Fit alarms and protect deposits as a landlord in Scotland

Guide summary

Fit a heat alarm in every kitchen, and smoke alarms in the living room and each hallway and landing
Fit ceiling-mounted alarms that are all interlinked, by wire or by radio
Gas cookers and hobs do not need a carbon monoxide alarm; boilers, open fires and wood burners do
Fit extra alarms for deaf or deafblind occupants, or linked to a Telecare system, as well as the standard ones
Have each gas appliance and flue checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer at least every 12 months
Give gas safety records to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and to new tenants before they move in
Give the tenant the prescribed deposit information within the same 30 working days
A tenant can apply to the tribunal during the tenancy or up to 3 months after it ends

The rules that apply depend on where the property is, not where your business is based. The alarm rule is part of the tolerable standard, which every house in Scotland must meet. A rented home must also meet the repairing standard. A tenant or the council can enforce it through the First-tier Tribunal.

The repairing standard also covers the installations for water, gas and electricity, including residual current devices. They must be in a reasonable state of repair and in proper working order.

Smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms (Scotland): every home must meet the tolerable standard

What owners and landlords of homes in Scotland must install to meet the tolerable standard for fire and carbon monoxide detection, which has applied to every home since 1 February 2022, and how it is enforced for rented homes through the repairing standard.

Scotland's rule on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms is a universal standard for every home, not just rented ones. The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (Tolerable Standard) (Extension of Criteria) Order 2019 (SSI 2019/8) added two tests to section 86(1) of the 1987 Act: a house must have satisfactory equipment installed for detecting and giving warning of fire, and for detecting and giving warning of carbon monoxide at a hazardous concentration. They took effect on 1 February 2022.

Private landlords are caught twice. A house must meet the tolerable standard to meet the repairing standard in section 13 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, and the repairing standard is enforced through the First-tier Tribunal. The standard is about houses, so it is the duty for accommodation that people use as their home, such as private lets, flats and shared houses. Hotels, guest houses, hostels and other non-domestic premises have their fire safety governed separately by the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005. If you are unsure which applies to a particular property, ask your council.

Who is responsible: The property owner is responsible for meeting the standard (gov.scot)
Smoke alarms: One in the living room or the room used most, and one in every hallway and landing (circulation space) on each storey
Heat alarm: One in every kitchen
Type and position: Ceiling-mounted, and all alarms interlinked (if one sounds, they all do), by wire or by radio
Open plan: One alarm is enough if no point in the space is more than 7.5 metres from it; it must be a heat alarm if the kitchen is included
Carbon monoxide alarm: Required where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance such as a boiler, open fire or wood burner in the room. Gas cookers and hobs do not count
Specialist alarms: Extra alarms for deaf or deafblind occupants, or linked to a Telecare system, must be fitted in addition to the standard alarms
In force: 1 February 2022 for every house in Scotland, whatever the tenure
Enforcement for rented homes: A tenant, or a local authority, can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) about the repairing standard. The tribunal can make a repairing standard enforcement order, allowing at least 21 days to do the work. A landlord who ignores the order without a reasonable excuse commits an offence, fine up to level 3 (Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, sections 22, 24 and 28)

What you must do

Survey every home you let or provide. Count circulation spaces on each storey, identify the main living room and the kitchen, and list every boiler, open fire or wood burner.
Fit the alarms to the standard. Fit interlinked smoke alarms, a heat alarm in the kitchen and a carbon monoxide alarm wherever a carbon-fuelled appliance is in a room. Where an open fireplace makes a smoke alarm impracticable, a heat alarm can be fitted.
Tell new tenants the expiry dates of the alarms before the tenancy starts, as the Scottish Government's guidance recommends.
Keep records of what you installed and when, so that you can show the tribunal or your council how you met the standard.
If you run hotels, guest houses or hostels, also check your Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 duties: see Fire safety duties in Scotland.

Scottish Government - Fire and smoke alarms: the law (opens in a new tab)

Gas safety checks

Landlord annual gas safety check (CP12)

Annual safety check of gas appliances and flues by a Gas Safe registered engineer, with a record (CP12) given to tenants.

Under regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, a landlord of residential premises let under a lease or licence must ensure that each relevant gas appliance and flue is checked for safety at intervals of not more than 12 months, and within 12 months of being installed. For a lease starting after the Regulations came into force, the check must also have been made in the 12 months before the lease begins, or within 12 months after the appliance or flue is installed, whichever is later. The check must be done by, or by an employee of, an engineer on the Gas Safe Register, the class of person the Health and Safety Executive approves.

The landlord must make and keep a record of each check until there have been two further checks of that appliance or flue, or, for one that is removed from the premises, for 2 years from the last check. The record must be given to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check, and to any new tenant before they occupy. The duty covers gas appliances (other than one the tenant is entitled to remove), installation pipework and flues.

Legal basis: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, reg 36
Frequency: At intervals of not more than 12 months
Who can check: Gas Safe registered engineer
Record to tenant: Within 28 days (existing) / before occupation (new)
Record retention: Until two further checks, or 2 years if the appliance or flue is removed
Geographic scope: England, Scotland and Wales

Gas safety in rented properties — landlord responsibilities (opens in a new tab)

Tenancy deposits

Tenancy deposit protection - Scotland: pay into an approved scheme within 30 working days

What a landlord or letting agent must do to protect a tenancy deposit in Scotland under the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011, the three approved schemes, the information you must give the tenant, and the First-tier Tribunal penalty of up to three times the deposit.

If you take a deposit from a tenant in Scotland, you must protect it in a tenancy deposit scheme approved by the Scottish Ministers. The duty is in regulation 3 of the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/176), made under sections 120 to 122 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. It applies to a "relevant tenancy": one where the landlord is a person who must be registered as a landlord and the house is occupied by someone unconnected to them.

Protection is not optional and it is not delegated by default. If a letting agent lodges the deposit for you, the Letting Agent Code of Practice requires the agent to comply with the legislation, but you remain the landlord the tenant can take to the tribunal.

Deadline: Within 30 working days of the tenancy starting, pay the deposit to the scheme administrator of an approved scheme and give the tenant the prescribed information (regulation 3)
Approved schemes: Letting Protection Service Scotland, mydeposits Scotland and SafeDeposits Scotland
No scheme needed if: The tenancy ends under section 48 or 50 of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 and you return the whole deposit to the tenant within 30 working days of the tenancy starting (regulation 3(1A)). Landlords who live in the property, let to close family, let holiday accommodation, or have other exempt arrangements are also outside the rule (mygov.scot)
Information for the tenant: Deposit amount and date received, date paid to the scheme, property address, your landlord registration status, the scheme administrator's name and contact details, and the circumstances in which any part of the deposit may be kept (regulation 42). Give it within 30 working days, or within 30 working days of later payment into a scheme
Deposit paid in instalments: Provide updated information for each instalment and confirm the cumulative amount after the first (regulation 42(4))
Penalty: The First-tier Tribunal must order you to pay the tenant an amount not exceeding three times the deposit if you breach regulation 3 (regulation 10). It may also order you to pay the deposit into a scheme or to give the tenant the information
Tenant's time limit: A tenant can apply to the tribunal during the tenancy or up to 3 months after it ends (mygov.scot)
Enforced by: First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber), on application by the tenant

What you must do

Choose one of the three approved schemes before the tenancy starts. Each holds the deposit in a designated account and deals with disputes about repayment at the end of the tenancy.
Pay the deposit in within 30 working days of the tenancy start date. Send enough information for the scheme to identify you, the tenant, the tenancy and the property.
Give the tenant the prescribed information in the same 30 working days. The scheme also writes to you and the tenant confirming receipt and explaining the sanctions in regulations 9 and 10.
Tell your letting agent who lodges the deposit. The Letting Agent Code of Practice requires the agent to tell you about the statutory requirements, and, if it lodges the deposit, to comply with them.
At the end of the tenancy, try to agree the repayment with the tenant. If you agree, claim it from the scheme; if not, both sides follow the scheme's dispute rules.

Measures in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 will allow deposits that have gone unclaimed for five years to be used for private tenants' benefit. The Scottish Government says no start date has been set, and former tenants will still be able to reclaim a deposit if they can show good reason for missing the original timescales (gov.scot, read 30 September 2026).

mygov.scot - When you must protect a tenancy deposit (opens in a new tab)

Keep your records together

For every property, keep the alarm installation dates, gas safety records and deposit scheme confirmations together. Keep a copy of the information you gave each tenant with them. They are the first things the tribunal or your council will ask to see.

Legal basis

Primary legislation and key regulations

Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 Primary 2006 · Scotland Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 Primary 1987 · Scotland The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (Tolerable Standard) (Extension of Criteria) Order 2019 Scottish SI 2019 · Scotland The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 Scottish SI 2011 · Scotland Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 SI 1998 · UK-wide

Browse UK legislation legislation.gov.uk

Official guidance

Gas safety: landlords and letting agents (opens in a new tab)

HSE · Great Britain

Protection (opens in a new tab)

www.mygov.scot · Scotland

Fire safety guidance private rented properties (opens in a new tab)

Publication · www.gov.scot · Scotland

Fire and smoke alarms in scottish homes (opens in a new tab)

Publication · www.gov.scot · Scotland

Fit alarms and protect deposits as a landlord in Scotland

Smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms

Gas safety checks

Tenancy deposits

Keep your records together

Legal basis

Official guidance

Related guides in Premises & Operations

Meet electrical safety and alarm duties as a landlord in Wales

Meet alarm, electrical and HMO duties as a landlord in Northern Ireland

Protect a tenant's deposit in an approved scheme

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Maintain your business premises