Hansard

I am sure that I am not the only one who feels a sense of achievement when we reach stage 3 of a bill, and that is especially true when one has been particularly involved through all stages of the bill. Therefore, I am extremely pleased to have reached stage 3 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Bill.

Although I welcome the measures in the bill, it is also right to point out areas in which we might have gone further and work that still needs to be done—not necessarily through legislation but perhaps, as the minister said earlier, through guidance.

The bill will strengthen landlord registration by expanding the fit-and-proper person test and increasing the level of fine for non-registration. In the stage 1 debate, I asked the minister how those measures would make it more likely that local authorities would actively pursue unregistered landlords. Unfortunately, the minister did not actually answer the question. However, he went on to ask me whether I would be willing to place a duty on councils to make them more active. I hope that whoever is the housing minister after the election will sit down with councils’ housing conveners and stress to them the importance of landlord registration. If that does not improve regulation, the Parliament will need to consider whether it needs to further strengthen the legislation.

Similar action will be required in relation to the judiciary, to ensure that it completely understands the importance of the legislation around issues such as landlord registration. If the new Government after May is a Labour Government, such discussions might be part of discussions on establishing a housing court or tribunal.

I recognise what Ted Brocklebank was trying to do with his amendment 15, which was on HMOs, and I am pleased that members supported it. I heard the witnesses who raised concerns in the committee about the overprovision of HMOs in their locality and I have frequently heard my colleagues Pauline McNeill and Patricia Ferguson raising similar concerns on behalf of their constituents. I have doubts about whether amendment 15 will deliver but, on balance, I was happy to support the intention. However, the minister must respond to the concerns of Shelter and the National Union of Students Scotland, which Patrick Harvie raised. They have pointed out that there is likely to be increased demand for HMOs, due to changes in the housing benefit rules—perhaps up to 7,500 more properties will be needed. How will we respond to that demand?

As I did in the stage 1 debate, I support NUS Scotland’s call for a strategy to address young people’s housing needs. Whether they are students or young adults, all young people face barriers to accessing appropriate housing at this time and we owe it to them to give the issue serious consideration.

The bill will give councils powers to issue overcrowding statutory notices. I welcome that but think that fellow committee members would agree that, during the passage of the bill, we were all made aware that overcrowding is a complicated issue. I accept that parts of the legislation that we have introduced go some way towards addressing the matter, but I suspect that we cannot think that we have resolved the issue yet. I am pleased that members agreed to my amendment 2 so that there will be a review of the overcrowding measures after three years. That will allow members to be reassured that the measures in the bill are having the correct effect.

Other issues in the bill have perhaps not received quite as much attention as the issues that I have mentioned. The minister referred to one of them in his opening statement: reasonable charges. Reasonable charges are important if we are to have a responsive private rented sector that delivers housing at rates that can be afforded.

The other issue that we did not spend a lot of time considering, partly because there was a lot of agreement about it, was the provision of the tenant information pack. Again, that will benefit people. At stage 2, I moved an amendment on carbon monoxide testers, and other issues relating to gas and electricity have been raised. I look forward to the future committee working with the minister on developing the guidance that will go with the tenant information pack.

I am happy to support the bill, but there is more to do in private rented housing. Some elements will need to be legislated on and others will not, but members should be reassured that Labour will be happy to support the future housing minister in his or her efforts.

15:58