Letting agent registration - Scotland: you must be on the Scottish Letting Agent Register
Who must register as a letting agent in Scotland under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, the fit and proper person test, training, insurance and fees for the Scottish Letting Agent Register, registration period, and the offences for working unregistered.
If you let or manage homes in Scotland for landlords, in the course of your business, you are carrying out letting agency work and you must be a registered letting agent. Part 4 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 set up a register kept by the Scottish Ministers. It is a criminal offence to do letting agency work without being on it (section 44), and registration is separate from landlord registration with the local council.
Letting agency work means things done in the course of your business, in response to instructions from a landlord, either to help the landlord enter a lease or occupancy arrangement for a house, or to manage a house that is let (for example collecting rent, inspecting, and arranging repairs, maintenance, improvement or insurance) (section 61(1)).
- Register
- Scottish Letting Agent Register (public)
- Kept by
- The Scottish Ministers (s.29)
- Registration period
- 3 years, then reapply (s.38)
- Qualification
- SCQF level 6 or above
- Refresher training
- 20 hours in 3 years if qualification is over 3 years old
- Fee, one office
- £630 (£974 if already trading unregistered)
- Fee, two or three offices
- £758 (£1,101 if already trading unregistered)
- Fee, four or more offices
- £891 (£1,235 if already trading unregistered)
- Decision deadline
- 12 months from application (s.33)
- Appeal deadline
- 21 days, to the First-tier Tribunal
- Working unregistered
- Up to 6 months' prison, £50,000 fine, or both (s.44)
Who must be fit and proper
You, your most senior manager, anyone owning 25% or more of the business and anyone directly concerned with its control or governance must be fit and proper persons (sections 30 and 32). The Scottish Ministers take into account convictions for fraud or dishonesty, violence, drugs, firearms or sexual offences, unlawful discrimination, and breaches of housing, landlord and tenant or debt law. Failing to follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice also counts against you (section 34).
Training
Every specified person must hold a qualification at SCQF level 6 or above. That means you, and each person who directly manages or supervises day-to-day letting agency work. The qualification must cover letting law, landlord and tenant rights, handling money, arranging and ending tenancies, repairs, communications and complaints, and equality. If it is more than 3 years old, the person must complete 20 hours of relevant training in the 3 years before you apply, at least 15 hours of it verifiable formal training (Letting Agent Registration (Scotland) Regulations 2016, regulations 5 to 7).
What you must do
- Work out who counts as a specified person in your business and check that each of them holds a qualifying level 6 qualification. If a qualification is more than three years old, plan the 20 hours of further training.
- Get professional indemnity insurance (or equivalent protection) in place and, if you will hold client money, a dedicated client account and client money protection insurance. You can apply before these are finished, but you must show progress towards them before you are registered. The application asks for policy details (regulation 4).
- Apply to the Scottish Letting Agent Register. Give your business details, the people who own or control the business, any convictions, your insurance, professional memberships, number of offices and the date you began letting agency work.
- Pay the fee for the number of offices you run. The standard fee applies if you apply before you start trading or renew before your registration expires. The higher fee applies if you are already working without being registered or carry on after your registration has lapsed.
- Send the documents the regulation team asks for after you apply, such as qualification certificates, your indemnity policy, client money protection details and proof that your client account meets the Code.
- Include your registration number in every property advert and in documents you send to landlords and tenants (section 36).
- Tell the Scottish Ministers in writing, as soon as practicable, about any change in the information you gave (section 37).
- Reapply before your three-year registration expires.
The Scottish Ministers must decide your application within 12 months. If they do not, you are treated as registered, but that treated registration ends after a further 12 months unless you have applied to renew (section 33).
Offences and refusal
Working unregistered can lead to up to 6 months' imprisonment, a fine of up to £50,000, or both (section 44). Using a registration number you do not hold, giving false information in an application or failing to report a change can each lead to a fine of up to level 3 on the standard scale (sections 31, 37 and 45).
If the Ministers propose to refuse or remove your registration, they give you at least 28 days' notice to make written representations. You can then appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within 21 days. If you are refused or removed, you cannot recover costs or charges for letting agency work done after the relevant date (section 43).