Timothy Douglas, Propertymark’s head of policy and campaigns has given evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee as part of the Stage 1 examination of the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 27 March 2024 and central to the legislation are proposals to require local authorities to assess rent conditions in their area at least once every five years, and powers for Scottish ministers to introduce rent control areas and place limits on rent increases.

Commenting on the provisions for rent control, Douglas said: “Despite the policy work leading up to the legislation talking about affordable rents, supply of rented homes, and quality raising standards, the Bill does very little to increase the supply of private rented homes and only offers rent control as the solution for affordability.”

He added: “Rent levels are high because there are too many people who have to rent, and not enough homes available.”

Criticising the ‘huge disconnect’ between the Scottish government’s proposals and what is actually happening in the market, Douglas said there was “nothing in the Bill to help meet the huge demand crisis in the private rental sector”.

He also commented on the ‘lack of consistency’ from the legislation regarding how rent control areas will operate across the country and there being no statutory timescales for ministers to report and make announcements.

Douglas argued that information should also be collected on the reason for rent increases for ministers to better understand what is happening. If information had been collected on why rent increases are necessary, then previous laws like the Cost-of-Living Act could have been implemented better or not at all.

Douglas also commented on how it was wrong to compare the private and social rented housing sectors – there are unique differences including the £200m grant funding for retrofitting that is available to social rented sector landlord whereas as up to £15,000 loans are only available to private landlords.

The Bill also includes new rights to rent with pets, decorate and personalise properties, as well as improved safeguards against eviction and the use of unclaimed deposits.

Douglas said: “The proposals in the Housing (Scotland) Bill for rent control areas are inconsistent, will cause confusion, and local authority assessments must do more to produce evidence-based policy outcomes. Linking rent control to inflation and determining areas by street or ward as well as ministers working to statutory timeframes when determining rent control areas would help bring more clarity for agents.”

“Furthermore, to better understand the private rented sector, the Scottish Government must commit in the Bill to review all costs and taxes impacting private landlords and publish an annual parliamentary update on the state of the private rented sector in Scotland.”