Scotland to introduce long-term rent controls
Housing campaigners have hailed a new Scottish Government bill to establish long-term rent control north of the border as a “huge step forward”.
The legislation builds on the temporary cap on increases in private sector rents introduced by the SNP administration at Holyrood during the cost of living crisis.
With the measure set to end on 1 April, the new bill proposes letting ministers create long-term rent control areas to help private tenants struggling with their housing costs.
Tenants’ rights groups largely welcomed the proposals. But landlords warned they could prompt property owners to flee the sector – squeezing the supply of homes.
The Scottish Government has not set out any specific percentages for proposed rent caps, but the proposals could let local authorities recommend to ministers whether rent controls should be imposed.
If control on the private rental sector is allowed in a council area, a formula would be applied that could limit rises to a particular percentage – potentially as low as zero per cent.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill also proposes that annual rent rises could be capped both during and between tenancies, when homes are put back on the market.
Aditi Jehangir, secretary of Living Rent tenant’s union, called the bill a “huge step forward”.
But John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords, said the legislation would “exacerbate” the housing crisis.
He warned it could result in “reduced investment and more landlords leaving the sector, leading to higher costs for tenants”.
The Scottish Government imposed a 3 per cent annual cap on any increases in the private rental sector as a temporary measure in 2022.
Some property experts have argued it has backfired, as landlords have continued to push up prices on newly advertised properties, which were not subject to the controls.
A Zoopla report this month found Scotland’s rents had risen 11.6 per cent in the past year – higher than the UK average of 7.8 per cent.
Alongside changes to the private sector rents, the bill offers new protection from eviction. It proposes a new duty on public bodies – including councils, NHS and the police – to take steps to make sure people do not become homeless.
Scottish Labour said the bill was “half-baked” and “does not offer enough to tackle homelessness, is slow to help renters, and has done nothing to properly encourage affordable home building”.
The housing charity Shelter Scotland warned that the plans would not solve the “systemic issues”, such as the lack of social housing.