THE Scottish Government has launched a scheme to guarantee rental income to boost the build-to-rent housing market.

The Rental Income Guarantee Scheme (Rigs) cuts risk for investors in these developments and could potentially support the creation of 2500 private rented homes and attract £500 million in investment.

Rigs is the first project of its kind in the UK and involves the Scottish Government underwriting 50 per cent of any gap between 75 per cent and 95 per cent of agreed rental income, within a defined band, to give investors and landlords greater certainty of rental income to investors.

Launching the initiative, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “Rigs is a unique scheme, which will boost this emerging sector.”