A leading Scots letting agent has warned that policies which seek to undermine the PRS are damaging tenants’ wellbeing.

David Alexander, CEO of DJ Alexander Scotland, says the latest Scottish Housing Survey illustrates that the PRS – rather than replacing social housing – serves a very different market.

“The people living in the PRS are much younger, tend to be better paid, and are more mobile than those in social housing,’” explains Alexander. “They work, they travel, they are more likely to come from another culture, and they are not seeking a lifelong home in the PRS but are using it for employment, for convenience, and for lifestyle reasons.”

Employed

The data reveals that 81% of those in social housing were aged 35 and over, while 52% of those in the PRS were under 34. In terms of economic status, 66% of tenants in the PRS were employed, or self-employed, compared with 39% of those in social housing.

When it came to how long each tenant had been in a property, 56% of PRS occupiers reported two years or less, while just 24% have been in social housing for the same period.

Superfluous

“Policies which seek to undermine, or demonise the PRS, in the belief that social housing can service all tenants’ needs are therefore not only superfluous and uninformed but actually damaging to the wellbeing of tenants in Scotland,” he adds.

“The assumption that social housing is good and private housing is bad is a false and unrealistic notion and we must, in 2025, start to address the very real housing issues that such thinking has caused and will continue to cause unless it is immediately addressed.”

Scotland’s Housing Bill, which is currently being drafted, has been amended to allow landlords to increase rents above inflation, or up to 6% in rent control areas, but landlord groups still want the power to adjust rents between tenancies.

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