Assignation

Current position

As a Scottish Secure Tenant you have the right to apply to sign over your tenancy to someone else. This is called assignation. However before you are able to do so:

• you must apply to your landlord for written permission

• your landlord must give a good reason for any refusal

• the person taking on the tenancy must have been living in the property and using it as their main residence for at least 6 months prior to the assignation application

Some reasons for your landlord refusing your request for an assignation include:

• your landlord has already serviced on you a legal notice warning you that they may seek an eviction order for reasons such as rent arrears or antisocial behaviour

• your landlord has already obtained an eviction order against you

• the person taking on the tenancy will be overcrowding the property

New position from 1st November 2019

Changes to assignation from November 2019 will be:

• there will be a requirement that you the tenant must have been the tenant for at least 12 months before making an assignation application

• the person taking on the tenancy must have been living in the property and using it as their main residence for 12 months

• you must notify your landlord of the person being in the property and the 12 month residency period starts when the landlord has been notified

This means you need to notify your landlord by 1st November 2018 to meet the 12 months residency requirement by 1st November 2019.

Your landlord can refuse the assignation if both the new residency and notification conditions are not met. There are also two new reasons for your landlord refusing your request for an assignation:

• the person taking on the tenancy would not get ‘reasonable preference’ under your landlords allocations policy

• the person taking on the tenancy will be under-occupying the property