Hansard

We are looking into David Stewart’s point, which he raised during the committee’s scrutiny of the bill. He has made the point, and the committee alluded to it in its report. As I said, we will carefully consider the stage 1 report and we will come back on the matter before stage 2. It is something that I am looking at. We use the CPI because it is a national measure—it is generally used for recording. However, we are considering what was said during the discussion on the matter, and we will come back on it.

As I said, the new tenancy and the provisions on rents will provide a step change in improving the quality of private renting by changing the relationship. That is not just my belief. The Scottish Association of Landlords is supportive of the principle and of the need for the bill, Crisis strongly welcomes the bill, and Shelter Scotland has given its full support to the bill’s core principles.

I recognise that landlords must have confidence in their ability to effectively manage and regain possession of their property. If they do not have that confidence, there is a risk that some of them could leave the sector. We do not want that, which is why it is so important to ensure that the grounds for repossession cover all the reasonable circumstances in which landlords might need to recover their property.

We have considered the grounds carefully, including looking at whether they should be mandatory or discretionary. Following our consultation, we increased the number of grounds from eight to 16. It should be remembered, however, that, in most cases under the current tenancy, it is tenants who end the tenancy, and I expect that to continue.

However, if a landlord brings a tenancy to an end and that is disputed, an application will need to be made to the new first-tier tribunal, which will provide a more accessible, specialist form of redress. I want to make it absolutely clear that landlords will need to provide evidence in support of an application, whether the ground is mandatory or discretionary. If the application concerns a mandatory ground, the tribunal will still need to establish whether that ground has been met before it can grant an order for eviction.

Sanctions will apply if a landlord misleads a tenant into leaving their home or the first-tier tribunal into issuing an eviction order. Some of those are set out in the bill, as they are specific to the new tenancy, but criminal sanctions, such as those for illegal eviction, will also continue to apply.

The Government will ensure that tenants are made fully aware of their rights. For instance, in the notices that the bill prescribes for the new tenancy we will include information about tenants’ rights and about where to seek advice.

The new tenancy will sit alongside the other work that we are doing to improve enforcement in the sector. We will publish new statutory guidance for local authorities on landlord registration to deliver tougher, more targeted enforcement, and we will continue to work with our partners, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and local authorities to ensure that the PRS is regulated effectively and robustly.

The committee’s report contains a number of detailed recommendations and comments, and it calls on the Government to consider and respond to them during the later stages of the bill’s parliamentary scrutiny. We are still reflecting on those at present, as I said in response to David Stewart, and I will set out our position on each of them in response to the report before stage 2.

I take this opportunity to briefly touch on one of the committee’s recommendations. The student sector featured heavily in the evidence that was presented to the committee, and I note the committee’s recommendation that we consider options for enabling tenancies to be set for agreed terms in purpose-built student accommodation. As I said, we are still reflecting on all the recommendations, and I am happy to give the issue further consideration.

I want to be clear that what we are proposing is an open-ended tenancy that should apply to all tenants in the sector. In the bill as it stands, students who rent privately will still be able to end a tenancy after nine months if they choose to do so. Landlords will still be able to advertise their property well in advance if a tenant has already given their notice to leave. The bill sets out a minimum period for that, but there is nothing to prevent such notice from being provided earlier. That is a matter of landlords and tenants communicating and engaging with each other.

A tenant can give notice as early as they wish if they want to be there for only a specific term, which will allow the landlord to advertise their property for holiday lets, festival lets or whatever. That is a different way of working that they will have to get used to, but there is nothing in the bill to prevent that.

The Government has undertaken extensive consultation and carefully developed the policy to ensure that we get the balance right. This is very much about getting the balance right. We have heard from some landlord organisations that we are taking the policy far too far and from other organisations that we are not taking it far enough. However, we think that we have got the balance right.

We want to create a better and more professional private rented sector. The new private residential tenancy that is set out in the bill is key to achieving that.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill.