A leading letting agent and landlord in Scotland has laid the blame for the country’s rental supply woes firmly at the feet of former Tenants’ Rights minister Patrick Harvie.

Private landlord Jim Parker, who is also MD of multi-chain Fife Properties, says the massive increase in rents is a direct result of rent control legislation imposed by the Greens and the SNP. Harvie taught every landlord in Scotland to review and increase their rents every year, says Parker. “Most landlords didn’t before that.”

The two parties ended their power-sharing agreement, putting Harvie – a key force behind the government’s rent control proposals and eviction ban – out of a job. First Minister Humza Yousaf has also now resigned.

Rents rising

Scotland has seen annual rent growth faster than anywhere else in the UK despite being hampered by rent controls, as private landlords quit the sector. A survey of Scottish Association of Landlords members recently found that there could be about 22,000 fewer homes available to rent in Scotland at the start of 2024 than just a year ago.

Parker tells LandlordZONE that as the Scottish landlord register has a three-year registration period, the total fall-out has still to be counted, says Parker. “I think we’ll see the number of rental properties continue to decline,” he explains. “It was non-commercial thinking – they need to have a rethink about withdrawing the Housing Bill and to have a consultation into how the system works.”

Adds Parker: “Ministers don’t understand the PRS. I’ll never forgive the party that stood back and allowed it all to happen and succeeded in becoming the party that presided over the highest homelessness rate on record.”