The Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 (Consequential and Supplementary Amendments) Regulations 2026

These Regulations make consequential and supplementary amendments which support the commencement of sections 2, 3 and 22 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 (“the Act”). Section 22 of the Act amends sections 14 and 16 and schedule 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (“the 2001 Act”).

Section 22(4) of the Act inserts paragraph 15A into schedule 2 of the 2001 Act, creating a new ground on which the landlord under a Scottish secure tenancy may raise court proceedings under section 14 of the 2001 Act. On this new ground, the landlord may raise proceedings either: for recovery of possession of the house (in the case of a sole tenant), or for termination of the tenant’s interest in the tenancy (in the case of a joint tenant). Sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) of the new ground require that a person (“person T”) who is the tenant or one of the joint tenants has engaged in behaviour which is abusive of a person (“person P”) who is a partner or ex-partner of person T. In addition, the house to which the tenancy relates must be person P’s only or principal home, and person P must wish to continue living in the house. Where person T is the sole tenant, the landlord must also wish to recover possession of the house from person T for the purpose of entering into a tenancy with person P instead.

Proceedings for termination of a tenant’s interest in a tenancy will be raised by way of summary cause procedure under section 14(1)(b) of the 2001 Act. As a consequence, regulation 2 amends section 35(1) of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1971 (“the 1971 Act”) which lists the types of proceedings which must be raised by summary cause procedure. Following commencement of these Regulations, the list will include proceedings for termination of a tenant’s interest in a tenancy under section 14(1)(b) of the 2001 Act, provided there is no an additional crave for payment which exceeds the summary cause limit of £5,000.

Section 35 of the 1971 Act is due to be repealed and summary cause procedure will be replaced with simple procedure. In anticipation of this, regulation 3 amends section 72(3) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 so that proceedings for termination of a tenant’s interest in a tenancy are included in the list of the types of proceedings which must be raised by way of simple procedure. As with regulation 2, this excludes additional craves for payment which exceed the simple procedure limit of £5,000.

Part 15 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 (“the 2007 Act”) sets out the general procedure which is to be followed when removing a person from heritable property. Section 216(2) of the 2007 Act provides for other occupants of the property who derive a right to occupy from the defender to also be removed, and for their effects to be removed, provided the defender has been charged in accordance with section 216(1). Regulation 4 disapplies this rule for orders for recovery of possession or termination of a joint tenant’s interest where the order is granted on the new ground set out in paragraph 15A of schedule 2 of the 2001 Act and the occupant is the victim of abusive behaviour (referred to in the new ground) or is otherwise a relevant member of the victim’s family. The reference to a relevant member of the family excludes any such member if the order for recover of possession or warrant of ejection (or an extract of it) authorises the removing or ejection of the member from the subjects or premises.

This is to ensure that, where the victim’s right to occupy their only or principal home derives from the perpetrator, the victim (and the victim’s family) cannot be removed from the property under section 216(2). In cases of termination of a joint tenant’s interest, the victim will be a joint tenant and section 216(2) will not apply to them but the amendment ensures that the victim’s family members (whose right to occupy might derive from both the perpetrator and the victim) cannot be removed from the property.

Regulation 5 amends section 14(6) of the 2001 Act to ensure that the victim of this abusive behaviour is also included in the definition of a “qualifying occupier”. The current definition of “qualifying occupier” does not, for example, include any such victim who is an ex-partner of the perpetrator. This amendment will mean that there will be a requirement in every case for the landlord who intends to raise proceedings on the new ground 15A to serve a notice on the victim. It will also mean that the victim will have an automatic right to be sisted as a party to proceedings under section 15 of the 2001 Act.