We want practical, workable rent controls implemented. Below is an extract from Living Rent's website:

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Why rent controls?

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• ​Rents in Scotland are out of control - over the last 12 months rents have gone up by by almost 10% in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Highlands, with many other areas seeing big increases.

• ​Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that the number of people living in poverty who live in the private rented sector has tripled over the last decade.

• ​High rents trap people in private rented housing, by leaving them with not enough at the end of the month to put towards a deposit. That creates a vicious cycle where people have no other options in terms of housing.

• The effects of high rents are disproportionately felt amongst already disadvantaged groups. Women, young people, and migrant communities – who typically earn less than the average – are hit twice as hard by high rents.

• The quality of private rented housing is also unacceptable - in 2016, the Scottish House Conditions Survey found that 60% of privately rented homes was in a state of disrepair - worse than for any other tenure type. If rent controls were linked to the quality of housing, it would provide an immediate incentive for landlords to improve the quality.

• Rents controls are also really popular - a recent poll shows 75% support across Scotland, and 85% amongst SNP voters.

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What’s our proposal?

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The rent controls we are proposing take the best aspects from models across Europe and to learn from the challenges these models have faced, to build a model specific for Scotland’s needs:

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• We want a points-based system that links the maximum rent a landlord can charge to the quality of the flat; this would act as a carrot for them to make improvements, and a stick for landlords who refuse to do so.

• This would also be attached to the property, not the lease - meaning that tenants moving out wouldn’t have any impact on the rent.

• We also want rents limited to a specific Rent Affordability Index to ensure that they are affordable for tenants in any given area.

• To oversee this all, we want a new Scottish Living Rent Commission to act as an umbrella body and a centre of expertise and regulation in the private rented sector.

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Why not rent pressure zones?

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In 2016, the Scottish Government introduced “Rent Pressure Zones”, and these were meant to stop unaffordable rents - but they have failed utterly:

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• The burden of proof on local authorities is unreasonable and creates unnecessary barriers in making successful applications. No council has successfully been able to use these powers.

• RPZs only create rental limits within tenancies and do not prevent rent hikes between tenancies—doing little to stabilise rents in the long term and creating dangerous side-effects.

• RPZs only limit increases in rent, so do not address the fact that rents in much of Scotland are already too high.

• RPZs do nothing to improve the quality of Scotland’s PRS housing stock. As detailed below, we believe this is a significant missed opportunity and that proper rent controls represent a powerful tool to improve the quality of Scotland’s PRS stock.

• The 2016 Act sought to provide greater tenant security, but without workable controls on rent, landlords can easily force out tenants through rent increases.

• RPZs can only be applied to small, localised areas, so cannot address the scale and degree of the rent problem in Scotland.

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Living Rent activists campaign for decent and affordable housing for all. Living Rent Edinburgh can help local tenants based in Edinburgh with any landlord issues. If you are a Gorgie Dalry tenant, do consider joining the Gorgie Dalry branch as they meet monthly online (Contact: gorgiedalry@livingrent.org).