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Notice to Leave — Scotland’s PRT Eviction Notice Template

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A Notice to Leave for Scottish landlords ending a Private Residential Tenancy. Covers every Schedule 3 ground, applies the correct 28-day or 84-day notice period, and includes all the information the First-tier Tribunal expects. Build it free and check it on screen before you pay.

Want the rules explained rather than the document?A Landlord's Guide to Scottish PRT Eviction Grounds — When and How You Can Recover Your Property — the deadlines, the notice periods and what invalidates them.
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When you need this document

In Scotland there is no equivalent of the English Section 21 — there never has been. To recover possession of a property let on a Private Residential Tenancy, the landlord serves a Notice to Leave on the tenant under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, then applies to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland if the tenant doesn’t leave.

There are 18 eviction grounds in Schedule 3. Some are mandatory (the tribunal must grant the order if the ground is established), some are discretionary (the tribunal must also be satisfied that eviction is reasonable). The notice period is either 28 days or 84 days, depending on the ground. Landlord-circumstance grounds (sale, refurbishment, moving in, family moving in) carry the longer 84-day period; tenant-conduct grounds (arrears, breach, antisocial behaviour) carry the shorter 28-day period.

This template generates a Notice to Leave with the right grounds, the right notice period, and all the information the tribunal requires before granting an eviction order. Use it for any PRT eviction — do not adapt a Section 8 form from England, which is a different legal framework entirely.

Who needs this document

You need possession of a Scottish property
The Notice to Leave is the only route. There is no Scottish equivalent of Section 21 and there never has been under the PRT regime.
Your tenant is three or more consecutive months in arrears
Ground 12, on 28 days’ notice as a conduct ground. Be ready to show what you did about benefit delays, because it weighs on reasonableness.
You intend to sell or move into the property
Grounds 1 and 4, on 84 days’ notice where the tenant has been there more than six months. Evidence of the intention is what the tribunal tests.
You are preparing a tribunal application
The Notice to Leave is the document the Housing and Property Chamber checks first. A defect in it ends the application before the merits are reached.

Mistakes that invalidate it

The errors that turn a document you thought was compliant into one that gives you nothing.

  • Using an English Section 8 or Section 21 notice

    Neither has any effect in Scotland. The application is refused and you serve again, losing the whole notice period.

  • Applying the 84-day period when 28 days applies, or the reverse

    The period turns on occupancy length and whether the ground is conduct-based. Getting it wrong makes the notice invalid, not merely early.

  • Treating a ground as mandatory

    Every Schedule 3 ground has been discretionary since 2022. Proving the facts is necessary but not sufficient — you also have to show eviction is reasonable.

  • Miscalculating the date the tenant must leave

    The date must fall on or after the notice period expires, and getting it a day early is the single most common reason a Scottish application is thrown out.

  • Removing the tenant without a tribunal order

    A criminal offence. The notice expiring does not give you possession; only an eviction order does.

What’s included

  • All 18 grounds from Schedule 3 of the 2016 Act
  • Automatic notice-period calculation (28 days or 84 days per ground)
  • Multi-ground service with longest-applicable notice period
  • Includes the tribunal application information statutorily required
  • Pre-action engagement reminder for rent arrears cases
  • PDF or DOCX export, free to preview before you buy

Scottish PRT context

The Notice to Leave is a prescribed form, and the form itself is mandatory. Regulation 6 of the Private Residential Tenancies (Prescribed Notices and Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 requires a notice to leave to be "in the form set out in schedule 5". This is not a matter of including the right information in a document of your own design.

The Upper Tribunal for Scotland made the consequence explicit in McAnally v Boyle [2025] UT 53. Section 73 of the 2016 Act saves errors that do not materially affect a notice — but only errors made inside the prescribed form. A notice that is not in the prescribed style at all falls outside that rescue and cannot be fixed. Without a valid notice to leave the Tribunal cannot entertain an eviction application, so the practical cost of the wrong form is the whole notice period served again. The same judgment also declined to treat Part 3 (details and evidence of the eviction ground) as optional.

Scotland is a separate system, not a variant of England. No fixed terms have ever existed, the First-tier Tribunal (not the county court) hears eviction applications, and deposit protection runs through SafeDeposits Scotland, mydeposits Scotland or Letting Protection Service Scotland within 30 working days.

For rent arrears (Ground 12 in Schedule 3), engage with the tenant under the pre-action protocol before serving. The Tribunal expects evidence of attempted engagement, signposting to advice services, and reasonable time to address the arrears — jumping straight to a notice weighs against the landlord.

Related templates

Documents you might need alongside this one.

Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) Agreement Template

A PRT agreement for private landlords in Scotland, matching the Scottish Government model wording. Includes every mandatory statutory term from the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. Build it and check it on screen for free; you pay only to download.

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notice to quit acknowledgement

The tenant ends a private residential tenancy by giving you notice. This is the letter you send back: the date you received it, the date the tenancy ends, what has to happen before they go, and what happens to the deposit.

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Section 8 Notice Template (Form 3A)

A Section 8 possession notice for English landlords, on the post-RRA prescribed Form 3A. Pick from all 37 grounds, with correct notice periods, conditional warnings, and Universal Credit exception logic. Preview it free before you buy.

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Rent Increase Notice

A rent increase notice for Scottish Private Residential Tenancies. Three months’ notice, correct prescribed information, and a flag for the Rent Officer referral the tenant can make. Build it free; you pay only for the file.

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Deposit Prescribed Information Template

A schemes-aware deposit prescribed information document. Custodial or insured variants, relevant-persons section (Housing Act 2004 s.213(5)), and the 5-week deposit cap warning for English tenancies. Free to build and preview.

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Frequently asked questions

Is there an official Scottish Government Notice to Leave form?
Yes, and you have to use it. The form is set out in schedule 5 of the Private Residential Tenancies (Prescribed Notices and Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 2017, and the Scottish Government publishes it on gov.scot along with guidance notes. It has no form number — Scottish PRT notices are identified by the schedule they sit in, not numbered like England’s Form 3A or Form 4A. This template produces a notice in that prescribed style with your grounds and dates filled in.
What happens if I use the wrong form or my own wording?
The notice is invalid and cannot be repaired. Section 73 of the 2016 Act forgives errors that do not materially affect a notice, but the Upper Tribunal held in McAnally v Boyle [2025] UT 53 that this only reaches mistakes made inside the prescribed form — not the use of a document that was never in the prescribed style. Without a valid notice to leave the Tribunal cannot hear an eviction application at all, so you serve again and wait out the notice period a second time.
Do I have to complete the eviction ground details section?
Treat it as compulsory. In McAnally v Boyle the Upper Tribunal rejected the view that Part 3, the details and evidence of the eviction ground, is optional. Whether leaving it thin is fatal depends on the facts and the ground — it is far more dangerous on rent arrears than on a straightforward sale — but there is no reason to take the risk.
What’s the difference between Notice to Leave and Section 8?
Section 8 applies to assured periodic tenancies in England under the Housing Act 1988. Notice to Leave applies to Private Residential Tenancies in Scotland under the 2016 Act. Different forms, different grounds, different tribunals — they are not interchangeable.
Can the tribunal refuse my eviction even if the ground is established?
For discretionary grounds, yes — the tribunal must also be satisfied eviction is reasonable in the circumstances. For mandatory grounds the tribunal must grant the order if the ground is established and the procedure has been followed correctly.
Do I need to wait six months before evicting on Grounds 1 to 5?
The 2016 Act doesn’t impose a blanket "six-month rule" on these grounds. There are anti-abuse restrictions — evicting on a landlord-circumstance ground and then re-letting without the stated reason genuinely applying can result in penalties. Grounds 1 to 5 (sale, lender selling, refurbishment, landlord move-in, family move-in) require the longer 84-day notice period.
What notice period applies to multiple grounds?
The longest applicable. If you cite an 84-day ground alongside a 28-day ground, the 84-day period applies to the whole notice.

Further reading

Scottish prescribed forms: Notice to Leave and rent increaseScotland’s Notice to Leave and rent-increase notice are prescribed forms under SSI 2017/297. Which schedule each uses, and why a wrong form cannot be fixed.

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Sources

Every statute, form and scheme named above, linked to the primary source.

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