THIS summer, Scotland’s organised tenants stand on the cusp of victory at Holyrood. But with another dangerous cliff edge on the horizon, the fight for robust rent controls and a transformed housing system has never been more urgent. 

Scotland remains in a national housing emergency, one caused by a market-driven system which has prioritised private developers and landlords over working-class people. This emergency has not come about overnight. It has been created through decades of political choices which have resulted in the mass sell-off of our public housing stock, a systematic deregulation of the private rented sector, and consequently a lack of genuinely affordable homes for social rent. 

This spring, Stage 2 of Scotland’s Housing Bill will proceed through Parliament. It contains, among other key provisions, proposals for robust rent controls tied to the property which have the ability to bring out-of-control rents down. We know that landlords and their lobbyists are working hard to water these provisions down, but rent controls, if done right, will be part of a holistic solution towards building a housing system which works in the interests of Scotland’s people. However, the road to meaningful rent controls remains paved with challenges and several irresponsible decisions by Housing Minister Paul McLennan put the key strengths of the Bill at risk. These decisions must be named and challenged. 

Since the Scottish government proposed its New Deal For Tenants under the now dismantled Bute House Agreement, it has subsequently introduced — and scrapped — a range of temporary measures designed to limit the worst excesses of the private rented sector until the deal can be finalised and made law. Through temporary and partial rent caps, followed by temporary reform to the mechanisms by which tenants can challenge rent hikes, some key protections and organising ground have been won. However, on March 31, the last remaining mechanism for tenants to challenge unfair rent hikes is due to be lifted, with no plan to replace it with any alternative before permanent rent controls become law. This is wildly irresponsibly and — make no mistake — will cause an uptick in de facto evictions and homelessness across Scotland.

Since the end of the cost of living emergency rent cap in April 2024, a new system of rent adjudication has been in place, allowing tenants to challenge their rent hikes at tribunal and, crucially, not be penalised for doing so. Since the introduction of these temporary measures, over 900 tenants have used the adjudication service. The increase in use of the system (up from 200 applications in the previous six years) is precisely because tenants could make an application in the knowledge that their rent would not go any higher than what the landlord proposed. Removing these measures would remove this protection and make challenging a rent increase potentially punitive. 

In short, the current protections cap rents at a maximum of 12 per cent, or the landlord’s proposal, whichever is lower. This system is far from perfect, but it has enabled hundreds of tenants across Scotland to challenge astronomical proposed rent increases over the past 10 months, and crucially, to stay in their homes. The Scottish government’s own data shows that the average rent increase proposed since April 2024 was an eye-watering 20 per cent, with the highest single proposed rent increase being a staggering 90 per cent! The removal of these protections will give landlords carte blanche to charge whatever they want until the provisions of the Housing Bill become law, likely in 2026 or 2027. It’s obvious that landlords cannot be trusted to regulate themselves, and tenants need these temporary measures to be extended until robust rent controls are implemented.

On the first of April, Housing Minister Paul McLennan has confirmed that we will return to the previous system of rent adjudication, meaning no upper cap, and crucially, no mechanism to prevent the tribunal setting the rent even higher than the landlord’s proposal. Living Rent has been told that these measures are being scrapped due to the “end” of a period of emergency cost-of-living protections. This in and of itself is laughable. However, we are still (by the Scottish government’s own declaration) in the middle of a national housing emergency. It is completely irresponsible not to mention economically illiterate to return to the weak adjudication system that predated this and allow such volatility in the private rented sector. Tenants just won’t use a system where they could be further penalised. As we’ve seen time and again, unaffordable rent hikes result in de facto evictions. With local authorities across Scotland buckling under the pressure of homelessness figures and housing waiting lists, it’s time for McLennan to get serious. 

The time for decisive action is now. Scotland is already significantly further down the road towards meaningful rent controls than any other nation in the UK. Given this, we can’t have a window with no regulation of private rents at such a crucial time; we cannot go backwards.

The Scottish government has a historic opportunity to make this the Bill a reality, and responsibility to protect tenants until rent controls become law. If they fail on either front, tenants will not soon forgive them. 

Ruth Gilbert is the national campaigns chair of Living Rent, Scotland’s Tenants Union.