The Scottish government’s failure to plan for the end of temporary rent controls has led to rents rising faster in Scotland than in most other parts of the UK, new figures show.

Landlords are now free to raise rents following the end of the control period in March, provided they give 12 months’ notice, but tenants can contest it with Rent Service Scotland (RSS).

Data obtained by Scottish Labour show that average contested rents jumped by 20%, with one landlord attempting to raise rents by 186%. The same data indicated an almost four-fold increase in the number of applications received by RSS - 903 adjudication requests - since the 3% rent cap ended.

Alternative

Mark Griffin, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson for housing, says: “Sadly these figures show that rather than fixing the roof with the rent freeze, the SNP just put out a bucket to catch the drips. The SNP’s inability to come up with a viable alternative to rent controls in time have left tenants dealing with a cliff edge of rent increases when emergency legislation ended.”

Housing minister Paul McLennan (right) tells The Herald that the rent cap provided protection for tenants within existing tenancies and that its temporary changes to the way rents are decided protect people from very steep in-tenancy rises. “The Rent Service Scotland figures show it is important that this extra protection is in place, and I welcome that tenants are making use of it," says McLennan.

Assessments

The Scottish government’s proposed Housing Bill would require local councils to carry out assessments on the condition of the private rental sector and make recommendations to ministers about imposing rent controls. Rent rises would also be capped during and between tenancies.

Recent data from the Zoopla Rental Market Report found that across Scotland, rent increased by nearly 10% over the last 12 months, higher than anywhere else except North East England.

‍