Moving in day

On the day you move into your new home, there are some tasks you should carry out to prevent problems in the future.

Getting a tenancy agreement and supporting notes

By the end of the day that your tenancy starts on, your landlord must give you:

• all your tenancy terms in writing
• a copy of either the Easy Read Notes for the Scottish Government Model Tenancy Agreement or the Private Residential Tenancy Statutory Terms Supporting Notes

This gives you information on your home and tenancy, and the responsibilities of you and your landlord.

If your landlord does not give you the right documents

You must give your landlord 28 days to give you the written information they have to give you. To give them notice in writing, visit gov.scot and download the ‘Tenant notification to landlord of intention to apply to First-tier Tribunal' form.

If they do not give you the information after 28 days, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) and ask for a 'payment order'. If you’re successful, the landlord will have to pay you up to 6 months' rent. The amount you’ll get depends on what they have not given you yet.

Find out how to get a tenancy agreement and payment order on the Shelter Scotland website.

Checking the inventory

When you move in, your landlord should give you an inventory. This is a list of every item in the property and its condition.

You should check the inventory as soon as possible and make sure what's written in it is accurate.

If the condition of the walls, furniture or any other equipment provided is not the same as what's written in the inventory, you should add this information to the inventory and tell your landlord or letting agent as soon as you can. Taking photos as evidence will help.

You should also let your landlord or letting agent know right away if anything listed in the inventory isn't in the property, because you may be asked to replace it when you move out.

Once you're happy that the inventory is correct, both you and your landlord (or letting agent) will sign two copies – one for your records, and one for theirs.

Getting to know the property

It's a good idea to make sure you know about the property's different appliances in case there's an emergency in the future.

Ask where the stop cock (mains water), mains gas valve and trip switches (fuse box) are, in case you ever need to turn them off.

Your landlord's safety requirements

The landlord is responsible for making sure the property's appliances and utilities are all safe for you. This means they:

• have to make sure the property has the right type of smoke alarms fitted and that they're regularly tested
• should get a Landlord Gas Safety Record issued for the property once a year
• should arrange for an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) to be carried out at least every 5 years by a qualified engineer
• should arrange to have all the appliances they provided checked and tested at the start of your tenancy and at least every 5 years after this – this is called portable appliances testing (PAT)
• need to make sure any furniture they supply follows fire resistance requirements