Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016

[F1 6C Discriminatory terms relating to children or benefits status S

(1) A term of a private residential tenancy is of no effect so far as the term makes provision (however expressed)—

(a) prohibiting the tenant from having a child live with or visit the tenant at the property or restricting the circumstances in which the tenant may have a child do so, or

(b) prohibiting the tenant from being a benefits claimant.

(2) But—

(a) subsection (1)(a) does not apply if the provision is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim,

(b) subsection (1)(a) and (b) does not apply to the extent that the landlord is insured under an excluded contract of insurance and the provision in the tenancy is a means of preventing the landlord from breaching the term which causes the contract to be an excluded contract of insurance.

(3) For the purpose of subsection (2)(b), a contract of insurance is an excluded contract of insurance if—

(a) section 52 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (terms in insurance contracts relating to children or benefits status) does not apply to it, and

(b) it contains a term which makes provision (however expressed) requiring the landlord—

(i) to prohibit the tenant from having a child live with or visit the tenant at the property or to restrict the circumstances in which the tenant may have a child live with or visit the tenant at the property, or

(ii) to prohibit the tenant from being a benefits claimant.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 1A inserted (1.5.2026) by Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (c. 26), ss. 50(2), 145(4) (with s. 138); S.S.I. 2026/125, reg. 2(a) (with reg. 3)