Construction software for Scotland, and the rules that are Scotland’s

Under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 a building warrant is needed before any work subject to the building regulations is carried out, and when the work is done the relevant person submits a completion certificate to the verifier certifying that it was carried out in accordance with the warrant and complies with the regulations.

• The person carrying out the work, the person it is done for and the owner can each be answerable for work done without a warrant.
• The completion certificate is submitted, not issued: it is your statement, and the verifier accepts or rejects it.
• Estimark’s Building Control Pack drafts documents for the full plans, building notice and regularisation routes of the English and Welsh system. It does not prepare a building warrant application.

From 6 October 2026 a landlord in Scotland who is told, or otherwise becomes aware, that a house may be affected by damp or mould must have a competent person complete an investigation within 10 working days, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of it ending, and start any relevant safety work within 5 working days of it ending.

• It applies to private residential tenancies through a new duty in section 14 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, and to Scottish secure and short Scottish secure tenancies through a new regulation 8A in the Right to Repair Regulations 2002.
• A working day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays in Scotland under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which is a different list from England’s.
• For social tenants, a missed investigation or start date carries compensation of £15 plus £3 for each working day late, capped at £100 under each head, and substantial damp or mould becomes a qualifying repair with a maximum completion period of 20 working days.
• Where circumstances beyond the landlord’s control stop a deadline being met, the landlord must tell the tenant in writing why, and when it expects to comply, and take reasonable steps to limit the damp in the meantime.

NoteEstimark’s Awaab’s Law engine is written to the English regulations and counts working days against the England and Wales bank holidays. It does not compute the Scottish deadlines, and a Scottish landlord using the repairs register sets its own targets on the ticket.

Since 1 December 2015 a private landlord in Scotland must have the electrical installations, fixtures, fittings and appliances inspected by a competent person at intervals of no more than five years, before a tenancy starts and during it, and give the tenant the record.

• The duty is section 19A of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, part of the Repairing Standard, and is enforced through the First-tier Tribunal rather than a local authority penalty.
• The Property Compliance register renews EICR at 60 months per property. The interval is editable, and the register’s citation for the interval is the England regulation, so a Scottish stock records its own authority.
• Landlord gas safety is the same twelve months under regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, which extend to Scotland.

CIS with its 6th-to-5th tax months, the VAT reverse charge under section 55A, CDM 2015 and RIDDOR 2013 all apply in Scotland as in England, and Estimark handles them the same way on both sides of the border.

• Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies in Scotland, but the fallback periods come from the Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations rather than the England and Wales Scheme. Estimark’s payment notice defaults are the England and Wales ones, so a Scottish subcontract with no express periods needs its dates entered.
• The estimating benchmark carries a Scotland labour rate index of its own, and the AI estimator is prompted for regional rates across England, Scotland and Wales.
• The planning bolt-on reads English planning datasets only and does not cover Scotland.