SafeDeposits Scotland Blog

A fund which offers interest-free loans to tenants who are struggling with rent arrears has opened for applications.

The Scottish Government's Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is designed to help people who have had their finances or employment impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and do not have other means of housing support.

The new fund is part of a range of support and interventions in response to the pandemic. By giving tenants access to loans to cover a maximum of nine...Read More

Landlords have been advised to clean properties between one tenant or set of tenants moving out and new tenants moving in, however outgoing tenants should not view this as a reason to abdicate their own cleaning responsibilities - and doing so might result in a deduction from their tenancy deposit.

The advice from the Scottish Government in relation to properties being newly let during the COVID-19 pandemic states that "properties should be deep cleaned in the period between the...Read More

SDS Resolution is a new service from SafeDeposits Scotland introduced to help tenants and landlords who have experienced problems with rent arrears under lockdown.

The service is designed to establish a satisfactory resolution specifically to rent arrears, without the need for further action and with the aim of helping to avoid tenants being evicted by ensuring that landlords can recover some or all of the arrears over time.

SDS Resolution is entirely separate from...Read More

The below content was produced by the Scottish Government and is reproduced here for your information.

To help you understand your rights and access information about the support available, the Scottish Government has worked with tenants' rights groups, landlord and letting agent representatives and the tenancy deposit schemes to send you links to key information for tenants in the private rented sector. We hope you find this helpful.

Renters' rights

Protection...Read More

As Scotland cautiously enters the first phase in the easing of lockdown restrictions, here we summarise developments pertinent to the country's private rented sector that have taken place over the past 10 weeks.

Tenancy Deposit Protection

We start with our own area of expertise , where there has in fact been no change during lockdown.

At the start of lockdown we addressed some frequently asked questions in a previous blog post, where the over-riding theme was...Read More

It is currently National BBQ Week (25th-31st May 2020), and while guests might be out of the question at the moment a barbeque at home is at least one summer tradition that some people can enjoy within the limits of lockdown. In fact, with restaurants, beer gardens, festivals and more off the cards at the moment, the opportunity to fire up the grill might be more appealing than ever. So with that in mind we've put together a few tips for tenants to consider when enjoying a barbeque at their...Read More