction for an offence punishable by imprisonment, for using the home for illegal purposes, letting someone else do so, or a crime in or near the home.
• Ground 14: you have behaved antisocially towards someone, causing alarm, distress, nuisance or annoyance, or harassing them.
• Ground 15: you let someone into the home, such as a subtenant, a lodger or a repeat visitor, who has a relevant conviction or has behaved antisocially.
• Ground 16: the council has refused or removed the landlord's registration as a landlord.
• Ground 17: the property is a house in multiple occupation that is not licensed, and the landlord's HMO licence has been revoked.
• Ground 18: the council has served an overcrowding statutory notice on the landlord.

For grounds 13, 14 and 15, the landlord must apply to the Tribunal within 12 months of the conviction or the behaviour, unless they have a reasonable excuse.

"I'm behind with the rent"

• The rent arrears ground needs you to have been in arrears for 3 or more months in a row when the landlord applies to the Tribunal.
• Before ordering eviction for rent arrears, the Tribunal must consider whether the arrears are wholly or partly a consequence of a delay or failure in paying a relevant benefit. Examples are Housing Benefit and the rent part of Universal Credit. A delay that is down to something you did or did not do does not count. It must also consider how far the landlord followed the pre-action protocol set by the Scottish Ministers. These points feed into whether eviction is reasonable. They do not stop an eviction automatically.

"My landlord says they are selling"

• The selling ground can only be used if the landlord intends to put the home up for sale within 3 months of you leaving.

"My notice has run out" or "I've got Tribunal papers"

• You do not have to leave when the notice ends. The landlord must tell the council and then apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) for an eviction order, within 6 months after the notice period ends.
• For every ground, the Tribunal must decide both that the ground applies and that it is reasonable to evict you. There are no grounds where eviction is automatic.
• Your landlord cannot make you leave without an eviction order. Only sheriff officers can carry it out.
• The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 also creates a Tribunal duty to consider delaying an eviction, and new rules on damages for unlawful eviction. These are not in force yet and no start date has been set.

"I was misled into leaving"

• If you were misled into leaving, for example told the home was being sold and it was then let again, you can apply to the Tribunal for a wrongful termination order. From 6 October 2026 the order must be at least 3 times and at most 36 times the 'relevant sum'. The relevant sum is one month's rent, or £840 if that is higher. The Tribunal can go below the minimum if it thinks that is right in all the circumstances. Before that date the limit was 6 months' rent. If your tenancy ended before 6 October 2026, ask Citizens Advice Scotland or Shelter Scotland which rule applies.

"I've been locked out" or "my landlord is forcing me out"

• Under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 it is a criminal offence to evict you without following the legal process, or to harass you to make you leave. Call the police (999 if you are in danger, 101 if not) and the council.

"My rent is going up"

• A landlord can raise the rent only once in 12 months, on the correct form, with at least 3 months' written notice. There is currently no cap on the increase.
• If you do not accept an increase, return part 3 of the notice to your landlord and apply to Rent Service Scotland. A rent officer then sets the rent, which can be lower than, the same as, or higher than your landlord asked for.
• A cap on increases after a referral applies only to rent increase notices given on or after 1 April 2027. No rent control area has been set up yet.

"I want to leave"

• You can end the tenancy by giving at least 28 days' written notice.

"What about my deposit?"

• Your landlord must pay your deposit into an approved scheme within 30 working days of the tenancy starting. If they did not, the Tribunal can order them to pay you up to 3 times the deposit.
• If you and your landlord disagree about deductions from a protected deposit at the end of a tenancy, the deposit scheme's free dispute service can decide.

"My home needs repairs"

• You can apply to the Tribunal if your home does not meet the repairing standard.

"I rent from the council or a housing association"

• You normally have a Scottish secure tenancy, or a short Scottish secure tenancy in specific situations. Eviction goes to the sheriff court, not the Tribunal.
• The landlord must first send a notice of proceedings, which gives you at least 4 weeks before they can go to court. For most grounds the sheriff must also decide eviction is reasonable. If an order is made and you do not leave by the date given, sheriff officers can remove you.

"I rent a room in my landlord's home"

• If you rent a room in your landlord's own home, they were living there when you moved in, and you can go directly from their part of the home to yours, they are a resident landlord. They must give the notice in your agreement or reasonable notice, usually at least 28 days, but do not need a court order. After valid notice ends, they can ask the police to remove you.

"I might become homeless"

• You are threatened with homelessness if you are likely to become homeless within 2 months. Contact the council's homeless team, which you can do at any time of day or night.
• If the council has reason to think you may be homeless, it must give you temporary accommodation while it decides. The priority need test no longer applies in Scotland.

Deadlines you must meet

• Rent increase: Rent Service Scotland must receive your application within 21 days of you getting the rent increase notice.
• Deposit not protected: apply to the Tribunal no later than 3 months after the tenancy ends.
• Court or tribunal papers: act on them straight away and get advice before any hearing.
• Check the exact date a notice ends with an adviser.

Money figures

This guide gives only one money figure: the £840 used to work out wrongful termination orders.

Traps

• "Section 21" and "Section 8" are England words. Scotland uses a notice to leave, and councils and housing associations use a notice of proceedings.
• The Renters' Rights Act 2025 does not change Scottish eviction law. One part does apply in Scotland. Since 1 May 2026 it is an offence for a landlord or agent to stop someone viewing or renting a property because they think a child would live there, or because the person claims benefits.
• Council and housing association tenants have different rules from private tenants.
• A landlord's son, daughter, parent, brother or sister moving in is a lawful reason in Scotland (ground 5), but only with evidence, and only if the Tribunal finds eviction reasonable.
• A rule that is "not in force yet" does not apply until its start date, even if the law has been passed.