Interpretation
3.In these notes, the following abbreviations are used—
“
1984 Act ” means the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984,“
1987 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987,“
1988 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988,“
2001 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001,“
2006 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006,“
2010 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010,“
2011 Act ” means the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011,“
2014 Act ” means the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014,“
2016 Act ” means the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016,“
2025 Act ” (and “the Act”) means the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025,“
assured tenancy ” has the meaning it has under the 1988 Act,“
PRT ” means a private residential tenancy under the 2016 Act (and the expressions “private residential tenancies” and “PRTs” refer generally to such tenancies),“
rent control area ” means an area designated under section 9 of the 2025 Act,“
Scottish secure tenancy ” has the meaning it has under the 2001 Act,“
the Tribunal ” means the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.
4.The 2025 Act’s freestanding text (that is, any provision which does not amend the text of another piece of legislation) is to be interpreted in accordance with the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Among other things, this provides default definitions for certain expressions (such as “document”, “functions”, “enactment”, “local authority”, “modify”, “person” and “writing”). It also sets out default rules for common situations (such as when something is to be treated as arriving when it is sent by post).
5.Text that the 2025 Act inserts into other legislation is to be interpreted in accordance with the interpretation legislation that applies to that legislation. For example—
text inserted into the 1984 Act, the 1987 Act or the 1988 Act is to be interpreted in accordance with the Interpretation Act 1978,
text inserted into the 2001 Act or the 2006 Act is to be interpreted in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Publication and Interpretation etc. of Acts of the Scottish Parliament) Order 1999,
text inserted into the 2014 Act or the 2016 Act is to be interpreted in accordance with the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
