Ds2, flat rental, problems with lease length - in Scotland. Needing advice please.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Ds2 is at University in Scotland. He's just finished his first year, for which he was in Halls, and had found a flat to rent, with four friends, for next year. They have signed the lease and paid the deposit.

The landlord has now told them that his bank won't allow him to give them a one year lease, and wants to give them consecutive six month leases instead.

We are somewhat worried by this, in case the landlord decides not to renew the lease after the first six months. He has said he will not do this, but even if we insist on a letter promising to renew the lease, rather than just a verbal promise, would this be legally enforcable?

There are also concerns about the deposit, which was taken on the basis of a 12 month lease, and is now, we assume, with whoever holds onto deposits, as a 12 month thing - so could the landlord refund the deposit at the end of the six month lease, if it was originally taken for a 12 month lease, and if he can't, would he be able to demand a second deposit from them for the second six months?

We are wondering if they would be best to walk away from the lease now - we assume they could do so without penalty, as it is the landlord who is radically changing the terms and conditions - and either find somewhere else together, or look for accomodation in Halls for next year.

If there is anyone here who knows about Scottish letting laws, I would be very grateful for any advice or suggestions you could give us.

Thanks in advance.

Bump.

It turns out the landlord wants 3 out of the 5 boys to sign the new lease on Friday (the other two are either abroad on holiday or live too far away to nip up to Scotland just to sign a bit of paper), and wants them to guarantee the rent of the two who can't come to sign the new lease!

The more I hear, the less I like this chap, and the more keep I am that he pulls out of the lease. We've had a look, and there is still university accomodation available (including a flat, which would be ideal), and there are private rentals available too - so I think they should ditch this landlord asap.

Those are very good suggestions, Was - thanks!

I have rented flats in Edinburgh while at uni and a rolling short assured tenancy of 6 months was the norm. The deposit should be the same regardless of how long the lease is for, usually 2 months rent. The deposit should be refunded when tenant leaves, the length of lease is irrelevant to the deposit. HTH

The LL got the students to sign a lease to which his bank hadn't agreed, so now wants to change the terms.

Sounds like he hasn't looked into this properly, so there might be problems later with repairs, safety regs etc for which he also doesn't know the rules, maybe hasn't budgeted.

I'm an LL and I think he's trouble
Tell him you don't accept changing the terms and demand immediate return of the deposit

Oh and if its a big flat check the landlord has HMR registration which, in Edinburgh anyway, allows rental to more than 2 non- related people.

All great advice - thank you!

To update - ds2 has decided he wants to pull out of the flat share, and dh and I think this is the right decision. He is going to tell the others that there is a 5 bed flat available through the university, and if they aren't interested, he will look for individual accomodation, although that could be more pricy.