Housing Chamber procedures brought into line with sheriff court

Procedural changes to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing & Property Chamber) processes taking effect from 20 February 2019 bring the procedures more into line with those available in the sheriff court.

The changes include provisions for the following circumstances:

Address unknown

The new regulations provide for service by advertisement on the website of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland where the address of a party is not known. This may be necessary if, for example, the tenant has abandoned the property and the applicant does not know the tenant’s whereabouts to give the required prior notice of intention to evict or raise proceedings in the tribunal.

Name unknown

There are now also provisions enabling formal service on the occupier of a property where there is an application for eviction or possession and the name of the tenant is unknown, for example, where the applicant is a lender which has served a calling up notice.

Interest

The First-tier Tribunal may now include interest from the date of the decision when making an order for payment. The rate is either as stated in the relevant tenancy agreement or as fixed by the tribunal.

Time to pay order

With effect from 6 March 2019, there will be the option for debtors to make an application for time to pay before enforcement action can be taken. The provisions governing time to pay applications are at reg 2(17) of the above order and in the related First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (Incidental Provisions) Regulations 2019.

Click here to view the Amendment Regulations; and here to view the Incidental Provisions Regulations.