The Scottish Government announced its roadmap out of Covid restrictions on Tuesday. Hot on the heels of this was the publication of legislation ending the extended notice periods for certain grounds for recovery of possession for social tenancies yesterday.
The Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Early Expiry of Provisions) Regulations 2022
These Regulations come in to force on 29th March 2022 and will effectively bring an end to the extension of the notice period applicable for certain notices/grounds for recovery of possession on 30th March 2022.
Notices of Proceedings served on any ground will, where served on or after 31st March 2022, require the standard notice period to be provided following service.
Section 36 notices served to end Short Scottish Secure Tenancies created on grounds unrelated to anti-social behaviour that are served on or after 31th March 2022, will now require to provide a period of 2 months’ notice. This reverts back to the usual timescales and sees the notice period for all Section 36 notices unified once more.
Should you re-serve a Notice
Regulation 5 provides that a landlord cannot re-serve a Notice on the same ground or grounds as a notice served prior to 31th March 2022 which would result in the landlord being able to take action earlier than they would be able to if relying upon the existing notice.
In practice, landlords may wish to consider not serving notices at this stage until on or after 31th March 2022. However you should continue with your usual pre-notice procedures, including pre-action requirements compliance work.
For more information or advice, please contact our team.
