Rent control: equality impact assessment results

Background

The Scottish Government wants to improve housing outcomes for those who rent their home and we know rent levels, as set by the market in the PRS, can be unaffordable for some tenants in some areas, leading to people struggling to find suitable rented homes.

Rent control policies are aimed at making rents more affordable and ensuring tenants are less likely to be ‘priced out’ of housing due to rent increases. The introduction of a national system of rent controls in the private sector will contribute towards achieving our overarching objective of improved outcomes for tenants. Rent control is designed to help stabilise rents in areas where market rents have been increasing particularly steeply, whilst ensuring there can be a balanced approach that provides appropriate protection for the property rights of landlords.

The measures being introduced stand to create the framework to deliver a nationally consistent approach to the consideration of the need for rent control, whilst maintaining the link to local circumstances. Local authorities will take the lead in carrying out mandatory assessments in their areas, ensuring that local circumstances are taken into account, to reflect the geographical variations that can exist in conditions relating to rents across Scotland. The assessments will be carried out on a cyclical basis, to ensure there is ongoing consideration of the need for rent control.

The outcome of these assessments will inform Scottish Ministers’ decisions on whether it is justified and proportionate to designate rent control areas for the purpose of protecting the social and economic interests of tenants in those areas.

In any area designated for rent control, the restriction on the level of rent increases that are permitted will apply both within 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.