Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2016
I am pleased to open this stage 1 debate on the principles of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill.
I thank the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee for its scrutiny of and stage 1 report on the bill. The committee published its report last week, and I welcome its support for the general principles of the bill and the Scottish Government’s intention to create a clearer and simpler tenancy regime for the modern private rented sector that is fit for purpose.
I also thank the Finance Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for their consideration of the bill and for their contribution to the lead committee’s scrutiny of it.
I am grateful to stakeholders and members of the public for their responses to the Scottish Government’s consultations, which helped to shape the policy content of the bill, and to stakeholders who gave their considered views to the committee.
The bill’s main purpose is to introduce a new private residential tenancy that will improve security and provide rent predictability for tenants, while providing proper safeguards for landlords, lenders and investors.
The new tenancy is necessary as the private rented sector now plays a vital role in meeting Scotland’s housing needs. It has more than doubled in size in recent years and is now home to around 700,000 tenants. We need a tenancy that reflects that change, is easy to use and works in today’s private rented sector. The Government recognised that when, in 2013, we published our strategy for the sector—it is the first strategy for private renting in Scotland and was developed in partnership with stakeholders.
As part of the strategy, we have already undertaken a range of actions to improve private renting. They include: clarifying the existing law on the charging of premium fees, so that tenants cannot be charged for getting a tenancy; setting up tenancy deposit schemes in Scotland to protect tenants’ deposits; legislating to create a new tribunal for private renting; legislating to regulate the letting agent industry; and providing local authorities with additional and enhanced powers to tackle bad practice, where it occurs.
However, to deliver the better-quality, more professional sector that we want, we need to do more. We need to rebalance the relationship between landlords and tenants, to achieve one that is fairer and which works in today’s private rented sector.
The new tenancy will be an open-ended tenancy. Tenants will no longer be asked to leave their homes simply because they have reached the end of the fixed term of their lease. Instead, landlords will use new grounds for repossession that cover all the reasonable circumstances that they might need.
The bill also includes provisions to make rents more predictable, with adjudication provided where individual rent increases take a tenant’s rent beyond the local market rate.
Local authorities will also be able to apply for rent pressure zone designation, where rent increases in a local area have a detrimental impact on tenants and housing.
I believe that the new tenancy and the provisions on rents will provide a step change in improving the quality of private renting by changing the relationship.