Flat rented for Yousaf cost taxpayer £6,000 a month

AN EDINBURGH flat rented for Humza Yousaf cost taxpayers £6,000 a month while the First Minister’s official residence was being renovated.

The Scottish Tories criticised the cost of the three-bed flat, used by the SNP leader while Bute House was undergoing an £825,000 refurbishment. The flat’s cost reached almost £30,000 over five months, while the rest of the capital was battling a housing crisis.

An accommodation shortage means close to 5,000 households including many children have been forced into temporary housing, Edinburgh council has warned. Controversial SNP rent controls have also fuelled the shortage, critics say, as it has led to private landlords taking properties off the market.

The council declared a housing emergency in November 2023, saying supply was at “breaking point”.

Miles Briggs, the Scottish Tory MSP, said: “At £6,000 per month, [the flat] certainly didn’t come cheap to the taxpayer. At a time when his government is slashing budgets – including on housing – and hiking taxes to fill the black hole the SNP’s financial mismanagement has created, this will stick in the craw of hard-pressed Scots.”

The central city flat was rented for Mr Yousaf, whose home is in Broughty Ferry near Dundee, between June 2 and Oct 31. It cost almost £20,000 in rent, in addition to £5,400 for the “property search and advice”. Legal fees and council tax cost almost £4,000, and there was a £420 charge to end the tenancy.

The Scottish Government said: “A number of properties were reviewed and the one selected was the best fit in terms of cost, security and size.”