Ninety per cent of landlords have flatly rejected future widespread rent control across Scotland, in a new Holyrood survey.

The Scottish government poll garnered 6,650 responses, 2,893 private landlords of whom were PRS landlords - most with small portfolios – aimed at shaping legislation to deliver A New Deal for Tenants through a Housing Bill.

With the existing emergency legislation due to end in April, it found respondents were most likely to comment on rent controls, with three in five raising the issue.

Its report explained: “The considerable majority of those (around nine in ten), including most of those who identified themselves as private landlords, noted their opposition to the introduction of rent controls.

“Among the more frequently expressed views were that respondents felt the introduction of rent controls was already leading to landlords exiting the sector, and that this trend will continue.”

They added that since rent caps had been introduced, private rents in Scotland had risen faster than anywhere else in the UK.

Freeze

John Blackwood (pictured), chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords, says it has already been shown that the rent freeze caused increased costs for tenants.

“The prospect of future rent controls is one of the reasons landlords are telling us they are selling up and leaving the sector,” he tells LandlordZONE. “In turn, this will only reduce supply further, increase rents, and ultimately it will be tenants who pay the cost of these ill-considered and ineffective government policies.”

Patrick Harvie (main picture), Tenants’ Rights Minister, told The Herald that private renting had always been characterised by some landlords leaving and others entering. He added: “Rent control systems are widespread across Europe, including in some countries with larger private rented sectors than in Scotland.”