Rent arrears are not a new phenomenon, but with the financial pressures placed on people across the country by COVID-19 it is an issue that many tenants and landlords may now find themselves dealing with for the first time.
To help support those parties experiencing such problems, SafeDeposits Scotland has introduced SDS Resolution – a brand new service designed to establish a satisfactory resolution specifically to rent arrears, without the need for further action.
The initiative offers a service in which SDS Resolution will seek to broker rent repayment agreements between landlords and tenants. The aim of this is to help avoid tenants being evicted by ensuring that landlords can recover some or all of the arrears over time.
The service is entirely separate from SafeDeposits Scotland’s tenancy deposit handling and deposit dispute resolution procedures, and is available to all landlords and tenants in Scotland’s private rented sector – whether or not their deposit is protected by the scheme. As with all services provided by SafeDeposits Scotland though, SDS Resolution is completely free to use.
SDS Resolution has been endorsed by the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), the largest and only dedicated national organisation that represents landlords and letting agents throughout Scotland.
SDS Resolution is also featured within Private Rented Sector Tenant Support, which is a resource produced by Public Health Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government, Citizens Advice Scotland and Shelter Scotland. The booklet has been published for people living in Scotland’s private rented sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and contains support and information about tenant rights, managing housing costs, health and wellbeing, domestic abuse and general financial advice.