Private landlords advice
Ending a tenancy as a landlord
If you're renting out a property, you may want your tenant to leave at the end of the tenancy. This may be because:
- you want to live in the property
- the tenant has broken a term of the tenancy
- the tenant is not paying the rent
- the tenant has abandoned the property
When you want to end a tenancy, you must do it legally. Your tenants are protected by the law against harassment and unlawful eviction, so if you (or a letting agent acting on your behalf) don't follow the correct steps they may take court action.
As a landlord you are legally required to tell us when you start taking court action that could make someone homeless.
Information to help you when the tenancy ends and you want your tenant to leave your property is available in mygov.scot's guide to ending a tenancy as a landlord.
Procedures for ending a tenancy by tenancy type
By law you are required to follow correct procedures if you want to end the tenancy. These procedures will depend on the type of tenancy your tenant has:
Private residential tenancy
Your tenant can end their tenancy by giving you at least 28 days’ notice in writing.
You can end the tenancy by giving your tenant a written notice called a Notice to Leave including one or more of the 18 grounds on which a private residential tenancy can be ended. The notice period ranges from 28 days to 84 days depending on the grounds used and how long the tenant has lived in the property. View more information on notice periods.
Your tenant may choose to leave on the end date given in the notice, or they may remain in the property until you apply to the First Tier Tribunal of the Housing and Property Chamber and are granted an eviction order. It will be up to you to prove to the tribunal that the grounds for eviction given are valid. Some grounds require the tribunal to grant a mandatory eviction, others are at the tribunal’s discretion.
If you apply to the First Tier Tribunal of the Housing and Property Chamber for eviction of a tenant, you are required to inform Aberdeenshire Council that your tenant may potentially become homeless.
Short assured tenancy
Most tenancies issued between 1988 and 30 November 2017 were short assured tenancies.
These tenancies always last a fixed length of time (at least 6 months). They can’t be ended in the first 6 months unless you believe you have grounds for repossessing the property (for example due to rent arrears) and you would need to go to court to end the tenancy within the first 6 months.
If you want your tenant to leave at the end of the tenancy, you need to issue these with a 2 months notice:
- Written Notice to Quit
- Section 33 Notice
If you wish to end a short assured tenancy using grounds (instead of using the section 33 right to end it without grounds), you need to give your tenant a Notice of Proceedings (called an AT6 form) in addition to a Notice to Quit. The AT6 document tells the tenant under what grounds you wish to start legal proceedings and the length of notice depends on the grounds being used. Once the notice period has passed, if your tenant still remains in the property, an application for eviction can be made to the Housing and Property Chamber.
Assured tenancy
Assured tenancies require:
- Notice to Quit with at least 4 weeks' notice (and 40 days' notice if the tenancy is longer than 4 months
- Notice of Proceedings (AT6)
The AT6 document tells the tenant under what grounds you wish to start legal proceedings and the length of notice depends on the grounds being used. Once the notice period has passed, if your tenant still remains in the property, an application for eviction can be made to the Housing and Property Chamber. View more information on ending an assured tenancy.
If court proceedings are raised, you are required to inform the local authority by completing a Section 11 Notice. This is needed in case the tenants may require help with somewhere else to stay.