Every dispute between a private landlord and a tenant in Scotland that cannot be settled ends in the same place: the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber. It has decided private tenancy cases in place of the sheriff court since December 2017, and it received 5,078 applications in the last year it has reported on. There is no fee to apply. This guide sets out what the Tribunal decides, how a case runs from the form to the order, and where the costs sit for each side.
What the Tribunal decides
The Chamber covers the private rented sector, together with letting agents and property factors. For a Private Residential Tenancy it holds the powers a sheriff would otherwise have, so a civil claim between landlord and tenant goes to the Tribunal and not to court (Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, section 71). The applications a landlord or tenant is most likely to make:
| Application | Who applies | What the Tribunal can order |
|---|---|---|
| Eviction order | The landlord, once a Notice to Leave has run | The tenancy ends on the date in the order, where a ground in the 2016 Act is met and the Tribunal finds eviction reasonable |
| Payment order | The landlord, for rent arrears or damage, or a tenant claiming money back | A sum of money, enforceable in the same way as a court decree |
| Tenancy deposit not lodged | The tenant or former tenant, within three months of the tenancy ending | Up to three times the deposit, paid to the tenant |
| Repairing Standard | The tenant, after telling the landlord what needs doing | A Repairing Standard Enforcement Order, and a rent reduction of up to 90% if it is ignored |
| Letting Agent Code of Practice | A landlord or tenant, after notifying the agent and giving reasonable time to put it right | A Letting Agent Enforcement Order, which can include compensation |
| Wrongful termination | A former tenant, where the ground used to end the tenancy was not genuine | Up to six months' rent, and between 3 and 36 times a month's rent for tenancies ended on or after 6 October 2026 |
| Rent increase appeal | The landlord or the tenant, within 14 days of a rent officer's order | The rent payable, in place of the rent officer's figure |
Before you apply
Most delay happens before the Tribunal has looked at the merits at all. Its own report says that applications often fail to meet the prescribed requirements when they arrive, usually because a step that had to come first was skipped or a document is missing, and that putting them right by correspondence normally takes several weeks. What must already be done on the day you lodge:
- Eviction: a Notice to Leave served on the tenant, stating the ground, with its notice period run (28 days, or 84 where the tenant has lived there for more than six months), and notice of your intention to apply given to the council in the prescribed form (2016 Act, section 56). Copies of both go in with the form, together with the evidence that the ground is met.
- Rent arrears evictions: the pre-action requirements as well. The tenant must have been told clearly what is owed, pointed towards advice, and offered a reasonable repayment plan, and the Tribunal is required to consider how far you followed them.
- Deposit claims: within three months of the tenancy ending, and against the landlord, not the agent. The Tribunal reports rejecting applications on both counts.
- Repairing Standard: the landlord must have been told what work is needed before the application is made (Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, section 22).
- Complaints about a letting agent: the agent must have been notified of the breach and given a reasonable time to put it right, and a copy of that notification goes in with the form (Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, section 48). Our complaints procedure sets out how to do that with us.
How a case runs
- Lodge the form. Form E is the eviction application, Form F is for civil proceedings such as arrears, and Form G covers the other private tenancy applications, deposits and wrongful termination among them. Each is signed and dated and sent with its documents by post to the Glasgow Tribunals Centre, or by email as a scanned copy.
- The check on receipt. A legal member checks the form against the rule for that type of application. Anything missing is asked for, and the application counts as made only on the day the last document arrives. The Tribunal says this correspondence typically spans several weeks.
- The sift. The same legal member must reject an application that is frivolous or vexatious, already resolved, made for another purpose, or a repeat of one already decided. It is a high bar: in 2023-24, 11% of the applications the Tribunal closed were rejected, usually because the prescribed requirements were never met, often after a request for information.
- Notification. The Tribunal sends the application to the other party and sets a date, at least 14 days away, for written representations. Nobody has to serve anything on the other side at this stage.
- The case management discussion. Usually the first date in the diary, and for private tenancy cases normally a telephone conference. It is not a formality: the Tribunal can do anything at it that it could do at a hearing, including granting or refusing an eviction or payment order, and it can decide in a party's absence where the procedure has been fair. The Chamber held 3,025 discussions and 1,045 hearings in 2023-24.
- The hearing, where the facts are disputed. At least 14 days' notice, and usually 28. Documents and a list of witnesses go in no later than seven days before. Hearings are held in public unless the Tribunal decides otherwise. In-person hearings are the norm in repairing standard, letting agent and property factor cases; most private tenancy hearings are by telephone.
- The decision. Written, with reasons, and published on the Tribunal's website with the parties' names. A decision that includes an eviction or payment order may be passed to the Registry Trust, which credit reference agencies read.
- The appeal window. Either party may ask the Tribunal for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, on a point of law only, within 30 days of the decision being sent. The order cannot be enforced until that period has run, and an eviction order is not issued until it has.
- Enforcement. The Tribunal's role ends with the order. A landlord instructs sheriff officers to serve a charge for removing, which gives the tenant 14 days, and to carry out the ejection after that. A payment order is enforced like any court decree, by arrestment of earnings or a bank account.
The figures for 2023-24 show how cases end. Of the eviction applications that reached a decision, 92% were granted; 41% of all eviction applications were withdrawn before that point, three-quarters of them because the matter had been resolved. Payment orders were granted in 93% of the applications decided.
How long it takes
There is no prescribed timescale for any stage, and the Tribunal does not publish a target. Its website carries a standing notice that it is receiving a high volume of applications and that waiting times may extend. What it does publish is its workload. In 2023-24, the latest year reported, it received 5,078 applications, its highest ever, closed 4,417, and carried 3,013 into the following year, 28% more than the year before. In May 2025 the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service told the Scottish Parliament that 1,454 applications were waiting for a first hearing date, and that scheduling depends on the availability of part-time, fee-paid members.
For a landlord, the arithmetic is set out in the rent arrears guide: three months of arrears for the ground, 28 days of notice, the wait for a discussion, 30 days before the order can be enforced and 14 more for the charge, which puts the earliest return of a property at around seven months from the first missed payment. Plan on the Tribunal stage itself taking months rather than weeks.
What it costs
The Tribunal charges nothing: no fee to apply, none for the discussion or the hearing, none for the order. The costs that exist sit around it.
| Item | Who pays | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Applying, the discussion, the hearing and the decision | Nobody | Nothing, for landlords and tenants alike |
| Serving the Notice to Leave | The landlord | Postage for a recorded delivery letter, or a sheriff officer's fee to serve it in person |
| A solicitor, adviser or agent to prepare and present the case | Whoever instructs them, whatever the outcome | Their own rate, which cannot be recovered from the other side on the strength of having won |
| Expenses awarded by the Tribunal | Only a party whose unreasonable conduct put the other side to unnecessary expense | That unnecessary expense, as taxed by the Auditor of the Court of Session |
| Enforcing an eviction order | The landlord | Sheriff officers' fees, fixed by Act of Sederunt (below) |
| Enforcing a payment order | The party owed the money | Sheriff officers' fees for the arrestment, from the same table |
Sheriff officers' fees are not a quote. They are fixed by the Court of Session in an Act of Sederunt, VAT is added on top, and the fee note has to itemise every charge, reduction, surcharge and outlay. From 25 September 2026 the table is written in units of £6.10, and the items that matter for an eviction are these:
| Sheriff officer's work | Units | From 25 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Serving a document in person, such as the charge for removing | 18 | £109.80 |
| Serving a document by post | 6 | £36.60 |
| Arranging the ejection | 18 | £109.80 |
| Arranging and carrying out the ejection | 28 | £170.80 |
| Each six minutes beyond the first hour at the property, with a witness | 1.4 | £8.54 |
Service outside 9am to 5pm carries a surcharge of 33% or 75%, and a locksmith on the day, if the locks are changed, is instructed and paid separately. Until 24 September 2026 the previous table applies, in pounds rather than units; the fee note is itemised either way. Sources: the Act of Sederunt (Fees of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers) 2026 and its 2024 predecessor, read on legislation.gov.uk in September 2026.
For tenants
The same free process runs in both directions, and tenants use it. In 2023-24 the Tribunal granted an order in 89% of the deposit applications it decided, and a claim for the deposit itself can be lodged alongside the claim for the penalty and heard with it. You can bring the case yourself, be represented by a solicitor, an adviser or a friend, or bring a supporter, who can sit with you and take notes but not speak for you. Citizens Advice Scotland and Shelter Scotland both advise tenants free of charge.
If a payment order is sought against you, every respondent is sent a form to ask for time to pay, by instalments or as a later lump sum, and the Tribunal can grant it with the order. If an eviction order is granted, the 30 days before it can be enforced and the 14 days of the charge for removing are the time to take advice, and the council's homelessness service has already been told the case exists.
What we do
Under Let & Rent Collection, at 10% of rent collected, the pre-action requirements are followed and evidenced, and the Notice to Leave is prepared and served on the correct statutory ground. Under Full Management, at 12% of rent collected, the Tribunal application is prepared and lodged as well, with the notice to the council, the rent statement and the evidence the rule for that application requires. Attending a discussion or a hearing on your behalf is charged at £50 an hour, in units of fifteen minutes, and agreed with you before we start. Sheriff officers invoice at the published rates above, whoever instructs them.
The procedure described here comes from the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2017, the Tribunal's own guidance and its Summary of Work for 2023-24, the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 and the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007, all checked in September 2026. It is general information about the process rather than advice on a particular case.
Frequently asked
- Does it cost anything to apply to the First-tier Tribunal in Scotland?
- No. There is no application fee, no hearing fee and no fee for the order, for landlords and tenants alike. Each side pays its own costs, and the Tribunal awards expenses only against a party whose unreasonable behaviour put the other side to unnecessary expense.
- Do I need a solicitor for the Tribunal?
- No. Most applicants represent themselves, and the forms and guidance are written for that. You can be represented by a solicitor, a letting agent or a lay representative, or bring a supporter. Whoever you instruct, their fee is yours to pay whatever the outcome.
- How long does a Tribunal case take?
- There is no prescribed timescale. The Tribunal received 5,078 applications in 2023-24, its highest ever, and in May 2025 it had 1,454 waiting for a first hearing date. Plan on months from lodging to decision, then 30 days before an order can be enforced.
- Where are Tribunal hearings held?
- For private tenancy cases the case management discussion, and usually the hearing, is a telephone conference, so nobody travels. In-person hearings, at the tribunal centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh or a venue near the property, are the norm for repairing standard, letting agent and property factor cases.
- What happens if the tenant does not leave after an eviction order?
- The Tribunal does not enforce its own orders. Once the 30-day appeal period has run and the order is issued, sheriff officers serve a charge for removing, which gives 14 days, and carry out the ejection after that. Their fees are fixed by Act of Sederunt and paid by the landlord.
- Can I get my costs back if I win at the Tribunal?
- Generally no. Expenses are awarded only where a party's unreasonable conduct put the other side to unnecessary expense, and a successful party cannot recover an agent's or solicitor's fees on the strength of having won.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Law and practice change, and individual circumstances vary. Check current guidance at mygov.scot and take professional advice on anything affecting your specific position.
