Scottish Landlord Register information: FOI release

Information requested

1. Any estimate you hold of the number of private rented properties in Scotland that remain unregistered.

2. The revenue received by, and operating costs for, the Scottish Landlord Register for each year since its inception.

3. The number of landlords in Scotland who have been prosecuted since the Scottish Landlord Register was introduced for either a) failing to register or b) other offences under Parts 1 and 2 of the Housing Act 2004 or the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

4. Any information available on how the Scottish Landlord Register's fees were calculated, clarified to a brief indication of whether these were set to cover the scheme's costs, and any available information on how they were calculated.

5. Please supply any evaluation you have carried out on the impact of the Scottish Landlord Register.

Response

1. Any estimate you hold of the number of private rented properties in Scotland that remain unregistered.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

2. The revenue received by, and operating costs for, the Scottish Landlord Register for each year since its inception.

Financial Year	Revenue (£)	Costs (£)
5/2006	Direct SG budget	186,740.38
6/2007	Direct SG budget	382,822.26
7/2008	Direct SG budget	310,000**
8/2009	Direct SG budget	310,000**
9/2010	Direct SG budget	310,000**
10/2011	Direct SG budget	310,000**
11/2012	Direct SG budget	292,814.29
12/2013	Direct SG budget	307,566.44
13/2014	Direct SG budget	271,209.70
14/2015	Direct SG budget	260,178.44
15/2016	Direct SG budget	603,068.46
16/2017	Direct SG budget	379,921.70
17/2018	Direct SG budget	536,389.16
18/2019	361,152.00	887,177.78
19/2020	494,600.00	1,100,815.22

(Scottish Government direct costs of running Landlord Register and revenue provided)

IT Fees were not collected until June 2019 when the implementation of the New fees regulations began, previously all IT costs covered from SG budget. These figures do not include the costs of local authority and Scottish Government staff involved in the project which have been absorbed by those respective parties.

** no figures for these year available, anticipated budget provided. The Scottish Government does not have the full information you have asked for because the information you are looking for was routinely destroyed, in accordance with our standard records management practice, before the date of your request.

3. The number of landlords in Scotland who have been prosecuted since the Scottish Landlord Register was introduced for either a) failing to register or b) other offences under Parts 1 and 2 of the Housing Act 2004 or the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. However, you may wish to contact Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service regarding a request for this information. Freedom of Information (scotcourts.gov.uk).

4. Any information available on how the Scottish Landlord Register's fees were calculated, clarified to a brief indication of whether these were set to cover the scheme's costs, and any available information on how they were calculated.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. You can find information below.

Following a landlord registration fee increase in June 2019, a contribution from landlord registration application fees has been used to meet the costs of supporting and maintaining the system. Whilst landlord registration system is not cost neutral, the aim is for landlord registration fees to cover the ongoing costs of maintaining the IT system in future years. Once outstanding improvements have been developed and released to the live system then the day to day costs of operating the landlord register should be covered by landlord registration fee income.

• Landlord registration - review of applications and fees: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Landlord Registration in Scotland: Consultation on a review of landlord registration applications and fees (www.gov.scot)
• Private landlord registration: prescribed information and fees regulations - BRIA - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Private landlord registration: prescribed information and fees regulations - EQIA - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• The Private Landlord Registration (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 (legislation.gov.uk)

5. Please supply any evaluation you have carried out on the impact of the Scottish Landlord Register.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. You can find information below.

Last evaluation was carried out in 2011 -

• Evaluation of the Impact and Operation of Landlord Registration in Scotland (webarchive.org.uk)
• Evaluation of the Impact and Operation of Landlord Registration in Scotland rf 63/2011 (webarchive.org.uk)
• https://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/353982/0119289.pdf (webarchive.org.uk)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.