Scope: Scotland. Cited to Scottish instruments throughout. A tenanted purchase in Scotland engages the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 and Part 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. None of the English machinery around assignment of a deposit or a section 3 notice applies.
Our compliance check now covers Scotland, and so does the fine calculator. Enter a Scottish postcode and both answer in Scots law, cited to Scottish instruments — the check with your council’s registration and HMO position where we hold it, the calculator with the Scottish maximum for each offence and, where the consequence is not a fine, what it actually is. Still England and Wales only: the tenancy agreement checker, whose findings come from England and Wales statutes.
The one-line version
The tenancy comes with the property. The permissions do not.
You buy the title subject to the existing tenancy, and you become the landlord under it on the terms already agreed. But every authorisation the seller held was personal to them, and each has to be obtained again in your name — some of them before you become the landlord, not after.
What transfers
- The tenancy itself, on its existing terms. A Private Residential Tenancy is open-ended, so there is no end date you are buying towards.
- The rent, and the rent history. Rent may be increased only once in any twelve months, by prescribed notice with three months’ warning. If the seller raised it four months ago, you wait eight. Ask for the date of the last increase in writing and treat it as a diligence item.
- The condition obligations. The Repairing Standard is a duty owed in respect of the house under section 14 of the 2006 Act. Any outstanding Repairing Standard Enforcement Order, and any rent relief order reducing the rent, attaches to the property situation you are acquiring — not to the seller’s conscience.
- A surviving short assured tenancy, if the let predates December 2017. It does not convert on sale.
What does not transfer
Landlord registration
Registration is personal. The seller’s entry says the seller is a fit and proper person; it says nothing about you. You must be registered with the council for that property, and section 93 of the 2004 Act makes it an offence to let or to manage a house while unregistered — carrying a fine of up to £50,000.
The exposure begins the moment you become the landlord, which is settlement, not the day your application is granted. Applications take time. Apply before settlement, not after, and see registration and its three-year cycle.
The companion sanction is worse than the fine for a buyer, because it starts immediately: under section 94 a council may serve a rent penalty notice, and while it has effect no rent is payable under the lease. You would own a tenanted property producing nothing.
The deposit
The deposit sits in an approved scheme in the seller’s name. It does not follow the title. The seller should reclaim it from the scheme, and the sum should then be lodged again by you, with the prescribed information given to the tenant.
Do not accept a deposit as a cash adjustment on the settlement statement and leave it there. Under regulation 10 of the 2011 Regulations, a failure in the duties means the First-tier Tribunal must order the landlord to pay the tenant up to three times the deposit — and unlike England there is no floor of one times, so the Tribunal has the full range. The landlord at fault is whoever holds the duty at the time, which after settlement is you. See deposits in Scotland.
The HMO licence
An HMO licence is granted to an owner. Section 129(1) of the 2006 Act allows only an owner to apply, and section 154(1) makes the owner of an unlicensed HMO that requires a licence guilty of an offence — up to £50,000.
This is the single largest risk in a tenanted purchase of a shared property, and it has a second edge. When you apply, the council may consider overprovision under section 131A. It must have regard to whether a licence is already in effect for the accommodation, which helps — but it is not a guarantee, and a property that has been licensed for years is not automatically licensable in your hands.
The letting agent
The seller’s agent has no relationship with you. If you continue with them, satisfy yourself they are on the national register — an unregistered agent commits an offence under section 44 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 carrying six months’ imprisonment and a fine of up to £50,000. See letting agent registration.
Before you offer
- Get the tenancy agreement, and establish whether it is a PRT or a surviving short assured tenancy.
- Get the date of the last rent increase, in writing.
- Get the deposit scheme name and reference, and confirm the sum actually held.
- Ask whether any Tribunal application is outstanding — repairing standard, rent adjudication, or eviction. You inherit the situation, and an application already lodged does not disappear on sale.
- Check the HMO position if three or more unrelated people live there, including the council’s overprovision policy for that locality.
- Check the gas, electrical and alarm evidence. The five-yearly electrical inspection under section 19A and interlinked alarms are Repairing Standard items and become your problem at settlement.
Before settlement
- Apply for landlord registration. This is the one with a criminal offence and a rent penalty notice attached, and it is the one buyers most often leave until afterwards.
- Agree the deposit mechanics with the seller — who reclaims, when, and who re-lodges.
- Apply for the HMO licence if one is needed, and do not assume the existing licence carries you.
- Tell the tenant, in writing, who their landlord now is and where to send rent and repair requests.
None of this is exotic. It is simply that Scotland attaches the permissions to the person and the tenancy to the property, and a purchase separates the two on a single day.
Information tool, not legal advice. Scottish law only.
Common questions
Does the tenancy end when I buy a tenanted property in Scotland?
No. You take the title subject to the existing tenancy and become the landlord under it on the terms already agreed. A Private Residential Tenancy is open-ended, so there is no end date you are buying towards, and buying is not itself a ground for eviction.
Do I need to register as a landlord if the seller was already registered?
Yes. Landlord registration is personal to the landlord, not attached to the property. Section 93 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 makes it an offence to let or manage a house while unregistered, with a fine of up to £50,000, and section 94 allows the council to serve a rent penalty notice suspending your right to be paid rent. Apply before settlement rather than after.
What happens to the tenancy deposit on sale?
It stays in the scheme in the seller’s name until reclaimed — it does not transfer with the title. The seller should reclaim it and the sum should be lodged again in your name, with the prescribed information given to the tenant. Taking it as a cash adjustment and leaving it unprotected exposes you to a Tribunal order of up to three times the deposit under regulation 10, which in Scotland has no minimum.
Does an HMO licence transfer with the property?
No. An HMO licence is granted to an owner and only an owner may apply, under section 129(1) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. The owner of an unlicensed HMO that requires a licence commits an offence carrying a fine of up to £50,000. When you apply, the council may also consider overprovision under section 131A — it must have regard to whether a licence is already in effect, but that is a factor, not a guarantee.
Can I increase the rent after buying?
Only once in any twelve months, by the prescribed rent-increase notice giving at least three months. The twelve-month clock runs from the last increase under the tenancy, not from your purchase, so if the seller raised the rent four months before settlement you wait a further eight. Establish that date in writing before you offer.