When a tenant gives notice to quit in Scotland, confirm it in writing

A tenant has told you they are leaving. In Scotland that is the tenant's notice to quit, and the document you produce is the acknowledgement: a short letter confirming you received it, confirming the date the tenancy ends, and setting out what happens between now and then. This page is about that letter. It is not a tenant's notice template.

Who gives notice to quit in Scotland

The tenant does. A private residential tenancy is open-ended, and it is the tenant who can bring it to an end by giving written notice. As the PRT tenancy agreement page puts it, the tenancy continues until the tenant gives 28 days' notice or the landlord obtains a tribunal eviction order under one of the grounds in Schedule 3 of the 2016 Act.

That second half is the landlord's route, and it is a different document entirely. If you are the one who wants the tenancy to end, you are not looking for a notice to quit. You need a Notice to Leave, which is a prescribed form, and the page for it sets out the grounds and the notice periods.

So: tenant leaving, you acknowledge. Landlord ending it, you serve a Notice to Leave.

What the acknowledgement does

Three jobs, and the first two are the reason the letter exists at all.

It records the date you received the notice, in writing, from you. If there is ever a question about when the clock started, a contemporaneous acknowledgement is a far better answer than a memory of an email.

It records the date the tenancy ends, and states that keys must be returned by noon on that date. Both parties then have the same date written down in the same place.

And it sets out what happens next, so the tenant is not guessing. Move-out requirements, the checkout inspection, the deposit, and the final rent position.

Build yours in minutes

Four things. The date the tenant's notice arrived. The date the tenancy ends. How the deposit will come back, from bank transfer, cheque, a direct return by the scheme, or something you type. And which move-out requirements apply.

That last one comes pre-ticked with the usual list, and you untick anything that does not apply and add your own text underneath. The standard items cover returning all keys, leaving the property clean and tidy, removing belongings and rubbish, taking final meter readings, giving a forwarding address, cancelling or transferring utilities and council tax, allowing access for a checkout inspection, and repairing damage beyond fair wear and tear.

The property, the tenant names, the deposit amount, the scheme and the reference come from your records. Previewing is free and unlimited, with no account and no card. £9 buys this document type at this property permanently with free regeneration, and Pro is £9.99 a month or £89 a year.

What happens next

The letter walks the tenant through it in the order it will actually happen.

Move-out requirements, as a numbered list they can work through.

The checkout inspection. The letter says an inspection will be arranged to compare the property against the original inventory, that the tenant will be told the date and is welcome to attend, and that damage beyond fair wear and tear may lead to deposit deductions supported by an itemised list and evidence. If you do not already have a check-in record to compare against, the inventory and schedule of condition page is the one to read.

The deposit. The letter names the amount, the scheme and the reference where you hold them, and states the return timescale for a Scottish property. It asks for a forwarding address and bank details. When the money actually goes back, the deposit return letter closes it off with the figures shown.

The final account. Rent is paid up to and including the end date, and anything outstanding is either deducted or invoiced.

If you are the landlord who wants to end the tenancy

Then this is the wrong document. Serve a Notice to Leave. It is a prescribed form, it has to be in the prescribed style, and the ground you rely on decides the notice period.

More Scotland landlord documents are collected on the Scotland page, and all 47 templates are listed together. Landlords letting in England want the England page instead.

In Scotland the tenant ends the tenancy by giving notice, and the landlord does not. A private residential tenancy under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 is open-ended. It continues until the tenant gives 28 days' notice, or until the landlord obtains an eviction order from the First-tier Tribunal on one of the grounds in Schedule 3. There is no landlord notice to quit in the PRT regime.

That is why this document is an acknowledgement. The tenant's notice is the tenant's document. Yours is the letter that confirms you received it on a particular date, confirms the end date, and sets out what happens in between. It carries no notice period of its own and starts no clock.

If you want possession, the document is the Notice to Leave. It must be in the form set out in schedule 5 of the Private Residential Tenancies (Prescribed Notices and Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 2017, and the notice period follows from the ground. A notice that was never in the prescribed style cannot be rescued, and without a valid notice to leave the Tribunal cannot hear an eviction application at all.

The deposit timescale on this letter is the Scottish one. Scotland runs its tenancy deposit regime through SafeDeposits Scotland, mydeposits Scotland and Letting Protection Service Scotland, and the acknowledgement states the Scottish timescale rather than an English one. The Scotland page collects the rest of the Scottish paperwork.