Glasgow University Students Representative Council

Many students at Glasgow University rent accommodation privately through landlords or letting agents. The GUSRC Advice Centre provides information and support to students regarding their tenancy rights and responsibilities. In 2014, the Scottish Government issued a consultation on a new tenancy for the private rented sector, and the GUSRC responded (GUSRC consultation response) to outline concerns with regard to how the proposals would impact on students in particular.

In May 2015, a second consultation exercise was launched, for the purpose of clarifying further on some of the points made in the first one, and GUSRC responded to this also: second GUSRC consultation response.

Topics covered by the consultation were the introduction of a model tenancy agreement, the length of tenancy, notice to leave at the end of tenancies, notice periods from landlord to tenant, accelerated notice period for rent arrears, revised grounds for repossession, rent reviews during a tenancy, and the possibility of introducing further regulation.

The Scottish Parliament intends to collate all the feedback gained from both consultations and will introduce a new private rented sector bill to Parliament in Autumn 2015.