Strengthening tenants’ rights and preventing homelessness
Legislation to strengthen tenants’ rights and prevent homelessness has passed stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to tackle poverty across Scotland by improving the renting experience for tenants, through a range of new rights and a system of rent controls, in a way that maintains investment.
The Bill will also place a stronger emphasis on homelessness prevention based on better coordination across services and providing support earlier.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “The Housing (Scotland) Bill will play an important role in helping to tackle poverty by keeping rents affordable and ensuring people can stay in their homes.
“Ensuring everyone has the right to a safe and stable home is essential to the Scottish Government’s priority of ending child poverty and the Bill will play a role in reaching that goal.
“Scotland has led the way in protecting tenants and providing rights for homeless people. The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to create a rental system that improves the rights of tenants while maintaining investment and provides greater support for people threatened with homelessness.
“I am pleased Parliament has supported the general principles of the legislation, especially on our proposals for a system of rent controls that keep costs lower for tenants.”
Living Rent campaigners said: “Make no mistake this would not have happened without the work of Scotland’s tenants union.
“Right now we need to celebrate the vote bringing rent controls one step closer. But landlords are fighting hard and it’s clear there is a lot of work to be done.”
The Scottish Government will be betraying households and families across Edinburgh if they go ahead with plans to water down rent controls and impose above inflation rent hikes, says Lorna Slater MSP the Scottish Green MSP for Lorna Slater MSP.
Earlier this year legislation was introduced by then Scottish Greens minister Patrick Harvie to finally bring rent controls to Scotland, which would help keep costs down for tenants.
The Scottish Government supported this legislation in March, but has since announced proposals that would lock-in above inflation increases and by up to 6%, even in rent control areas.
Scottish Government statistics show that between 2010 and 2023 average rents for a newly-let 2 bedroom flat in Lothian reached £1,192, an increase of 79%.
Lorna Slater, the Scottish Green MSP for Lothian said: “This would be a shameful betrayal of households and families in Edinburgh. It would lock-in above inflation rent hikes at a time when far too many are struggling to make ends meet.
“Everyone should have a warm, secure and affordable place to call home, but what the SNP is proposing flies in the face of that aspiration.
“If the SNP goes ahead with these disastrous plans they will be selling-out renters in communities like Edinburgh and entrenching a broken and unfair system.
“Homes should be for living in, not for profiteering. The SNP must not cave in to the landlord lobby and introduce legislation that would impose above inflation rent hikes.
“I hope the SNP will rethink their proposals and work with us to deliver a rent control system that truly transforms our broken housing market and gives tenants in Lothian the security, stability and peace of mind that everyone deserves.”
The introduction of rent controls has received support from the majority of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill aims to improve housing outcomes for people who live in private rented accommodation and ensure a fair balance between protection for tenants and the rights of landlords. It comes as the Scottish Government and an increasing number of councils have declared housing emergencies.
In its report, the majority of the Committee welcomes the ambition in the provisions to re-balance the private rental sector and improve affordability for tenants. However, despite recent announcements from the Scottish Government about how the rent cap would operate in practice, the Committee has called for further clarity noting that continued uncertainty could impact investment within the sector, in turn impacting on choice and affordability for tenants.
The report also recognises that, in isolation, the Bill in itself is not the answer to the housing emergency, which has been caused by a range of factors, including the shortage of affordable and social housing, increased rents in the private sector, high inflation, freeze of housing allowance rates, labour shortages linked to Brexit, and cuts in Scotland’s capital funding settlement from the UK Government.
However, the Bill does have a role to play in better balancing tenants’ rights with landlords’ needs.
Speaking as the report launched yesterday, Committee Convener Ariane Burgess MSP said:“We are currently in the midst of a housing emergency and this Bill is an important part of the solution to address that by redressing the imbalance in the relationship between tenants and landlords.
“For rent controls to be effective, however, there is a need for certainty for both tenants and landlords about measures within the Bill and how the proposals will work. It’s disappointing that it was only last week that the Housing Minister made an announcement about how rent controls might work.
“The Bill before us does not provide detail on many aspects of how the legislation will operate, and with consultation on some aspects of the Bill continuing until 2025, there will be little room for parliamentary scrutiny in an area which is critical to get right for the long-term sustainability of the private rental sector.”
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The Bill also puts in place requirements for the collection of data from private landlords in order to make a case for the creation of local rent control area . But with the onus on local authorities to collect and monitor the data, the Committee is concerned that there is a lack of resource to deliver that requirement which could hinder the effective use of rent control areas.
The Convener continued:“For rent controls to work, there must be accurate data but the Bill before us has no clear plans for robust data collection. This is why our report recommends that there is a national approach to data collection to help assess rental markets.
“We would also like to see the onus put on landlords by creating a requirement for them to routinely provide data rather than only respond to requests from local authorities.”
The Committee also welcomed measures within the Bill which support tenants’ rights to personalise their homes and their right to own pets.
It also makes recommendations for there to be more support for tenants in exercising their rights, and for landlords too to help them better understand their duties, saying that legislation is not enough on its own to achieve the necessary balance between tenants and landlords’ rights.
Housing Bill measure to help tenants stay in their homes
Long term rent controls would help keep homes affordable for tenants in future, under new legislation to create a fairer, better regulated rented sector.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill, introduced to Parliament last week, sets out how close working with councils will ensure rent controls are tailored to the local needs of tenants and landlords in different parts of the country.
Publication of the Bill, which will be scrutinised and voted on by MSPs, comes as temporary changes to the way rents are decided, through adjudication, come into force. From 1 April, these changes will ensure people are protected from very steep rent rises, following the end of the rent cap. Proposed rent increases after this date will still need to give three months’ notice.
Tenants’ Rights Minister Patrick Harvie said: “Scotland has led the way within the UK in supporting and strengthening the rights of people who rent their homes.
“The Housing Bill sets out our next steps on the path towards a fairer, well-regulated private rented sector, which is good for both tenants and landlords and encourages investment.
“While the Parliament prepares to consider this legislation, we are also taking steps to support tenants with the pressures they are facing here and now.
“Our temporary changes to the ways that rents are decided will come into place from April 1 – to protect people who may be facing very steep increases as the temporary rent cap comes to the end of its final extension period.”
Soaring rents across Lothian demonstrate the need for a system of rent controls to be introduced, according to Scottish Greens Lothian MSP, Lorna Slater.
New government statistics published this week show that between 2010 and 2021 the average rent for a 2 bedroom property in Lothian increased by 41.7%. This is the biggest increase anywhere in Scotland.
The cooperation agreement between the Scottish Greens and the Scottish Government includes a commitment to introduce a new national system of rent controls. This will be part of a package of enhanced rights for tenants.
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Commenting, Lorna Slater MSP said:“Over the past decade, far too many tenants in Lothian and across the country have faced extreme rent rises.
“We simply cannot leave something as fundamental as people’s homes to market forces. I’m proud that with Greens in Government we will bring rent controls to Scotland as part of a fair deal for renters.”
Lothian MSP and Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater has hailed the party’s influence on the Scottish Government programme for the year ahead.
The First Minister laid out an agenda heavily influenced by the Scottish Greens, in her first programme for government. This follows the historic cooperation agreement between the two parties.
The transformational programme will see the Greens in government for the first time; benefiting communities across Edinburgh by laying the foundations for a just transition to a low carbon economy, securing a new deal for tenants, increasing funding for home energy schemes and tackling fuel poverty.
Lothian MSP and Scottish Greens co-leader, Lorna Slater, said: “This is a historic programme for government that will deliver huge benefits for communities in Edinburgh.”
“The investment announced today will allow us to begin the work of improving the energy efficiency of public buildings, an important measure as we bid to tackle the climate emergency, end fuel poverty and reduce energy bills.
“This bold and ambitious programme for government paves the way for a just transition for workers by creating jobs too, as we move to a renewables powered future.
“I’m particularly proud of our new deal for tenants. This programme commits us to delivering a new strategy within the next year which will ensure stronger rights and include a system of rent controls to tackle the spiralling costs for those renting a home in Edinburgh.”
