RENT control campaigners today hit back after a major letting agent slammed “draconian” Scottish Government plans to help tenants.
In its monthly buy-to-let index, Your Move said Scottish Government proposals to protect tenants from rent hikes by rogue landlords would “scare” property owners out of the market and reduce the supply of available homes.
The Private Tenancies Bill aims to improve the security of those in private rental accommodation and provide clear safeguards for landlords.
It also introduces the ability to bring in local rent controls in high pressure areas and removes the “no-fault” repossession rules, which allows property owners to ask tenants to move out at the end of a fixed-term contract without further justification.
Around 330,000 households live in privately rented housing, including 85,000 families with children, and the sector showed 12 per cent growth last year.
The proposed changes were welcomed by campaigners but Your Move have now accused MSPs of harming the sector.
The comments came despite the agent’s own data showing more and more Scots are struggling to pay their rent, with tenant arrears reaching a record high of 12.2 per cent.
Despite this, monthly charges continued to rise last month, with a 1.7 per cent annual increase taking the average cost to £546 per month.
Your Move lettings director Brian Moran said: “The vast discrepancy between demand and supply of available homes to let has not disappeared and this gap will only widen if landlords are scared out of the market by the government’s proposed regulatory changes and draconian rent controls.
“Paying the rent on time is clearly a deeper-rooted problem that goes beyond rental prices.
“Not every household is tasting the fruits of Scotland’s economic recovery, or all Scots seeing their incomes rise substantially to lift themselves out of the red.
“The supply of available homes to let is also struggling to keep up with demand and there is an urgent need for further buy-to-let investment in Scotland to ease some of the financial pressure.”
He added: “Rent controls and the red tape outlined in the Private Tenancies Bill will end up being more of a hindrance than a help to tenants if landlords are dissuaded from investing in the private rented sector as a result and if competition for available properties mounts.”
According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the average person renting privately spends almost 25 per cent of their income on keeping a roof over their head.
This compares to 18 per cent of income for those in social housing and 11 per cent for owner-occupiers with a mortgage.
The Living Rent Campaign, which is backed by groups including the National Union of Students, the Unite union and domestic abuse charity Zero Tolerance, petitioned Holyrood for change, gathering around 8,000 signatures on the issue.
Yesterday the campaign’s Liz Ely said: “Far from showing any improvement in the affordability of renting, these figures indicate that one in 10 tenants is now unable to meet their monthly payments. There is clearly a crisis of affordability in the private rented sector.
“All too often, rents are unaffordably high and the quality of accommodation unacceptably low. We urgently need rent controls to make the private rented sector fit for purpose.
“Only rogue landlords would oppose legislation to guard against excessive and unjustified rent increases.
“A recent poll shows 73 per cent of Scots in favour of rent controls and the Scottish Government is right to listen, but the focus must now be on ensuring these controls are rigorous, watertight and that they have the effect of bringing rents down and standards up.”
The Scottish Government said: “The new Private Tenancies Bill will provide security, stability, and predictability for 700,000 tenants in Scotland, introducing a modern tenancy to make it a more professionally managed and better-regulated sector that provides good quality homes and is attractive to those who want to live, work and invest in it.
“We want to ensure that the private rented sector is properly regulated, with the interests of landlords and tenants fairly balanced.
“It is essential people renting private homes are offered the peace of mind of knowing that any rent rises will be reasonable.”
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