Rent Controls Here To Stay says Scottish Government

The Scottish Government says rent controls - already existing as a so-called emergency measure - will become permanent.

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf says a new housing bill will deliver the Scottish National Party’s New Deal for Tenants.

“Westminster’s cost-of-living crisis has left tenants vulnerable, made all the more difficult by a market that can’t support demand” he says.

The bill will give councils the power to raise taxes on second homes and he committed £60m to acquire empty properties to be converted into affordable housing. 

It would also invest £750m in new affordable homes including £75m in rural and island communities.

Yousaf says: “The Scottish government will continue to work with vital stakeholders across landlord and tenant groups as it crafts a tailored approach to this crisis that suits Scotland’s unique needs.

“During the cost-of-living crisis, this government took prompt action to introduce emergency rent caps for most private tenants and to introduce additional protections against eviction,.

“We’ve now laid legislation to ensure those measures will remain in place until 31st March next year.”

Current Green co-leader Patrick Harvie is the architect of the rent control and eviction ban policies - he is a senior figure in the SNO-Green administration running Scotland.

In June the Scottish Parliament agreed to another six month extension to rent controls, taking them up to March 2024. 

This means that most in-tenancy private rent increases would continue to be capped at 3.0 per cent and, alternatively, private landlords could apply for increases of up to 6.0 per cent to help cover specific increases in costs in a specified period where these costs can be evidenced.

Evictions will also be banned for a further six months for most tenants, except in several specified circumstances: increased damages for unlawful evictions of up to 36 months’ worth of rent would continue to be applicable.

Harvie says that over the period from 2018 to 2020, 63 per cent of social rented households and 40 per cent of private rented households did not have enough savings to cover even a month of income at the poverty line, compared to 24 per cent of households buying with a mortgage and nine per cent of households owning outright. 

“Consequently, rented sector households entered the cost of living crisis in a more vulnerable position than owner-occupiers” he told the Parliament recently.

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