Hansard

The Government is absolutely committed to those who rent in the private sector. We introduced the first private sector strategy for Scotland. We are ensuring that the landlord registration scheme is being enforced. We will also regulate the letting agency industry, ensuring that tenants get a fair deal. We are already examining the tenancy regime, and I will discuss that later in my speech. We were considering that long before James Kelly ever talked about it.

All those measures were developed through consultation with stakeholders. I am clear that they will help to ensure that there are good standards across the private rented sector. There is broad consensus for the approach to regulating letting agents, and I believe that the framework has been strengthened during the scrutiny of the bill.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with stakeholders and others to develop the code of practice and to ensure that it delivers a robust regime. I hope that that answers Patrick Harvie’s earlier point: when we are considering the code of practice, it will be a very wide consultation, and not just with the letting agency industry. Members from all parties have been keen to understand what the code will cover, so it is right that it should come back to Parliament for consideration and agreement before being implemented.

Measures to improve standards in the sector have been strongly supported. The new requirements on landlords to have regular electrical safety checks and to install carbon monoxide detectors—provisions that were introduced by Bob Doris and Jim Eadie—have been welcomed by landlord and tenant organisations alike.

There are those in the chamber who have been critical, saying that the bill does not go far enough and that it should include measures on energy efficiency, increasing security of tenure and capping rent increases. The Scottish Government is pursuing work to develop energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector and will consult on them in 2015. The consultation will invite views on what those standards should be, as well as on the timescale for introducing the standards. It is right that we take time to work with stakeholders to identify the right proposals and to consult fully on them.

The independent private tenancy review group published its report last month. I have accepted its recommendation for a new single private tenancy that would cover all future lets in the sector. We will develop detailed proposals for that, and we will consult on them in the autumn. Those measures deal with issues that were identified by the private rented sector strategy group and the Government’s consultation on its draft strategy. That group, which was made up of stakeholders from across the sector, did not identify issues with rent levels or rent increases.

James Kelly’s proposals to cap rent increases would require major legislative change. Any such change should be based on a clear understanding of the nature and scale of the problem and of what the options are for addressing it, so that we can be sure that it has a positive outcome and that it avoids any unintended consequences. That should be done through discussion, consultation and careful drafting of provisions if required, not by an amendment that gives ministers very broad powers and sets unrealistic timescales for introduction. We will be looking at the issue in our consultation on the tenancy regime in the autumn.

A crucial factor in driving up rents in the private rented sector is limited supply. The Government is working with a range of partners to deliver homes for mid-market rent through initiatives such as the national housing trust, which is on track to deliver more than 2,000 much-needed new homes in communities across Scotland. We are also supporting Homes for Scotland in its work to attract new institutional investment into the sector, by funding a dedicated Scottish private rented sector champion who will be tasked with bringing developers and potential funders together to deliver new high-quality homes in the sector.

I am not complacent. As I said earlier during the consideration of amendments, the consultation on a new single tenancy will also explore issues relating to rent levels in the private sector.

The bill also introduces new rights for those living in mobile homes, many of whom are elderly people who live permanently on sites across Scotland, and they will benefit from the provisions that update legislation dating from the 1960s. The measures will ensure that site owners are fit and proper persons and will strengthen local authority licensing powers so that they can target those who are not complying with the law.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill brings together a wide-ranging package of measures that the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee concluded will make improvements across the social, private rented and owner-occupied sectors. The measures were developed in consultation with stakeholders and have been strengthened by the scrutiny of the Parliament, and I commend them to members.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the Housing (Scotland) Bill be passed.