Scotland’s tenants’ union says landlords can’t be trusted to regulate themselves and has warned that removing rent rise protections will lead to an uptick in de facto evictions and homelessness.

Ruth Gilbert, national campaigns chair of Living Rent, believes it is “wildly irresponsible” that there’s no plan to replace the last remaining mechanism for tenants to challenge unfair rent hikes, which is due to be lifted on 31st March, before permanent rent controls become law.

The country’s temporary system of rent adjudication allows tenants to challenge their rent hikes at tribunal without being penalised. Since its introduction, more than 900 tenants have used the service - up from 200 applications in the previous six years. Writing in The Morning Star, Gilbert says this increase is precisely because tenants could make an application in the knowledge that their rent would not go any higher than what the landlord proposed. The current protections cap rents at a maximum of 12%, or the landlord’s proposal, whichever is lower.

Rent adjudication

Housing Minister Paul McLennan has confirmed that Scotland will return to the previous system of rent adjudication, meaning no upper cap, and crucially, no mechanism to prevent the tribunal setting the rent even higher than the landlord’s proposal.

The Scottish government’s data shows that the average rent increase proposed since April 2024 was 20%, with the highest single proposed rent increase a staggering 90%, says Gilbert.

“The removal of these protections will give landlords carte blanche to charge whatever they want until the provisions of the Housing Bill become law, likely in 2026 or 2027,” she adds.

“It’s obvious that landlords cannot be trusted to regulate themselves, and tenants need these temporary measures to be extended until robust rent controls are implemented. Tenants just won’t use a system where they could be further penalised. As we’ve seen time and again, unaffordable rent hikes result in de facto evictions.”