Tenants facing eviction for arrears now owe an average of 14.7 months’ rent by the time a tribunal reaches a decision
Landlords in Scotland are waiting up to a year to have eviction cases heard, leaving some with mounting rent losses and legal bills of around £10,000.
By the time a tribunal decides an eviction case involving rent arrears, tenants now owe an average of 14.7 months’ rent, according to the Scottish Association of Landlords.
Aberdeen-based law firm Aberdein Considine LLP said landlords typically wait between eight and 12 months after submitting an eviction application before their case reaches a hearing.
The delays have fuelled fears that landlords in England could face similar problems now that section 21 "no-fault" evictions have been abolished under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act.
Since 1 May, English landlords have generally had to use section 8 proceedings to regain possession of a property. This requires them to provide a legal reason for the eviction and may involve a court hearing.
However, the court system was already struggling with delays before the reforms took effect. In the three months to March, landlords waited an average of 26.4 weeks from making a claim to repossessing their property.
Before section 21 was abolished, Conservative peer Lord Jamieson questioned whether the courts could cope with the expected increase in section 8 cases.
The Scottish Association of Landlords has documented a dramatic deterioration in tribunal processing times since no-fault evictions were banned north of the border in 2017.
Average waiting periods between lodging an eviction application and receiving a tribunal decision have ballooned from roughly three months in 2019 to more than eight months in 2025.
Elaine Elder, dispute resolution partner at Aberdein Considine, said the delays were placing "enormous financial pressure" on landlords already contending with heightened regulation and mounting costs.
"Many landlords across Scotland are not large-scale investors," she added. "They are ordinary working people with one or two properties that form part of their retirement planning or long-term financial security.
"When they are forced to absorb months of unpaid rent alongside significant legal costs, many decide they have no option but to sell."
Chris Norris, at the National Residential Landlords Association, warned there was a "real risk" that excessive waiting times and spiralling costs could force English landlords to exit the sector.
"If you've only got a couple of properties and you have the prospect potentially of losing all income from one of those properties for a year while you're waiting for a court date, it's enough to hit your viability and drive you out of business," he said.
John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords, emphasised that politicians in both nations must address the issue.
"Delayed tribunals directly impact the number of available properties and every property out of action drags down the housing supply," he said.
A government spokesman responded that possession action would only be necessary in a minority of cases and announced plans to recruit up to 1,000 judges and tribunal members this year.
