This content applies to Scotland only.

Housing laws vary between Scotland and England. Get advice relating to England

There are several different courts in Scotland. All of them deal with different kinds of cases and have different powers. This page explains more and will hopefully shed some light on which court is dealing with your case.

What are the different courts called?

There are four main types of courts that deal with all legal cases that go to court in Scotland. They are:

• Justice of the Peace courts
• Sheriff courts
• The Court of Session, and
• High Court of Justiciary.

If you've got a housing problem, your case is most likely to be dealt with by the sheriff court in your local area (see 'where is my nearest court?' below).

As well as these courts, a few cases go to a supreme court in London. This court used to be the House of Lords, which is part of the UK parliament. However, on 31 July 2009, the House of Lords stopped being the highest court in the UK and, in October 2009, its role as a court was taken over by the new UK Supreme Court.  The cases from Scotland that used to go to the House of Lords now go to the UK Supreme Court and are usually high profile cases involving complex legal issues, so it's unlikely to affect you if you have a housing problem.

You might also come across the Scottish Land Court. It's a court of law that deals exclusively with arguments about agricultural tenancies and crofting law. It's easy to confuse the Land Court with the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. There are some similarities between the two (for example, they share the same offices and the same person is head of them both) but they deal with totally different types of cases. For more information have a look at our section on other solutions and also the page on the Land Court.

Which court will my case go to?

If you've got a housing problem, your case is most likely to be dealt with by the sheriff court in your local area (see 'where is my nearest court?' below).

However, the type of court you go to will depend on:

• what your case is about
• where you live
• where your opponent lives
• how much money is involved.

A solicitor will be able to explain more.

Where is my nearest court?

It depends which court is dealing with your case, see the Scottish Courts Service website for information on how to find your nearest court.

Justice of the Peace courts

Justice of the Peace courts have replaced District Courts, and can be found all over Scotland. In most cases, the new Justice of the Peace courts will be in the same place as the old district courts.

Sheriff courts

There may not be a sheriff court where you live but there will be one in a town near you. There are 49 sheriff courts in Scotland split between six areas (called 'sheriffdoms'). You can find out where your nearest sheriff court is by going to the Scottish Court Service website. From there, you can find out:

• what your local sheriff court is called
• where it is
• how to get to it
• how to get in touch
• what facilities it has, and
• lots of other useful information.

You'll also be able to see a photograph of the court so you'll know what it looks like if you have to go there in person.

Court of Session

The Court of Session is in a permanent building in Edinburgh, and all its cases are heard there.

High Court of Justiciary

The High Court of Justiciary has permanent buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow but the judges of that court also travel round the country 'sitting' as the High Court in sheriff court buildings.

Justice of the Peace courts

In 2007 a new law came into force that changed all District courts into Justice of the Peace courts. Justice of the Peace (JP) courts have the same powers as the district courts had.

Under the previous system, there were 30 district courts around Scotland. In most cases, the actual location of the court won't have changed, even though it's now a JP court. You can find more information on the Scottish Courts Service website. It explains the reasons for the changes, and you can also find out where the nearest Justice of the Peace court is.

If you have a housing problem, your case probably won't go to a JP court because they deal with minor criminal matters such as traffic fines. However, if you've got noisy neighbours (or if your neighbours are complaining about you being noisy), or there have been other minor problems in your neighbourhood, your case might go to a JP court as a 'breach of the peace' case. So, it's worth knowing about JP courts and what they do.

Sheriff courts

If you have a serious housing problem, such as a problem with your landlord, your rent, housing benefit or antisocial behaviour in your neighbourhood, your case is most likely to be dealt with in your local sheriff court (see 'where is my nearest court?' above). Sheriff courts deal with both civil and criminal cases. Housing cases are covered by civil law.

Sheriff courts deal with most cases that go to court in Scotland. The main types of housing cases are:

• eviction cases (called 'actions for recovery of possession of heritable property')
• rent arrears cases
• mortgage arrears cases (if you have mortgage arrears, your mortgage lender can take steps to repossess your house).

Sheriff courts can also deal with cases involving antisocial behaviour.

There are three different kinds of court procedure that can be used in civil cases in the sheriff court. These are:

• small claims procedure (for cases about unpaid rent, for example)
• summary cause procedure (used in housing law mainly for eviction cases), and
• ordinary cause procedure (used in housing law mainly for mortgage arrears and repossession cases).

Our section on going to court explains each of these in more detail including:

• what the differences are
• how to respond if someone is taking you to court
• what to do if you want to take someone to court.

Court of Session

The Court of Session in Edinburgh is the highest court in Scotland that deals with civil law. It covers the whole of Scotland and mostly deals with appeals cases and cases in which people are suing others for lots of money.

In housing law, it's important because it deals with cases against public bodies such as councils and the government. So if, for example, your solicitor thinks that the council has acted illegally, your case could ultimately go to the Court of Session as an action for judicial review. However, judicial review cases aren't that common and there are lots of other stages to go through before you'd get to that stage.

If your case is going to the Court of Session, you'll need an Advocate or solicitor-advocate to stand up in court to speak on your behalf, as well as your solicitor. Our section on legal representation explains more about the different roles of these lawyers and our section on legal costs has more details on what it will cost you, including how you can get financial help.

High Court of Justiciary

This court deals with criminal cases and is the highest criminal court in Scotland. It deals with the trials of people for serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery. It has two permanent buildings in Edinburgh and Glasgow but it also travels round Scotland, setting up temporarily in sheriff courts in different towns (usually larger towns and cities such as Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth and Glasgow).

The High Court of Justiciary also deals with appeals where people who have been convicted disagree with the court's decision or are trying to get their sentence reduced.