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14/7/25 8:13 pm
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Student tenancies won’t be covered by rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill after MSPs voted not to include them during the Bill’s final stage of its journey through Parliament.
Housing secretary Mairi McAllan said it had always been clear that student tenancies were not part of the mainstream private rented sector and should not be part of rent control legislation. McAllan said the Greens’ amendment at stage two had caused “significant confusion and concern in the sector” and that it had been a significant error to pass it.
This would have given ministers the power to implement a different rent control scheme on the student sector. Green MSP Maggie Chapman tried to argue that the amendment “sets out the important principle that students deserve the same protections as everyone else renting the roof over their heads”.
McAllan added: “It is crucial that we carefully define the scope of our exemptions that we bring forward so that they can serve their intended purpose of balancing those rights of landlords and tenants.”
Earlier this week, the housing secretary announced that mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties would be exempt from the rent control legislation, a move which has been criticised by the Greens and tenants’ union Living Rent.
The group staged a protest outside the Parliament building, calling on MSPs to vote for rent controls without exemptions as it believes they will undermine the Bill, create a two-tier system of tenants and “prioritise the profits of landlords and developers over tenants’ right to affordable and secure housing”.
The Bill also includes protection against illegal evictions, Awaab’s law for Scotland and the right to keep a pet and to redecorate as a tenant. MSPs voted on nearly 200 amendments at its third stage, with a similar sitting expected today before a final debate next week.
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