A nine-page legal document outlining landlords’ arguments has effectively stopped a controversial housing minister and campaigning organisations giving evidence to a parliamentary committee.
Landlord groups and the letting agents trade body Propertymark have submitted a Petition to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking a Judicial Review of the Scottish Government’s rent control and eviction ban legislation.
In the petition, the groups say they believe the Scottish law is disproportionate and unfair; this is further exacerbated by the decision to retain rent control for the private rented sector and remove it for the social rented sector from April.
The lodging of this petition has now led to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee of the Scottish Parliament being put in to abeyance until the matter is resolved.
Yesterday it was set to hear evidence from the minister behind the rent caps - Green Party member Patrick Harvie - as well as Shelter and another pro-tenant body, Living Rent.
The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act was rushed through the Scottish Parliament as emergency legislation just before the end of 2022, capping private rent rises at zero per cent, with some landlords able to apply for increases of three per cent to cover building costs. The legislation also banned evictions from being enforced in Scotland until the end of March.
Last week Harvie announced the extension of the eviction ban until September 30 and the rent cap lifting from zero per cent to three per cent in the private rented sector, the freeze will be completely scrapped for social landlords, who reached an agreement with ministers that increases would be below inflation.
The Scottish Government says in a statement: “The Convener [of the committee] has decided to postpone the meeting due to ongoing legal proceedings, which overlap with the subject matter of the committee’s evidence session.”
Specifically, the petition from the landlord groups highlights:
- The rent control applies irrespective of the financial position of both the tenant and landlord;
- The recent decision by the Scottish Government to remove the cap for social landlords means a well-off individual renting in the private sector is provided financial protection not available to someone in more challenging financial circumstances in the social sector;
- In the decision to remove the rent control in the social sector, the Scottish Government acknowledges the need for maintenance of these properties but has not given the same consideration to landlords in the private sector;
- The law does not make any distinction or provide relief based on different circumstances of landlords, between larger, institutional companies who might be able to shoulder increased costs, and individual landlords who cannot; and
- The eviction ban creates a delay in addressing matters such as arrears which adversely impacts landlord cash flow culminating in a reduction in capital value.
The petition further argues that by discriminating in the way it does, the law breaches the European Convention of Human Rights which states “The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as … association with … property…”
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Scotland 🏴 is a Stasi state, if I were unlucky enough to be a landlord there, I would sell the lot at the first opportunity.
That's exactly what I'm doing Simon. Enough is enough!
I believe the rent cap will be as effective as the energy price cap and rents will soar soon.
Nationalisation of the PRS via the back door. Remove the mask of the SNP to reveal communists. If history teaches anything it’s the removal of individual rights and the destruction of the traditional family that leads to totalitarianism, unfortunately this has taken hold in Scotland and I doubt a legitimate legal challenge will have any impact
If I was a LL in Scotland I would sell up all of my btl properties making 8 families including 15 children homeless. Nicola does not have a sensible long term strategy.
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