Fact sheet: Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 (Amendment of Expiry Dates and Rent Cap Modification) Regulations 2023

The average rent for a two-bedroom home in Scotland has increased by over 14%, reaching an average of £841 – an extra £105 per month compared to the previous year – as landlords try to cover increasing costs and prepare for the impact of new legislation.

Propertymark continues to assert there is no advantage to introducing rent controls and urges Scottish Ministers to properly evaluate the evidence both from UK and across the world. Whilst formulating our response to the most recent engagement questionnaire we hosted a roundtable with members and Scottish Government officials where the strength of feeling from agents was clearly communicated.

Today, 2 November 2023, the Opinion of the Hon Lord Harrower was released on Propertymark’s joint Judicial Review Petition, alongside the Scottish Association of Landlords and Scottish Land & Estates, that challenged the Scottish Government’s rent control and eviction ban under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

Stakeholders have just a few weeks to add their voices to the discussion on Scottish Government plans to introduce a system of long-term rent controls for the private rented sector, strengthen tenant protections during the eviction process, enshrine the right to personalise a rented home, and make it easier for a tenant to request to keep a pet.