Shelter Scotland's response to the Office of Fair Trading's consultation on their draft guidance for the lettings industry

Due to significant differences between Scottish housing law and housing law in the rest of the UK – e.g. the ban on tenant fees in Scotland – separate guidance for individual jurisdictions should be created. This would ensure the guidance is easily understood and engaged with by lettings professionals.

The guidance would benefit from being broken down into short sections with an emphasis on key points. Any further details could be included in an appendix. This would help ensure the guidance is used by as many lettings professionals as possible, which is particularly important given the elements of poor practice in the lettings industry uncovered by Shelter Scotland.

The final guidance should be circulated widely – to landlords, tenants, local authorities, trading standards officers as well as letting agents. Information and training sessions would also be extremely beneficial to ensure that the guidance is used and complied with long-term.

The OFT should also pay special attention to the forthcoming regulation of letting agents in Scotland. This may have implications for some of the specific recommendations the OFT makes throughout this guidance