Housing (Scotland) Bill

This consultation seeks views on how powers within the Housing (Scotland) Bill (“the Bill”) could be used to exempt certain types of properties from rent control and the circumstances where rents could be increased above the level of any introduced rent cap.

The Bill, as introduced to Parliament on 26 March 2024, creates a power for Scottish Ministers to introduce rent control areas. This would only be done following an assessment of an area’s rents by the local authority and a consultation with the relevant local authority and representatives of affected landlords and tenants. If the Scottish Ministers are satisfied, after reviewing this evidence, that capping rent increases for Private Residential Tenancies (PRTs) in an area is necessary and proportionate, that area may be designated as a rent control area through regulations that must be approved by the Scottish Parliament.

Rent increases for properties let under PRTs in rent control areas (other than exempt properties) would be limited to once per year, regardless of how many tenancies are granted by the landlord in that period – one increase per property per year. This means that the rent cap would apply to rent increases both during and between tenancies, to stabilise the level of rents within the area and avoid the potential for rents to continue to rise more steeply between tenancies.