Scottish housing guide for people leaving the Armed Forces and ex-service personnel

Information about housing in Scotland and contacts of organisations who may be able to help armed forces and ex-service personnel obtain housing suitable for their needs.


1.3 Renting a property in the private rented sector

If you want to find somewhere to rent you will find information about available properties on letting agent and estate agent websites, from local letting agent offices and in newspaper adverts.

You may be required to pay a deposit to secure a rental property. If you are experiencing financial difficulties in saving for a deposit, rent deposit guarantee schemes may be able to help you. You can find details about schemes on your council's website, or by checking the Crisis Help to Rent Database crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/housing-resource-centre/prs-database/

Your deposit will be held in a tenancy deposit scheme and you will be able to get all or part of this back when you leave the property if you have kept it in good condition and paid your rent and bills.

There are three tenancy deposit schemes operating in Scotland:

Letting Protection Service Scotland www.lettingprotectionscotland.com

SafeDeposit Scotland www.safedepositsscotland.com

My deposits Scotland www.mydepositsscotland.co.uk

All private landlords have to register with their council. It is advisable that you check to see if the landlord is registered on www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk using their registration number, rental property address or by contacting the local authority where the rental property is situated.

Anyone carrying out letting agency work in Scotland must comply with a Letting Agent Code of Practice. They must also apply to join the Scottish Letting Agents Register by 1 October 2018.

The Register is a list run by Scottish Ministers that will make sure every letting agent is suitable to do the job and has met minimum training requirements. You can check if a letting agent is registered by visiting lettingagentregistration.gov.scot/

More information can be found at: www.mygov.scot/letting-agent-registration-tenants and you can find more details on renting in the private sector at www.mygov.scot/rent-private-landlord

Contact

Email: Annabel.Hoatson@gov.scot

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