Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations 2017 and come into force on 1st December 2017.

Application

2.  Regulation 3 applies only in relation to a case where an application for legal aid for proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland is made on or after 1st December 2017.

Proceedings in which civil legal aid is available

3.-(1) Part 1 of schedule 2 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986(3) (courts and tribunals in which civil legal aid is available) is amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph 1, before the entry relating to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland insert-

"before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland(4) of the type described in paragraph 2A;".

(3) After paragraph 2 insert-

"2A.    Proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

The proceedings before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland mentioned in paragraph 1 are-

(a)those transferred to it by section 16(1) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014(5), in relation to the following enactments-

(i)the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984(6);

(ii)the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988(7);

(iii)the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006(8);

(b)those in relation to the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016(9)."

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend Part 1 of schedule 2 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986.

Regulation 3 amends the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 to make civil legal aid available for specified tenancy related disputes before the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. With the exception of private residential tenancies, which are a new type of tenancy created by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, these disputes will have been heard by the sheriff court prior to 1st December 2017.

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared for these Regulations and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Government Justice Directorate, St Andrews House, Edinburgh EH1 3DG.