Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee 20 May 2025
Absolutely. Mid-market rent and build to rent are among the areas of key focus for other stakeholders, in particular tenants and their representatives, that we have discussed. I assure Meghan Gallacher that work to encourage those exact points to be made is on-going.
09:00Amendment 220, in the name of Rachael Hamilton, would require that rent increase notices for private residential tenancies in rent control areas set out the reasons for the proposed rent increase. It is not clear what benefit that would provide for tenants. Under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, a tenant with a private residential tenancy can refer a proposed rent increase to a rent officer for adjudication, and the rent officer will determine the rent with reference to the factors that are set out in the relevant sections of the act. Those factors do not include consideration of the reason for the rent increase.
I am of the view that requiring all landlords with private residential tenancies to provide that information to tenants when increasing the rent would be an unnecessary intrusion into the landlord’s privacy with no obvious benefit to tenants, and there would clearly be an increase in the bureaucracy and requirements for private landlords. In addition, there would be significant resource implications in relation to the administration of such information. I urge her not to move the amendment.
Amendments 494 to 496, in the name of Maggie Chapman, seek to introduce an adjudication process that would include consideration of market rents and property quality when a tenant in a rent control area challenges an increase. Currently, rent increases in rent control areas will be limited in line with the cap, and the reference in the bill to the rent officer is to confirm that that is the case. Ms Chapman’s amendments 497 to 499 are similar to amendments 494 to 496 but would apply in cases in which a landlord or a tenant requests a review of a rent officer’s determination of a proposed increase.
The amendments effectively seek to override the rent cap and would instead create a subjective process that goes beyond the rent cap and the current process of applying open market rent for properties outwith rent control areas. The current proposals are the correct approach and provide clarity to investors and landlords, and I therefore cannot support the amendments.