Suspension of provisions that enable students in Scotland to bring a student residential tenancy to an end for a reason relating to coronavirus

New statutory instrument

New regulations have been issued in Scotland in relation to provisions that enable a student to give notice to terminate a student residential tenancy for a reason relating to coronavirus.

Coming into force on 1 July 2022, the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020 (Suspension: Termination of Student Residential Tenancy) Regulations 2022 (SSI.No.192/2022) suspend paragraphs 1 to 3 of part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), which allow students who enter into a student residential tenancy to bring a tenancy to an end for a reason related to coronavirus by giving 28 days’ notice to their accommodation provider.

The policy note accompanying the regulations advises that -

'The notice provisions in the 2020 Act were introduced as a response to the pandemic to ensure that students were not financially disadvantaged because of restrictions on face to face teaching, the move to on line learning and travel restrictions to mitigate against the spread of Covid-19, all of which meant that students could be paying for accommodation they did not require to use...

The position now with regard to Covid-19 has changed significantly, with the reduced impact of the virus, the vaccination programme and the fact that most of the remaining restrictions in place have now been removed...

It has been judged that the provisions be suspended on 1st July 2022 in line with the cautious approach of the government through and out of the pandemic and to reassure students that, should there be a change in the situation with Covid-19 over the summer, the provisions could be revived (noting that the 2020 Act in its’ entirety will expire at the end of September 2022).'

SSI.No.192/2022 is available from legislation.gov.uk