Proposals for long term rent controls
The legislation will implement many of the measures that the Scottish Government included in its New Deal for Tenants, originally drafted in 2021, which forms part of their Housing to 2040 strategy. We are campaigning to ensure the legislation helps to meet the demand for private rented homes and is fair for lettings agents, landlords and tenants.
What’s included in the Housing (Scotland) Bill?
- Requirements on local authorities to assess rent conditions in their area, at least once every five years.
- Powers for Scottish Ministers to introduce rent control areas and place limits on rent increases.
- Restrictions on rent increases at the start of a tenancy in Rent Control Areas.
- Limits on how often rent can increase during a tenancy both in and outside Rent Control Areas.
- New rights for private and social housing tenants to request to keep a pet.
- New rights for private housing tenants to make changes to the property they are renting.
- Allowing unclaimed deposits to be paid to the Scottish Ministers or into another fund so that they can be used to provide support to private tenants across Scotland.
- Allowing a single joint tenant to end a joint tenancy.
- Giving Scottish Ministers the power to convert assured tenancies into private residential tenancies.
The Scottish Government’s continued quest for rent control and restrictions on rent increases are laid bare in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. The measures will do nothing but add extra burden on landlords and local authorities with no additional reward for tenants at a time when resources and finances are under extreme pressure. The long-term aim for the Scottish Government must be to re-balance supply and demand levels for private rented property. A review of all recent tax changes that impact private landlords is urgently needed and must form part of these reforms.
Propertymark’s position
Policy work leading up to the legislation through the New Deal for Tenants talked about affordable rents, supply of rented homes and quality raising standards, but the Housing (Scotland) Bill does very little to increase the supply of private rented homes and only offers rent control as the solution for affordability—rent controls should be the last resort not the first port of call for policy makers.
Join the campaign
It is vital that MSPs are made aware of the concerns of letting agents and the impact that this legislation will have. To improve the Scottish Government’s proposals and make the private rented sector fairer for all, further reform is needed in the following areas:
- Planning and tax reform: the Bill does nothing to address the demand for private rented property—reforming planning and tax systems are key to this.
- More clarity on Rent Control Areas: the proposals for rent control areas are inconsistent, will cause confusion and local authority assessments must do more to produce evidence-based policy positions.
- More incentives: rent control between tenancies removes any incentive for landlords to invest or upgrade properties and any control needs to include a provision for inflation-linked in-tenancy increases.
- Review all taxes and costs impacting private landlords: the Scottish Government must commit in legislation to review all costs and taxes impacting private landlords within six months of the Bill passing—including the impact of six per cent Additional Dwelling Supplement on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, mortgage costs, maintenance costs, landlord and letting agent registration charges, tax changes implemented by the UK Government such as changes to the Wear and Tear Allowance.
- Annual PRS update: to better understand the private rented sector, the Scottish Government must commit in legislation to publish an annual parliamentary update on the state of the sector—including data on the supply, size and location of properties.
Scottish Parliamentary process
Most Bills looked at by the Scottish Parliament are introduced by the Scottish Government. All Bills that are introduced go through a scrutiny process in the Scottish Parliament. On 4 September 2024, the Housing (Scotland) Bill was included in the Programme for Government.
The Bill is given to a lead committee who is responsible for examining the Bill. A Stage 1 report usually makes a recommendation about whether the Parliament should support the main purpose (general principles) of the Bill.
Any MSPs can propose changes to a Bill, but only committee members on the lead committee can vote on amendments at this stage.
MSPs can propose further amendments to the Bill. These are debated and decided on in the Debating Chamber, and at this stage all MSPs can vote on them.
If the Bill is passed, legislation is normally sent for Royal Assent after about four weeks. Royal Assent is when the Bill gets formal agreement by the King and becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament.