Legislation in Scotland has done little to improve affordability in the PRS, according to new research.
The RentBetter study found that although rent stabilisation measures have had some positive impacts as limits on in-tenancy rent raises have reduced rent increase levels for a minority of renters, advertised rents have continued to increase significantly.
Research carried out between 2019 and 2024 by Indigo House and funded by the Nationwide Foundation, examined the impact of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 which introduced private residential tenancies. The authors said it wasn’t possible to conclude whether legislation had driven the reduction of PRS stock and availability of lets in the PRS, but that the scale and nature of more recent regulation in Scotland had certainly impacted on investors’ appetite to remain in the sector.
Research pointed to a conflict between letting agents who were much more likely to increase rents to sitting tenants than landlords, while more landlords had moved to letting agents to manage their stock due to increasing complexity of regulation and perceived risk.
It also found that despite having increased rights under the new tenancy system, tenants usually did not know about these rights or know how to use them; of the 1,000 renters interviewed, only 1% had ever contacted their local council enforcement team.
However, most tenants (80%) were confident that they would be able to stay in their current property for as long as they would like, and the proportion being ‘very confident’ had increased significantly over the last five years, from 27% in 2019 to 46% in 2024.
The Renters Reform Coalition has highlighted the fact that in 20% of cases where tenants were evicted under new eviction grounds for landlords intending to sell the property introduced in 2016, the landlord did not in fact, sell the property. It wants the Labour government to learn from the findings as it progresses its Renters’ Rights Bill.
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