Letting and management for Glasgow landlords

Scotland · Letting and management · 11 min read · Published 4 October 2026

In short: only a registered letting agent can manage a rented home in Glasgow as a business, and Gauci Magri & Partners introduces landlords who live elsewhere in the UK or abroad to the registered agents it works with. We do not let or manage property ourselves. One of those agents does that work under its own terms with you, and we stay on as your point of contact. Below we set out who does what, which rules a Glasgow let has to meet, how the deposit and the repairs are handled, and how the fee is set. All of it is about Scotland. The rules in England are different.

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Who can manage my rental property in Glasgow?

If you are paying someone to manage a rented home in Glasgow, it has to be a registered letting agent. Agents had until 1 October 2018 to apply to the register, and since then doing this work without being registered has been a criminal offence. What counts as the work is set out in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014, and it is broader than people assume. Finding you a tenant is covered. So is taking in the rent, inspecting the flat, or getting a repair done.

So this is how we are set up. We are not a letting agent, and we do not do that work. We work with several agents on the Scottish Letting Agent Register. One of them lets and manages your property under its own terms of business with you, holds the rent in its client account and answers to you for the tenancy. Our part sits before and around that. We find property and run refurbishments, we introduce you to an agent that suits the flat and the area, and we stay on as your point of contact if you want a second opinion on something the agent tells you.

Why not go straight to an agent yourself? Plenty of landlords do, and if you live ten minutes from the flat it may well suit you. Many of the landlords we work with live in another country and own one or two properties here. They would sooner be introduced by the firm that found the flat and ran the refurbishment than pick an agent from a list.

Are the agents on the Scottish Letting Agent Register?

Yes, every agent we work with in Scotland is on the Scottish Letting Agent Register, and please check instead of taking our word for it. We work with more than one agent, so there is no single name to print on this page. You are told which agent will act for you before you sign anything. Every registered agent has a registration number. Under the Act the agent has to take all reasonable steps to put that number on the documents it sends to a landlord and in its adverts, so it will be on the terms of business you are given. The register itself is public and free to search at lettingagentregistration.gov.scot.

With registration comes the Letting Agent Code of Practice, in force since 31 January 2018. The rules about your money are in the Code. An agent bound by it has to:

• give you terms of business in writing, in plain language;
• keep your rent in a client bank account, apart from the agent's own money;
• carry client money protection and professional indemnity insurance, or equivalent cover through a professional body;
• tell you, in writing, how to complain if things go wrong.

And if the agent does not keep to the Code? Then you, or the tenant, can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber). As for an agent with no registration at all, the Act allows for up to six months in prison, a fine of up to £50,000, or the two together.

What does full management cover?

Full management is the letting agent's work and not ours. We list it so that you know what the agent's fee is paying for.

• Finding the tenant. The agent's advert has to carry your landlord registration number and the energy rating. Then come the viewings and the referencing. Since 1 May 2026 it has been an offence in Scotland to turn applicants down because they have children or receive benefits.
• The tenancy. New lets are private residential tenancies. There is no fixed term to run out. The tenant can leave on 28 days' notice, while a landlord can end the tenancy only on one of 18 grounds, and the tribunal has discretion over every one of them.
• The deposit. The agent lodges it with an approved scheme, and the tenant is told in writing where it is.
• The rent. The agent collects it and pays it on to you with a statement. Ask how soon it chases arrears.
• Inspections and repairs. The agent visits during the tenancy and arranges repairs. Ask how often it inspects and which trades it uses.
• Certificates. The gas check, the electrical report and the landlord registration all run out on different dates. Keeping that diary is part of what the agent is paid for.
• The end of the tenancy. Notices, the check-out, the return of the deposit through the scheme, and getting the place let again.

What has to be in place before a Glasgow property is let?

Quite a lot has to be in place before a property is let. This is the list for an ordinary let to one household, and the agent will want to see all of it.

Sources: Scottish Landlord Register; mygov.scot; Health and Safety Executive; Scottish Government, "Repairing Standard: statutory guidance for private landlords"; Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, section 18. Letting without being registered as a landlord is a criminal offence, with a fine of up to £50,000.

How are deposits protected in Scotland?

In Scotland a tenant's deposit is protected by law, and it is held by somebody who is neither the landlord nor the agent. A deposit cannot be more than two months' rent. It has to be paid into one of three approved schemes within 30 working days of the tenancy starting. The three are SafeDeposits Scotland, Letting Protection Service Scotland and mydeposits Scotland. The scheme keeps the money for the whole tenancy and pays it out at the end.

Get this wrong and, if the tenant applies, the tribunal must order the landlord to pay the tenant a sum of up to three times the deposit. England still lets an agent hold the deposit under an insured scheme. A move to schemes like Scotland's has been proposed there, and we cover it in custodial-only deposit protection.

How are repairs handled?

Repairs are handled against the Repairing Standard, and from 6 October 2026 against the clock as well. The standard says a let home must be wind and watertight and fit to live in, with the heating, the wiring, the gas and the water all working. A tenant who thinks it is not being met can apply to the tribunal.

The new part concerns damp and mould. Once the landlord learns of it, whether from the tenant, the agent or an inspection, a competent person has to complete an investigation within 10 working days. The tenant gets a written summary within 3 working days of that investigation ending. If the investigation finds that safety work is needed, the work has to start within 5 working days of the investigation ending. For a landlord who lives abroad those are tight deadlines, and they are a good part of the reason to have an agent on the ground. We go through them in Awaab's Law for private landlords in Scotland.

Glasgow adds a complication of its own, which is the tenement. Repairs to the roof or the close are shared with the other owners and often run through a factor, and factors have to be on a public register as well. So ask about the building and not only the flat. A bigger job between tenancies, such as a new kitchen or a rewire, is a refurbishment project, and that is the part we run: see refurbishment management.

What rent can a Glasgow property achieve, and how fast does it let?

Start with the official figures. For August 2026 the ONS had the average private rent across the Greater Glasgow rental area at £1,266 a month, up 1.3% in a year. Broken down by size, that was £843 for one bedroom, £1,089 for two and £1,340 for three. Citylets, working from its own listings in the city, had the average at £1,211 for April to June 2026. On speed, Citylets found the average Glasgow let took 28 days to go, and that 15% went inside a week and 65% inside a month. These are two different yardsticks, and we would not mix them. The overall ONS average includes large houses, so the line for your own size of home is the one to use.

During a tenancy the rent can go up once in any 12 months. The tenant must be given three months' notice in writing on the official form, and can ask a rent officer to look at the increase.

Rent control is what landlords ask us about most. Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, ministers can cap rent rises, but only in an area they have designated. As of 4 October 2026 none has been designated, in Glasgow or anywhere else, and the councils' first reports on their local markets are not due until 31 May 2027. We follow it in Scotland's rent controls. Our own view is that it pays to price for a quick let to a good tenant, for the reasons set out in void periods.

What does property management cost?

The letting agent's fee is in its terms of business, in writing, before you commit to anything. Ask for three figures with VAT included: the charge for ongoing management, the charge for finding a new tenant, and whatever is charged on top for things like inspections or arranging repairs. Anything we charge for our own work, such as running a refurbishment, is agreed with you in writing before it starts.

We are not going to quote a "typical" Glasgow fee on this page. We went looking for an average from an official or independent source and found only agents' own marketing, which is no basis for comparing anything. How to weigh a fee against your own time and your own mistakes is in self-managing vs using a managing agent.

Can a property be managed for a landlord who lives abroad?

Yes, and many of the landlords we work with live abroad. Three things change when you are outside the UK.

• Tax on the rent. Under the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme the letting agent has to take basic rate tax off the rent before paying you, unless HMRC has told the agent you can be paid in full. You apply to HMRC for that, on form NRL1 if you own as an individual. The agent accounts to HMRC every quarter and gives you a certificate once a year.
• Registration. Living abroad does not get you out of registering with the council as the landlord. The form also wants to know who your agent is.
• Being reachable. A deadline such as the one for damp and mould does not wait for a time zone. That is the practical case for having an agent in the same city as the property.

The wider picture for overseas owners is in how an overseas investor buys and runs UK property.

What about HMOs and short-term lets?

A flat let to three or more people from three or more families is a house in multiple occupation and needs a licence from the council. A short-term let needs a different licence again. Both sit outside what this page describes, so if either is what you have in mind, say so on the first call.

How it works

Not bought yet? Start with property sourcing in Glasgow. If the property is in South Lanarkshire, see property management in East Kilbride. Everything we do is listed on the property services page.

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