The controversial proposal for permanent rent controls in Scotland, published just ahead of the Easter holiday, doesn’t go far enough for activists in Generation Rent.

The Scottish Government’s Housing Bill allows SNP and Green politicians to create rent control areas, triggered by local authorities, and this would allow the politicians to cap the amount tenants pay – irrespective of landlords’ wishes and expenditure. 

The Housing (Scotland) Bill, published late last week, will place a duty on local councils to carry out assessments within their areas on the state of the private rented sector, making recommendations to ministers about the imposition of rent controls.

The Bill does not specify particular controls which could be placed on landlords, but it does state rises would be capped during and in between tenancies.

If passed, the Bill also imposes a duty on first-tier tribunal and the sheriff court to consider the timing of any notice to evict, to ensure tenants are not asked to leave their home to “reduce, as far as possible, the negative impact of eviction at a time of greater stress resulting from additional pressures or individual circumstances”, according to the legislation small print.

But while landlord groups and letting agents are angry at the proposal, the activist group Generation Rent actually thinks there are loopholes which should be tightened up.

Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, says: “The proposed system has the potential to improve the tenant experience in Scotland but it needs to be designed well, so it can be implemented and enforced effectively. As it stands the local nature of the regulation could lead to tenants outside of rent control areas facing unaffordable rent increases.

“It will also take some time for the changes to come into force, with local assessments and consultations needed even after the Bill becomes law. In the meantime, tenants face rent increases of up to 12% even with the interim protections.”

Twomey concedes that the proposals are “another positive step forward for renters in Scotland.”