THE overseas locations of Scotland’s landlords have been revealed in a new report.

The study by SafeDeposits Scotland, which protects more than 60% of all Scottish tenancy deposits, shows where owners of Scottish residential property using the scheme are based.

Consulting its own, substantial database, SafeDeposits Scotland has created a top 10 list and found that overseas landlords come from far and wide.

Australia tops the table by a considerable distance with 528 landlords of Scottish properties living there. The USA is second with 358 landlords.

Ireland was the most popular European country of residence for overseas Scottish property owners with 223 based there. Other top EU countries include France (182), Spain (161) and Germany (113).

The Middle East and eastern Asia were represented in the top 10 by the United Arab Emirates (187) and Hong Kong (108) respectively.

In the rest of the UK, England boasts the most landlords of Scottish property with 7279, followed by Northern Ireland with 579 and Wales with 192.

Chair of SafeDeposits Scotland, Ian Potter (pictured), said: “Scottish commercial property has become increasingly popular with overseas investors, but information on those buying and renting private residential property has been less well documented. Alongside overseas investors will be Scots who have moved abroad – temporarily or permanently – and decided to retain property in Scotland.

“Our figures demonstrate that landlords of Scottish property live all over the world. The landlords that we know about are already aware of their obligations to protect tenancy deposits, but there may be others out there that are unfamiliar with the Scottish system.

“Landlords who fail to protect their tenant’s deposit run the risk of a penalty up to the value of three-times the value of the deposit should the tenant take them to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber).”