The Scottish Government has been accused of a 'missed opportunity' on rent controls, as figures show contested rents jumped by an average of 20%.
The Scottish Parliament passed emergency legislation in 2022 in response to the cost of living crisis which capped rent increases at 3%, or 6% in certain circumstances.
The law initially applied until the end of March 2023, but was extended until 31 March 2024.
Landlords are now free to raise rents, provided they give 12 months' notice, but tenants can contest it with Rent Service Scotland (RSS).
Figures from RSS, obtained by Scottish Labour, showed the average proposed increase reported for adjudication in the period from April 1 to July 23 was 20%.
Read More:
It also showed the highest rent rise imposition reported since April 1 was 186%.
The same data indicated an almost four-fold increase in the number of applications received by RSS since the 3% rent cap ended.
Figures showed 903 adjudication requests were received from April to July, up from a total of 181 between 2018 and 2022.
Mark Griffin, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson for housing, said: “Sadly these figures show that rather than fixing the roof with the rent freeze, the SNP just put out a bucket to catch the drips.
“Delaying a problem is not the same as solving it – the SNP’s inability to come up with a viable alternative to rent controls in time have left tenants dealing with a cliff edge of rent increases when emergency legislation ended.
“Rather than prioritising the housing bill so MSPs could work together on a sustainable plan, the SNP has slashed the affordable housing budget and let house building crumble on its watch.
“Because there is nowhere else for them to go, working families, young people and those on the lowest incomes stuck in the private rental sector are forced to find the money for soaring housing costs.
“This SNP government must prioritise ending the housing emergency by developing joined-up policy so that everyone has a place to call home.”
The Scottish Government tabled a new housing bill in March, which would require local councils to carry out assessments on the condition of the private rental sector and make recommendations to ministers about imposing rent controls.
Rent rises would also be capped during and between tenancies, while there are also provisions for allowing tenants to have pets and redecorate.
The average cost to rent a two-bedroom property in Scotland is currently £841 per month, with that average increasing every year since 2016.
In Greater Glasgow between 2022 and 2023 rent rose in 1 bedroom (22.2%), 2 bedroom (22.3%), 3 bedroom (25.7%), 4 bedroom (23.6%) and 1 bedroom shared properties (27.1%) against an inflation rate of 9% across the same period.
Between 2010 and 2023, average rents increased well above the rate of CPI inflation of 45.7% for 1 bedroom (81.2%), 2 bedroom (86.2%), 3 bedroom (88.7%), 4 bedroom (105.4%) and 1 bedroom shared properties (73.8%).
In Lothian, which contains Edinburgh, the average rent for a two-bedroom property is £1,192 with increases for 1 bedroom (9.7%), 2 bedroom (18.4%), 3 bedroom (17.7%), 4 bedroom (19.7%) and 1 bedroom shared properties (7.2%), which compares to CPI inflation of 9.0%.
Across the country as a whole, rents rose above the rate of inflation for every category of home over the same period.
Research by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, published in November, found 92% of the private rented sector in Scotland is unaffordable for people claiming benefits.
A national housing emergency was declared across Scotland in May of this year.
Argyll and Bute, City of Edinburgh, Fife, West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow City councils had all previously declared their own housing emergency.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel