Unfortunately it's not like it appears on TV! The reality of the court system in Scotland is very different and here we give landlords five tips on how to prepare for court appearances.
Sometimes it feels as if I've spent most of my life in court, but for landlords raising their own eviction or payment actions against tenants, the court can often be a scary place. Here are some handy tips to hopefully help calm any nerves.
1.Your Clothes
Sadly, some courts will judge a
The 'bedroom tax' remains a topic of intense debate and public interest. Recently we saw the first tribunal decisions relating to bedroom tax appeals by tenants and we have had the astonishing sight of a United Nations "rapporteur" visiting Britain and suggesting that the bedroom tax may breach human rights.
A large protest also took place outside the Liberal Democrat party's Scottish Conference and Baroness Shirley Williams admitted to the conference that this policy was a "mistake".
The tribunal decisions were issued in Kirkcaldy where
I can't seem to get away from the bedroom tax. Having blogged about this topic for the last couple of months, I thought an update might be useful regarding rent arrears, tenant eviction and the bedroom tax.
The changes to housing benefit came into force on 1 April 2013. From that date Housing benefits claimants who are deemed to have a 'spare' bedroom will see their housing benefit payments reduced by either 14% or 5%.
Campaign groups have continued to mobilise their opposition to these
Tenant eviction and the bedroom tax (or the 'spare room subsidy' if you're a cabinet minister!) continue to dominate conversation in the housing world.
My blog last month put forward some ideas to minimise the impact of the changes to Housing Benefit which are now just two weeks away.
It also seems that the UK government are starting to get cold feet. Yesterday Iain Duncan Smith, the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, announced that guidance will be issued that will exempt foster
The Court of Session has probably just issued its most significant legal judgment in the field of housing law Scotland in the last twenty years.
In the case of South Lanarkshire Council v McKenna, the court had been asked to consider whether the entire regime of short Scottish secure tenancies set out under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 was compliant with the Human Rights legislation. They were asked to consider whether the rules on evictions on short Scottish secure tenancies were lawful and whether
How easy is it to obtain an eviction after bankruptcy or signing a trust deed in Scotland? Over the last few years, we have received a significant number of queries from Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and private landlords regarding eviction in Scotland when a tenant is sequestrated (declares bankruptcy) or signs a trust deed.
When a person enters into bankruptcy or a trust deed, it becomes impossible to raise court proceedings against them to enforce payment of any debt owed which pre-dates the insolvency. In
If you are a Scottish landlord then you should beware of landlord legal advice on the internet. The internet can be a confusing place for landlords - with many unaware of the differences between the Scottish and English legal system. So should you believe internet landlord legal advice?
Scottish landlords can be easily misled by websites targeting English landlords referring to English procedures, which can leave the landlord vulnerable, particularly in the area of eviction. Some of the key differences are set out below.
Scotland
Nearly 50 years ago, Harold Wilson's Labour government introduced the first law to make unlawful tenant evictions a criminal offence. This law was designed to deal with the 'incentives' which encouraged landlords to remove tenants. So how do you evict a tenant lawfully?
At that time:
