A dry bit of statute book, perhaps, but one that will matter on the ground. Scottish ministers have now fixed the next set of start dates for the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, with the first batch of changes taking effect on 9 November 2026. The regulations were made on 7 October 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 9 October, and signed by Shirley-Anne Somerville for the Scottish Government. For councils, landlords and tenants, this is the point where a broad housing law starts turning into day-to-day rules.

According to the regulations published on legislation.gov.uk, the rollout is split across three dates: 9 November 2026, 1 April 2027 and 1 August 2027. That staggered approach matters because not every power or duty in the 2025 Act goes live at once. The practical point is simple enough. If a provision has not yet been commenced, it cannot be used. If it has been commenced with a transitional rule, it will apply only to new cases from a stated date rather than reaching back into old disputes.

The sharpest change for landlords comes on 1 April 2027, when sections 16 and 17 are due to start. The explanatory note says those provisions let a local authority or the Scottish Ministers ask the First-tier Tribunal to impose a financial penalty where a landlord fails to answer a request for information under section 14, or sends back false information. There is an important line in the sand here. The regulations say those enforcement sections will apply only to requests for information issued on or after 1 April 2027, so the new penalty route does not bite before that date.

That same April start date also brings in section 32, which changes how damages are calculated for unlawful eviction by amending the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988. For tenants and advice workers, that is one of the more serious parts of this package because it goes straight to what can be claimed when somebody is pushed out unlawfully. Again, the Scottish Government has chosen not to backdate the change. The new damages rules will apply only where the conduct in question takes place on or after 1 April 2027, which gives landlords and letting agents a clear date they cannot afford to ignore.

The next big step lands on 1 August 2027. Section 54 will then amend the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 so that, when a local authority prepares a local housing strategy, it must also assess the provision of housing support services as part of that work. That duty, too, is prospective. It applies only to assessments carried out on or after 1 August 2027. On the same date, section 55 comes into force, changing how the term 'abuse' is used in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 and adding a definition in section 43. It is dry drafting, but language in housing law often matters when cases are tested.

There is movement elsewhere in the Act as well. From 1 April 2027, section 59 will require the Scottish Ministers to publish an annual report on Housing First tenancies, putting a regular reporting duty around a model that councils and homelessness services watch closely. On 9 November 2026, section 61(2) is also brought fully into force. As the explanatory note points out, section 61 had already been switched on for pitch fee increases on or after 1 April 2026, moving the uprating index for mobile home pitch fees from the Retail Prices Index to the Consumer Prices Index. What comes in now is the power for ministers to change that uprating index again through future regulations.

Also starting on 9 November 2026 is section 74, which amends schedule 5 of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002. In plain terms, that allows the Ombudsman to share relevant information with the new homes ombudsman created under the Building Safety Act 2022. The wider picture is that the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 has been arriving in stages since it received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025. Part 8 of the Act, covering sections 82 to 87 apart from section 85, came into force the next day, and earlier commencement regulations have already switched on other parts. For housing teams, tenant groups and landlords across Scotland, these new dates now need to be in the diary.