Model Tenancy Agreement – New Private Residential Tenancies To Be Introduced On 1 December 2017

On 1 December 2017, the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 ("the 2016 Act) will come into force and introduce Private Residential Tenancies (PRTs). After 1 December, all residential tenancy agreements entered into in Scotland will be PRTs, though any existing Assured Tenancies (ATs) or Short Assured Tenancies (SATs) will continue under the current legislation.

One requirement of the 2016 Act is that all landlords must provide tenants with a written tenancy agreement. Ahead of the introduction of PRTs on 1 December, the Scottish Government has published a Model Tenancy Agreement (MTA) which may be downloaded and used free of charge.

The MTA contains 39 clauses; 24 of which are mandatory and can be clearly identified as they are highlighted in bold text. The remaining 15 clauses are discretionary and may be included at the discretion of the parties, depending on their relevance to the parties or the property. For example, for many properties the maintenance of garden ground may not be relevant.

The mandatory clauses must feature in all tenancies which are prepared using the MTA, though some of them do allow for some variation or amendment by means of multiple choice or non-mandatory parts. Conversely, the discretionary clauses allow for almost complete freedom of variation with just clause 28 (alternations) containing a mandatory paragraph within a discretionary clause.

Among the discretionary clauses, clause 37 is an "additional terms" clause which allows the parties to insert their own conditions of whatever nature may be agreed between them, allowing the MTA to be varied to meet any irregular requirements.

Ahead of entering into a PRT, the landlord must provide the tenant with a copy of the MTA and the Easy Read Notes which were also published by the Scottish Government. These notes explain the purpose and effects of each clause (mandatory and discretionary)...