The Scottish Government has made it a requirement on all private sector landlords to give tenants a copy of the Tenant Information Pack. We’ve launched Renting Scotland, a site for tenants and landlords in the private rented sector in Scotland.
A huge 31% of our helpline calls are from private renters, when they make up only 11% of all households in Scotland (2011-12). So they’re punching above their weight in terms of how many calls you might expect from them. That is why Shelter Scotland’s campaign calls on the Scottish Government to rethink renting in Scotland. To tackle this need, the Scottish Government’s new Tenant Information Pack becomes mandatory on 1 May 2013, for private landlords to give tenants. It’s supported by RentingScotland.org, which is funded by the Scottish Government. RentingScotland.org lets you personalise your renting journey by collecting and storing your own checklist items, guides and deeper reading.
I think it helps bring alive the new Tenant Information Pack. The RentingScotland.org site brings together what renters and landlords need to do in easy-to-follow guides, for both tenants and landlords. And one of the core aims of our Rethink Renting campaign is to ensure that every tenant is an informed, empowered consumer who understands their responsibilities and their rights.
Is renting privately really that difficult?
We know that often tenants and landlords run into trouble because the tenancy wasn’t set up right, they didn’t ask a question early on or they are new to renting so they don’t know what to do. From our policy work, we know that different groups of people are now renting privately who might not have done in previous generations. There’s been a shift from 7% of families in Scotland renting privately to 17% in 2010.
I’ve been working on the content of the guides, so I’m keen that they assume no prior knowledge, and simply walk you through looking at properties, renting your first property out or starting a tenancy for example, all the way through to ending a tenancy in. I’d love to hear your feedback, here or on the site itself.
RentingScotland.org is brought to you by…
RentingScotland.org has been funded by the Scottish Government, created by Shelter Scotland and has support from all kinds of people who have an interest in making renting privately work better:
Scottish Association of Landlords
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors