Your rights if you live in a council or housing association home

This advice applies to Scotland. See advice for See advice for England, See advice for Northern Ireland, See advice for Wales

Your tenancy type

If you're a social housing tenant, you’ll normally have a Scottish secure tenancy. In some cases, you might have a short Scottish secure tenancy.

Social housing is also sometimes known as a public sector housing.

You're a social housing tenant if you rent from:

  • a local council, or

  • a registered social landlord.

A registered social landlord is a housing association or housing co-operative registered with the Scottish Housing Regulator.

If you’re not sure, check what type of tenancy you have on the Shelter Scotland website.

If you live in a mid-market rent property

If you rent a mid-market rent property you’ll be renting from a private company that has been created by a housing association. This means you have a private tenancy.

Find out more about your rights if you live in a private rented home.

Rights of Scottish secure tenants

If you’re a Scottish secure tenant, you have the right to stay in your home unless the landlord gets a court order to evict you. You can enforce your rights, for example, to get repairs done, without worrying about being evicted. The landlord must follow the correct process to evict you. The landlord can only get a court order to evict you if there are special grounds. For example, if you have:

  • damaged the property

  • broken a tenancy term

  • rent arrears.

If the landlord is evicting you for rent arrears, there are rules about the help that the landlord must give you before they can evict you.

Find out more about facing eviction.

You also have other rights by law, including the right to:

You should check your tenancy agreement for more information about your rights. Your tenancy agreement might give you more rights than your basic rights in the law.

Rights of short Scottish secure tenants

Public sector landlords might offer a short Scottish secure tenancy when someone's housing need is short term. A landlord can also convert a Scottish secure tenancy to a short Scottish secure tenancy. They can do this if a tenant, or a member of the tenant's household, has had an antisocial behaviour order granted against them.

A short Scottish secure tenancy must be given for a minimum of 6 months initially, then 12 months and in some cases extended to 18 months. At the end of the term of the short Scottish secure tenancy or the extensions to the term, the landlord must either convert the tenancy to a Scottish secure tenancy or end the tenancy. The landlord can also end the tenancy during the tenancy agreement if there are grounds to do so, for example, rent arrears or antisocial behaviour.

The rights of a short Scottish secure tenant are the same as those of a Scottish secure tenant, except that a short Scottish secure tenant does not have a right of succession. This means no one can inherit your tenancy if you die.

Standards of service

The Scottish government publishes the Scottish Social Housing Charter. The charter sets out:

  • the standards that all social landlords should meet

  • what you can expect from your landlord.

It’s used by the Scottish Housing Regulator to assess how well the landlord is doing in meeting the standards.

You can find out a landlord’s performance on the Scottish Housing Regulator's website.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) sets out quality standards for social housing. Public sector landlords are working towards meeting the requirements of the SHQS.

There's a guide for tenants about the Scottish Housing Quality Standard on the Scottish government website.

Complaints about social landlords

You have the right to complain if you’re not satisfied with the service provided by your local council or housing association. If you’re unhappy with the way in which your complaint is handled, you can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Find out more about complaining to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

If a landlord discriminates against you

A social landlord must not discriminate against you because of these protected characteristics:

  • disability

  • gender reassignment

  • pregnancy and maternity

  • race

  • sex

  • sexual orientation

  • religion.

These protected characteristics are covered by the Equality Act 2010. A landlord or agent might be breaking the law if, because of a protected characteristic, they:

  • refuse to rent a property to you

  • charge you higher rent than other tenants

  • give you worse terms in your tenancy agreement than other tenants

  • treat you differently from other tenants when you use facilities, such as laundry or a garden

  • evict or harass you because of a characteristic you have

  • refuse to do repairs or make reasonable changes that would allow a disabled person to live there.

You can check if your housing problem is discrimination.

Get more help

Housing law can be complex. You can get more help from: