Landlords renting out shared houses in Scotland could face fines of up to £50,000 for breaching licensing and registration laws.
Scottish Assembly members have backed a Private Rented Housing Bill that gets far tougher with landlords than equivalent legislation in England and Wales.
The bill increases the maximum fines for offences involving shared homes – termed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) – to £50,000 per offence and extends 'fit and proper' person licensing conditions to let councils ban landlords who do not control antisocial behaviour by tenants.
Many shared houses are let to students in university cities.
Housing minister Alex Neil said: "The people we have to tackle is the small minority, very often geographically concentrated, who give landlords a bad name.
"But at the same time we want to ensure that the regulation being put in place is proportionate, while protecting the rights of tenants and landlords and to develop a longer term strategy for the sector's growth.
"I believe the Bill plays its part by giving local authorities greater powers to tackle bad practice and penalise unlawful operators, as well as improving tenants and landlords' awareness of their rights and responsibilities."
Scotland is also the only part of the UK with compulsory landlord registration for all property investors.
Earlier this month, Scottish MSPs also voted to bring in a tenancy deposit protection scheme on similar lines to that run in England and Wales. The scheme is expected to launch later this year.
Mr Neil said: "The Bill strengthens the system of landlord registration, including expanding the fit and proper person test, and making it clear to local authorities that issues such as anti-social behaviour must be taken into account. It gives local authorities new powers to gather information to crack down on unregistered landlords, including an ability to require managing agents to provide a list of properties they manage.
"The Bill gets tough on the worst offenders, increasing the maximum fines for HMO licensing and landlord registration offences to £50,000, and it sends a clear message that we recognise the seriousness of such offences and that they will not be tolerated."
