‘Our landlords want to sell up!’ say Scottish Propertymark members
The trade body tells Housing Minister Patrick Harvie that rent controls in Scotland are forcing landlords to sell up and leave the market.
Propertymark says 100% of its members in Scotland have reported evidence of landlords considering selling their rental properties in response to rent controls north of the border.
The trade body has campaigned vociferously against a rent cap imposed by the Scottish Government, which it says has hit property owners hard.
The current emergency legislation introduced under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, which set a rent cap of 3%, is due to expire at the end of March.
The original aim behind the act was to stop tenants from being evicted by a landlord who wanted to raise rents.
Once cap gone
Now, Patrick Harvie, minister for tenants’ rights (main picture), has told Propertymark that once the cap is gone, the rent adjudication process will be changed to take into account the open market rent, a landlord’s proposed increase and a new taper calculation.
The taper will specify a maximum ‘reasonable’ increase for the tenancy.
Detrimental
Propertymark says it has been in frequent contact with Harvie to present evidence about the detrimental effects of the Cost of Living Act, a lot of which was not considered by the Scottish Government.
It says that 100 per cent of its members in Scotland reported evidence of landlords looking to sell their properties.
Rent increased by 5.1 per cent in the twelve months to March 2023 in Scotland, despite there being a rent cap, Propertymark claims.
Campaigners, including Propertymark, failed in an attempt to overturn the rent cap through judicial review.
Failed! Rents rocket despite ‘cap’ in Scotland, new figures show
I am sure if you asked English landlords the same question, a high percentage of those are also thinking of exiting the market as their mortgages come to an end or change rates.
UK and Scottish Government dont want ”us” as Landlords, they seem to only want to big hitters such as the failing John Lewis Group – or AVIVA or some other jugganaughts to provide accommodation.
its OK for me I have done ok out of my risk investments (Why shoudnt I?) and offered good rents to tenants until the current mortgage hikes – and now I am getting blamed for hiking the rents (Which if tenants were owners, they would not be able to negotiate mortgage payments).
It all started with George Osborne and shows no end with the war on decent landlords, especially when labour get in.
Yeah i know of at elast 100+ properties comming off the rental market in the next 5 years. The tip of the iceberg.