Battle looms in Scotland over rent controls as Labour and SNP disagree

The SNP’s proposed New Deal for Tenants will extend rent controls and make them permanent as well as strengthening tenants’ rights but Labour has now said it will not support them, but does back reigning-in runaway rent increases.

The current temporary rent controls which came in in 2022 have been heavily criticised, as the 3% cap only applies to existing tenancies so landlords tend to hike rents between them to compensate.

Ministers are now proposing to make them permanent and extend them by introducing rent control zones with their own individual price caps.

The Bill will also strengthen tenants’ rights, including the right to keep pets, decorate homes and give better protection against eviction.

The Housing Bill in its current form is unsupportable.“

The existing rent controls have already resulted in the UK’s highest rental inflation (11.1%) and the number of landlords leaving the sector has led to housing emergencies being declared in Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

With many in the Labour Party calling for rent controls during the election, the property sector is keeping a close eye on how events unfold north of the border.

And although Scottish Labour have said that tenants should be protected from unaffordable rents and unscrupulous landlords, shadow economy secretary Daniel Johnson said: “The Housing Bill in its current form is unsupportable.“

Get worse

“We have a supply problem and the government is trying to fix that with demand measures, but unless they fix the supply issue everything else will get worse.”

In Westminster, Labour’s Housing minister Matthew Pennycook has said unequivocally that rent controls would not be introduced in England.