Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2016
I will speak to amendments 1 to 4.
At the behest of Homeless Action Scotland, I sought to amend the bill at stage 2, so that a tenant need only tell the landlord about a person aged 16 or over residing in the property if that property was that person’s only or principal home. Paragraph 3 of the schedule is welcome, as it gives landlords the power to prevent overcrowding and sub-letting, but my amendments seek to make the duty to inform a landlord about others staying in the property more proportionate.
As the bill is drafted, the tenant would be obliged to send their landlord details of every person who stayed in the property, even if it was a friend who stayed overnight. That would clearly represent an unreasonable intrusion into the lives of tenants. Indeed, the tenant might be in breach of the tenancy and liable to eviction for failing to notify the landlord that someone had stayed for a day or two. The minister accepted the principle of my stage 2 amendment but asked for a more suitable amendment to be brought forward at stage 3, with the same intention.
I have worked with the Government to ensure that these amendments have the same purpose and effect as my stage 2 amendment, and that the bill makes it clear that tenants must notify their landlord only if someone occupies the let property as their only or principal home.
I move amendment 1.