Ending Student Tenancies In Scottish Purpose-built Student Accommodation: A Consultation

The Scottish Government is consulting on giving student tenants a route to end their PBSA tenancy early.

Overview

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 gave Scottish Ministers the power to introduce a right for a student tenant in Scottish Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) to end their tenancy early in certain circumstances. The Scottish Government is seeking views on how such a right should operate and is inviting responses until the consultation closes on 22 October 2026.

What the consultation proposes, and why

PBSA tenancies sit outside the private residential tenancy (PRT) regime that applies to most private rented housing in Scotland. PRTs are open-ended, with no-fault evictions prohibited and tenants free to leave on notice. In contrast, PBSA tenancies are fixed-term, run to the academic year, and currently give the student tenant no legal right to bring the tenancy to an early end. Depending on the circumstances and policies of different operators, students may be allowed to end their tenancies early on an ad hoc informal basis. However, as the law stands at the moment, a student who moves out will generally remain contractually liable to pay rent for the remaining duration of the tenancy.

The introduction of a right to end a student tenancy originates from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) research into student housing in Scotland commissioned by the Scottish Government. That research found a tension: student tenants wanted a 28-day notice right to end their tenancies similar to that available for PRTs, while PBSA providers and universities pointed to 39 to 44 week contracts priced on projected occupancy, warning that a right to leave early, for any or no reason, could increase void risk and push up rents for future student tenants.

Amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 were considered that would have allowed PBSA tenants to end tenancies more freely. However, the Scottish Government concluded that an unrestricted right to leave would risk mid-year vacancies that are difficult to fill once the academic term has started, undermining the PBSA business model and, in turn, investment in the sector's supply. The compromise now on the table is a defined, evidence-based route to early termination for PBSA tenants, available only in specified circumstances, rather than an open right to serve notice for any reason.

The circumstances proposed for ending a PBSA tenancy early

The Scottish Government is proposing a defined list of circumstances in which a request by a tenant to end a PBSA tenancy early should be agreed, provided supporting evidence is produced. Many PBSA providers already allow such requests informally on a case-by-case basis. The stated aim of the reform is to bring consistency, so student tenants are treated the same by all PBSA providers.

The circumstances proposed are:

• Close family bereavement
• Health issues requiring a return to the family home, hospitalisation, or rehabilitation
• A national emergency or incident leading to cessation of teaching provision
• The student is no longer matriculated, for example following withdrawal, transfer to a university elsewhere, or expulsion
• Serious risk to the health or safety of the student, including gender-based violence or domestic abuse
• Revocation of a visa

The consultation invites views on whether this list is the right one, and whether other circumstances should be added.

The evidence and notice process

The Scottish Government is seeking to avoid the misuse of the right to terminate. The proposal therefore pairs each of the listed circumstances with a requirement for supporting evidence, such as a letter from a GP or other medical professional, confirmation from university or college support services, or a police report, depending on the circumstance relied upon.

The proposed process would work as follows:

• The tenant gives the landlord at least 28 days’ written notice of intention to end the tenancy including details of the relevant circumstance and any available supporting evidence.
• The landlord must acknowledge the notice within seven days and either confirm the termination date, request further information or evidence, or deny the request on the basis that the stated circumstance is not one of those covered by the regulations.
• Where further evidence is requested, the tenant has 10 days to provide it. If it is not provided in time, a reminder is issued and a further 10 days is allowed.
• If further evidence is still not provided within the extended timescale, the notice is treated as withdrawn.
• If further evidence is received within the extended timescale, the landlord must either confirm the termination date or deny the request on the basis that the evidence does not support a circumstance specified in the regulations.

The practical effect is that the minimum notice period remains 28 days, but the process can extend to a maximum of around 48 days if further evidence and follow-up reminders are needed.

Private and institutional PBSA providers currently operate different complaints processes. The consultation also asks how a student should be able to challenge a landlord's refusal of a termination request with the aim of designing a fair, common challenge mechanism.

Key implications

For PBSA providers: Once the regulations have been passed in detail, providers will need to build new operational processes for acknowledging notices, assessing requests and evidence against a prescribed list of circumstances, managing further evidence requests and reminders within tight statutory timescales. They might also have to prepare for a challenge mechanism that may sit outside their existing complaints frameworks.

For investors: The proposed model is designed to preserve the predictability of occupancy-based rent calculations by confining early exits to defined, evidenced circumstances. Investors and their advisers should nonetheless factor the prospect of some additional administrative cost and residual void risk into underwriting assumptions.

For student tenants: For the first time, students facing genuine hardship, such as bereavement, serious illness, safeguarding risks, loss of matriculation, or visa revocation, would have a legislated route to end a PBSA tenancy early, rather than relying on a provider's discretion. The trade-off is that the route is conditional on producing evidence within defined timescales, and a notice can be treated as withdrawn if evidence is not provided in time.

Next steps

The consultation closes on 22 October 2026, after which the Scottish Government will analyse all responses alongside other available evidence to develop the regulations that will ultimately govern early termination of PBSA tenancies. Given the direct impact on business models, investment underwriting, and student welfare, PBSA providers, investors, and student representative groups should each consider whether to submit a response setting out their position on the proposed circumstances, evidence requirements, notice timetable and challenge process.