WITH Armistice Day just past, Scots have been remembering those who fell during World War One. But 1915 was a time of struggle at home as well. A hundred years ago precisely this month, rent strikes were sweeping Glasgow and Scotland. Thousands of workers had arrived for jobs in shipyards and munitions factories and property owners raised rents thinking (mostly) female tenants would pay up because their men were away fighting. They thought wrong. Led by the redoubtable Mary Barbour, 20,000 tenants went on rent strike and on November 17, 1915 18 were taken to court for non-payment. This prompted shipyard and engineering workers to join the women marching on Glasgow Sheriff Court and less than a month later the Rent Restriction Act was passed – the first of its kind in Europe – setting rents at pre-war levels for the duration of the conflict.

Perhaps we need similar legislation now. Because a century on, the problem of disrepair and high rents in the private rented sector is just as bad (relatively speaking) – but it no longer makes headlines.

The shocking state of private rented accommodation during the war years meant Scotland embraced council housing with vigour and by the 1950s Scotland had a totally different housing profile to the rest of the UK. England was a property owning democracy but Scotland was not – until 1993 most Scots were public sector tenants. The huge importance of council housing in Scotland’s recent history seems to have left the policy makers of today with the false impression that private renting is a minority pursuit or a temporary phase. That’s totally wrong. Housing for sale, particularly in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, is unaffordable for “key workers” caused by the high cost of land, land scarcity, the tiny number of folk who own land and the absence of financial penalties for those who speculate upon it. Together with the difficulty of getting mortgages on short-term or zero hours contracts and the growth in “buy to let” mortgages, the private rented sector has grown – and changed. It’s not just “a phase in life” for many tenants anymore but a destination for folk with jobs, kids and enough of an education to protest about high rent and poor conditions. Private renting is not just a last resort for the unemployed. And these modern renters are getting organised.

The Living Rent campaign claims Scottish tenants spend roughly 25 per cent of their income on rent, compared with owner-occupiers who spend 11 per cent on mortgages. That’s a whopping and unsustainable differential. Edinburgh tenant and campaigner Jon Black has launched a 38 degrees petition calling for rent controls and an end to arbitrary eviction. He says: “There’s not much point having a living wage when a quarter is swallowed up in rent – often for the hardest-to-heat accommodation.”

Black was speaking at a Nordic Horizons event last week in Edinburgh addressed by Mariell Juhlin, head of national policy at the Swedish Union of Tenants. In Sweden the average renter pays “just” 34 per cent more than the average home owner and hot water and heating are included in the rent. Buildings are well insulated, standards are high and the Swedish Union of Tenants undertakes collective bargaining on rent rises for tenants. Its role is recognised by government and negotiations are framed by inflation, building type, size and quality. Swedish landlords cannot demand rent five per cent higher than similar public and private dwellings in the same area and of a similar standard. As a result this year’s average rent rise in Sweden was 1.1 per cent – last year’s was 0.7 per cent.

That sounds like Nirvana for hard-pressed tenants here. But according to Juhlin, the more regulated system works for landlords too, dramatically lowering costs by lowering tenant turnover. She presented a graph that showed only one area of investment in Sweden returns higher profits to investors than the private rented sector – equities. Being a Swedish landlord brings greater financial rewards than investing in bonds, industry or the retail sector despite all the regulation. Fancy that. So could a Swedish model for private renting work in Scotland? Happily, modest change is already on the way.

According to Professor Douglas Robertson of Stirling University, the Scottish Government’s Private Tenancies Bill breaks new ground with some protection against massive rises and the possibility of rent controls in “pressure areas” like parts of Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Living Rent campaigners plan to set up a Scottish Tenant’s Union, with help from their Swedish counterparts, in memory of Scottish campaigners who brought sanity to rents (for a brief time) a century back.