'This is to allow the landlord to enter into a new tenancy with the partner or ex-partner who is the victim of the abusive behaviour.' For anyone outside the legal trade, that line is the plainest explanation of a small but serious rule change now moving through Scotland’s courts. According to legislation.gov.uk, the new Act of Sederunt was made on 3 September 2026, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 4 September, and comes into force on 5 October 2026. It amends Scotland’s Summary Cause Rules 2002 so sheriff courts have the right forms in place for domestic abuse-related housing cases.

This is not a fresh policy dropping out of Whitehall. It is a Scottish court rule change, approved by the Court of Session after draft rules were submitted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council, and signed in Edinburgh by Lord President Paul Cullen. For anyone not fluent in legal wording, an Act of Sederunt is the machinery that tells courts how a case is meant to run. In this case, that machinery matters because it puts court procedure behind section 22 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021.

The first new route deals with sole tenants. Where a tenant has engaged in abusive behaviour towards a partner or ex-partner, the landlord can seek recovery of possession of the property. The point is not simply to end a tenancy. The stated aim is to make it possible for the landlord to grant a new tenancy to the partner or ex-partner who has been abused. That may sound like dry procedure, but in real communities it goes to something basic: whether a survivor is forced to start again somewhere else, or has a fair chance of staying in the home, close to work, school, family and support.

The second route deals with joint tenancies, where both partners or former partners are on the agreement. In those cases, the landlord can apply for an order ending the abusive tenant’s interest in the Scottish secure tenancy, rather than wiping away the whole tenancy. That distinction matters. When abuse happens behind a front door, the legal problem is often tied up with whose name sits on the paperwork. A court process that can remove the abusive party’s stake, while allowing the other person to remain, is a more targeted answer than telling everyone to leave and sort the wreckage later.

The instrument also does the less glamorous work that makes the system function. It inserts new forms 3za and 3zb into Appendix 1 of the 2002 rules, covering the two types of claim, and adds a new form 28l for the extract decree in these cases. There is also a technical update in the rules so the right form numbers are carried through the process. That may look like filing-cabinet law, but sheriff courts cannot run on good intentions alone. If the forms are wrong, missing or out of date, cases stall. Edinburgh’s message here is simple enough: if Scotland wants these domestic abuse housing powers to work, the court paperwork has to match the law.

What this change does not do is create a shortcut around proof or process. Landlords will still need to use the court route, and the allegations behind any case will still need to stand up before a sheriff. But from 5 October 2026, there will at least be a clear procedural path for these cases to be brought. For council landlords, housing associations, solicitors, advice services and domestic abuse workers across Scotland, the next month is the window to get ready. For readers across the wider North, it is also a reminder that some of the most important justice changes are not the ones that shout loudest. Sometimes they arrive as amended court forms, and still make a real difference to who gets to stay safe at home.