Current status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 15 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that its guidance on adopting a "light touch" approach to regulation of landlords is reportedly being cited as justification by the Highland Council to explain why no rent penalty notices and fiscal reports have been issued over an 18-month period from July 2022.
The Scottish Government has published statutory guidance for local authorities regarding the effective regulation of landlord registration (https://www.gov.scot/publications/landlord-registration-statutory-guidance-local-authorities-2017-statutory-guidance-local/pages/1/).
This guidance is intended to help local authorities deliver effective regulation as part of a continuing drive to raise standards and ensure greater consistency in enforcement across Scotland.
The guidance makes clear to local authorities their legal requirements under relevant landlord legislation, but also that they have a range of powers they can use to encourage compliance and to target breaches.
These include rent penalty notices which suspend the rent liability of a tenant living in an unregistered property; reporting unregistered landlords to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; the discretionary power to make a third-party application to the First-tier Tribunal on behalf of tenants to enforce the repairing standard; a late application fee if a landlord fails to renew their application on time; and action plans that are used by some local authorities to describe interventions they make to support landlords to improve their practice so that they can meet the requirements for registration.
Whilst most landlords let their houses in a responsible way, should any continue to operate outside the law then Landlord registration, supported by other legislation, provides a means for local authorities to register persons who are fit and proper and take steps to deal with those who operate outside the law.