Scottish landlords are now waiting up to a year to regain possession of their properties in some cases.
According to the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), the average time between an eviction application being lodged and a tribunal decision has risen from around three months in 2019 to more than eight months in 2025. Litigation specialists at Aberdein Considine say many landlords are actually experiencing waits of between eight and twelve months before reaching a hearing.
The financial consequences are equally alarming.
SAL says tenants being evicted for rent arrears now owe an average of 14.7 months’ rent by the time a decision is reached, while some landlords are reportedly spending up to £10,000 in legal costs before their cases are resolved.
Those figures alone are enough to make any landlord stop and think.
The Question Many English Landlords Are Asking
The obvious question is whether England could experience something similar following the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act.
Nobody can answer that with certainty.
Scotland’s current position is the result of several factors coming together over a number of years. The move to the Housing and Property Chamber created a very different possession system, tribunal caseloads proved far higher than originally anticipated, and the Covid pandemic created significant delays that took years to work through.
Those circumstances are not directly comparable with England today.
But that does not mean the Scottish experience should simply be dismissed.
There Are Some Clear Parallels
Although England has not copied Scotland’s system, some of the conditions that influence court workloads are beginning to look more familiar.
- Section 21 has now been abolished, meaning possession claims will increasingly rely on Section 8.
- Landlords must often wait longer before certain rent arrears grounds can be used.
- Many expect more possession claims to be be defended because tenants now have greater security of tenure.
Taken individually, none of these changes necessarily mean England will experience the same problems as Scotland. However, they do increase the importance of one question: can the court system cope?
That concern was already being raised within days of the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force.
Writing for LandlordZONE in early May, eviction specialist Paul Shamplina highlighted growing concern that, with every possession claim now requiring a legal ground, landlords who would previously have relied on Section 21 were all being funnelled through the courts.
At the time, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) said possession cases were already taking more than eight months on average because of county court backlogs and warned that abolishing Section 21 could trigger an “avalanche of cases” entering the system. Legal experts also warned that even relatively straightforward rent arrears claims could take longer to resolve.
Viewed in isolation, those warnings were concerning enough.
Viewed alongside Scotland’s latest figures, they become even more thought-provoking.
One of the factors identified north of the border was that the number of tribunal applications proved significantly higher than originally anticipated. If England also experiences more possession claims than expected, it is reasonable to ask whether similar pressures could develop.
That is not a prediction. It is simply a question worth asking.
The effectiveness of any new system ultimately depends on whether it has the resources to deal with the cases it receives.
If demand exceeds capacity, delays can grow surprisingly quickly, with significant consequences for landlords, tenants and the wider housing market.
For that reason alone, both landlords and policymakers would be wise to pay close attention to what is happening north of the border. If Scotland’s experience highlights potential pressure points early enough, there may still be time to avoid repeating them.
One thing is certain: it’s far easier to make decisions from a position of choice than under pressure. If you’ve been thinking about selling your rental property, don’t wait until you need the courts to discover what your options are.
Talk to Landlord Sales Agency first. We specialise in helping landlords sell with tenants in situ, often avoiding the time, uncertainty and expense that can come with waiting for vacant possession.