Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2016
I remind members of my registered interests in this debate.
My colleagues and I are supportive of the bill. We want to see the more than 330,000 households who rent privately in Scotland having greater security over their tenancy—their home. We are also happy to see security provisions put in place for those families who choose to rent, and those who cannot afford to buy a property—which is a growing problem.
We also want to make sure that market flexibility is maintained so that landlords, investors and others who want to rent out a property do not enter a rental sector that is rigid and unfairly regulated. To that end, I thank Margaret Burgess for lodging amendments to streamline and simplify the bill. I am particularly pleased to see that a number of grounds have shifted from being mandatory to being discretionary, thus giving the tribunal more discretion and power to make a more balanced decision. We supported those amendments today.
I also note that we supported the amendments that Ken Macintosh lodged on a private residential tenancy charter, as it is only right to have transparency and clarity about the rights and responsibilities of all sides. It would have been a big step forward for putting an end to exploitative renting practices. Such practices represent only a small number among the thousands of honest private landlords, but the issue must nevertheless be addressed.
I noted amendment 107. Unfortunately, Alex Johnstone is not here at the moment, but I think that his amendment would have protected tenant farmers, helping them to maintain a sufficient quality workforce on their land. I saw merits in that amendment. I am concerned that there may be unintended consequences from that amendment not being supported.
Another group that will be protected is students in the private rented sector. We do not consider that students should receive any less security from private rented sector landlords than any other tenants simply because of their status as students. As I said earlier, we listened to the concerns of the National Union of Students, the universities and private landlords, and I think that we have come to a fair position. I believe that it is fair to ensure that there is a stable market of supply and demand, and that it is promoted further. I hope that that will lead to more trust between landlords and tenants in the instances where tenants are students.
I want to strongly stress the importance of the duty that the Scottish Government has, in removing the enablers of rent prices going up at significant rates, to satisfy the demand. There is currently a highly insufficient supply of housing, which means that we cannot give any guarantee that rent pressure zone measures will provide any benefit to high-pressure areas. I am concerned that imposing rent control zones would have the opposite effect. As Crisis notes,
“there is a risk that at the end of the period of the Rent Pressure Zone rents for existing tenancies will increase to match the open market rents for new tenancies (which will not be regulated during the operation of the Zone).”
Standing by the position that I stated earlier in the progress of the bill, my colleagues and I find regulating from the top down an unattractive and potentially harmful solution with regard to housing investments. We are where we are, but what we should be doing is providing long-term, sustainable and desirable solutions through the supply of more housing. Scotland currently suffers from a housing crisis, and I will continue to hold the Scottish Government—whoever is in government—to account for the provision of enough homes for social rent, homes that are affordable and, above all, homes that meet the needs of our people.
I am supportive of this bill and the positive changes that I hope it will bring in overhauling the security of tenancy for hundreds of thousands of people. My colleagues and I will support it at decision time today.