The Scottish landlord checklist

A private landlord in Scotland needs to be registered, keep the home up to the Repairing Standard, have current electrical, gas, legionella and energy paperwork and the right alarms, protect any deposit, and give the tenant written terms. The table below shows how often each one comes round, and the sections after it explain what to do.

By Ajay Singh

We're a matching service, not a law firm or a contractor. This is a summary of official guidance, and where you need a check booked, the form at the bottom passes it to a suitable local specialist.

Everything at a glance

Enter your last dates in the certificate renewal calculator to see when the checks on a cycle are next due. If you want the safety checks with who can do each one, there's our landlord certificates table, and the new tenancy safety checklist is a printable version for the week before someone moves in.

1. Registration and licensing

• Register before you let, through the Scottish Landlord Register, unless you're exempt. If anyone owns the property with you, they need to register too.
• Renew every 3 years. Letting while unregistered is a criminal offence, with a fine of up to £50,000.
• Put your number in your adverts, or "landlord registration pending" if your application is still going through.
• Check whether it's an HMO. You need a licence from the council if you rent to 3 or more tenants who aren't related or part of the same family. Not having one is also a criminal offence, with a fine of up to £50,000.

2. Safety checks

• EICR: at intervals of no more than 5 years, by a suitably competent person. Fix anything coded C1 or C2. The consumer unit needs at least one RCD. Keep a copy for six years.
• PAT testing: on the appliances you supply, not the tenant's own. The tester sets the retest date, and it's usually sooner than 5 years.
• Gas safety: every year, by a Gas Safe registered engineer, on each appliance and flue you provide. Keep the record for at least two years. Existing tenants get a copy within 28 days of the check.
• Legionella: assess the hot and cold water systems before the first let, and review at least every two years or if anything changes. Depending on the system, you may be able to do it yourself.
• Lead pipes: check the visible pipework. There shouldn't be any lead from the boundary stopcock to the kitchen tap.

Most of these can be lined up together. Asking one electrician for the EICR and PAT at the same visit is a common way of keeping the dates in step.

3. Alarms

• Smoke alarms in the living room or the room used most, and in every hallway and landing.
• A heat alarm in the kitchen.
• All of them on the ceiling and interlinked, either sealed long-life battery or mains-wired. Replaceable batteries don't count.
• A CO alarm in any room with a boiler, fire, non-electric heater or flue. A cooker or hob on its own doesn't need one.
• A note for tenants: the Scottish Government's notes advise testing smoke and heat alarms weekly and CO alarms monthly.

Our interlinked fire alarms page covers the rooms, the costs and what happens if a home doesn't comply.

4. The Repairing Standard

This is the overall standard the home has to meet, and the checks above are only part of it. mygov.scot lists what you need to look at, including:

• structurally stable, wind and watertight, and free from damp and mould
• adequate ventilation, light, heating and insulation
• a safe water supply, a working toilet and drainage, and a sink, wash basin and bath or shower with hot and cold water
• a suitable place to store and prepare food, and cooking facilities or somewhere for the tenant to install their own
• furniture and fittings in reasonable condition and safe to use

It also has to meet the Tolerable Standard, which is where the alarm rules now sit. A tenant who thinks you're not meeting the standard can tell you in writing what work is needed and then apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber), which can issue a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order.

Damp and mould have their own deadlines. Since 6 October 2026 you've had 10 working days to investigate a report, 3 working days after that to give the tenant a written summary, and 5 working days from the investigation to start any repairs needed.

5. Tenancy deposit

• Up to 2 months' rent. That's the most you can ask for.
• Protect it within 30 working days of the tenancy starting, with Letting Protection Service Scotland, mydeposits Scotland or SafeDeposits Scotland.
• Tell the tenant in writing within 30 days: the property address, how much they paid and when, the date it went into the scheme, the scheme's contact details, your registration status, and when you might keep some or all of it.

Miss this and the tenant can go to the tribunal, during the tenancy or up to 3 months after it ends. It can order you to protect or return the deposit, and award up to 3 times the amount.

6. Tenancy paperwork

• Written terms by the day the tenancy starts. If the terms aren't already in writing, the 2016 Act says you have to give the tenant a document setting them all out. If a later change leaves none of them in writing, you've got 28 days.
• Use the model agreement if it helps. The Scottish Government's model private residential tenancy agreement was last updated on 6 October 2026, to cover rent control areas and the damp and mould changes. If you've got an older copy, it's worth checking against this one.
• Read the notes. The government publishes notes on the statutory terms and easy read notes for the model agreement.
• Hand over the safety paperwork. Copies of the EICR and PAT reports and the gas safety record, before or at the start of the tenancy, and the EPC and its Recommendations Report before it starts.

Ending a tenancy and raising the rent have their own rules, which this checklist doesn't cover.

Keeping it all in date

The checks fall out of step quickly, particularly across more than one property. A simple diary works: put in the next gas check, legionella review, EICR, PAT test and registration renewal as soon as each one's done, and set the reminder a month or two early. A gas check can be done up to 2 months early and keep its original deadline date.

The renewal calculator does the sums for you, and our page for letting agents has more on handling a portfolio. Tick what you need on the form below and we'll pass each type of check to one suitable local specialist. See the home page for how that works.