Register and run a letting agency in Scotland: the Scottish Letting Agent Register and the Code of Practice

If you let or manage homes for landlords in Scotland, in the course of your business, you must be on the Scottish Letting Agent Register and you must follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice. The register is kept by the Scottish Ministers, and registration lasts three years. It is a criminal offence to do letting agency work while unregistered, punishable by up to six months' imprisonment, a fine of up to £50,000, or both.

This guide is for letting agents, property managers and any business that collects rent or finds tenants for landlords. If you only let your own property, you are a landlord, not a letting agent, and landlord registration with the local council applies instead.

The order to do things in

1. Sort the training and insurance first, because the register asks for evidence of both.
2. Open your client account if you will hold client money.
3. Apply to the register and pay the fee for the number of offices you run.
4. Run the business to the Code from the day you are registered.

Registration

Running the agency: the Code of Practice and client money

How Scotland differs from England and Wales

Scotland runs a single national register with a fit and proper person test and mandatory training. England and Wales do not use the Scottish register. England requires letting agents to belong to a redress scheme and a client money protection scheme. Wales requires letting agents to hold a Rent Smart Wales licence, and its business safeguard condition requires client money protection where the agent handles client money. An agent who works in more than one nation needs to meet each nation's scheme for the properties it handles there.

If something goes wrong

• A landlord or tenant says you broke the Code. They must first tell you in writing. If they are not satisfied, they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which can order you to put things right and pay compensation.
• The Tribunal finds you did not comply with its order. That is an offence, and the Tribunal tells the Scottish Ministers, who take it into account in deciding whether you are a fit and proper person.
• The Ministers refuse or remove your registration. You can make written representations and then appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within 21 days. You cannot recover costs or charges for letting agency work after the relevant date.