Scotland Updates Court Forms for Domestic Abuse Cases

If the official title made your eyes glaze over, you are not alone. This Scottish statutory instrument is mostly about court paperwork, but the paperwork matters. On 3 September 2026, the Court of Session made an Act of Sederunt amending the Summary Cause Rules 2002; it was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 4 September and is due to come into force on 5 October 2026. According to the legislation.gov.uk text, the change sits inside sheriff court procedure and follows section 22 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021. (legislation.gov.uk) When we strip away the legal language, the short version is this: Scotland is adding the court forms needed for certain social housing cases where a tenant has been abusive towards a partner or ex-partner. That sounds procedural because it is procedural, but it is also how a legal protection becomes usable in everyday life. (legislation.gov.uk)

In this case, an Act of Sederunt is the mechanism the Court of Session is using to change the rules used by the sheriff court. The instrument adds two new summons forms, numbered 3za and 3zb, and a new extract decree form, numbered 28l. According to legislation.gov.uk, those forms are tied to paragraph 15A of schedule 2 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. (legislation.gov.uk) **What this means:** the housing ground had already been brought into force, but courts still needed matching paperwork. Without the right forms, a legal route can exist in theory and still be awkward to use in practice. (legislation.gov.uk)

The first new route is for a sole tenant. The official explanatory note says a landlord can use the new form to seek recovery of possession where the tenant has engaged in behaviour that is abusive of a partner or ex-partner. The same note says the purpose is to let the landlord enter into a new tenancy with the partner or ex-partner who is the victim of that abuse. (legislation.gov.uk) That is an important shift in emphasis. The design here is to make it possible for court action to focus on the abusive tenant, rather than assuming the person harmed must be the one who loses the home. According to the Scottish Government's 2025 policy note, Part 2 of the 2021 Act was meant to improve housing outcomes for domestic abuse victims in social housing and help avoid homelessness. (legislation.gov.uk)

The second route is for joint tenants. Where the abusive person is a joint tenant with a partner or ex-partner, the new form allows a landlord to ask the court to terminate that tenant's interest in the Scottish secure tenancy. In plain English, the paperwork is now built for cases where one joint tenant is said to have been abusive, instead of treating the tenancy as an all-or-nothing problem. (legislation.gov.uk) **Why this matters:** joint tenancies can trap people because home, safety and legal status are tied together. This rule change does not solve every barrier, but it does create a clearer court route for removing the abusive tenant's stake in the tenancy. That is a technical change with a very human purpose. (legislation.gov.uk)

It is worth slowing down here, because this is not an automatic eviction rule. The forms show that a landlord still has to raise proceedings and ask the court for decree. In its 2025 policy note, the Scottish Government said the supporting guidance would cover evidence, verification and the factors landlords should consider when deciding whether raising an action is reasonable and appropriate. (legislation.gov.uk) So if you read this as 'one allegation and you are out', that would be too simple. What changed on 3 September 2026 was the court procedure around a legal ground that had already been commenced on 1 August 2026, not the basic need for a court process and supporting evidence. (legislation.gov.uk)

The final technical piece is the new extract decree form, Form 28l. According to the legislation.gov.uk PDF, this is the document used in proceedings for recovery of possession or termination of a joint tenant's interest on the new domestic abuse ground, and it includes space for the court order, expenses and the earliest date for ejection. (legislation.gov.uk) **What this means:** the system now has matching paperwork from the start of the case to the enforcement stage. That may sound dry, but it is often these procedural details that decide whether a reform works outside a policy paper. (legislation.gov.uk)

There is a bigger lesson here for all of us. Housing law and domestic abuse law do not sit in separate boxes in real life. If someone is trying to stay safe, the question is not only whether abuse is recognised, but whether the court process gives a realistic way to stay in the home, keep a tenancy and avoid homelessness. The Scottish Government's policy note makes that objective explicit, and this Act of Sederunt supplies the sheriff court forms needed to put that goal into practice. (legislation.gov.uk) So the fairest summary is this: from 5 October 2026, Scotland is not inventing an entirely new area of domestic abuse housing law, but it is making the procedure more workable. For students, tenants and support workers, that is the key point to hold on to: sometimes justice changes because the forms change. (legislation.gov.uk)