Rent control: equality impact assessment results

Key Findings – Landlords

Little robust data is available on the demographic characteristics of Scottish private landlords as a group. One survey by Shelter and YouGov in 2016^[4], sampling from across the UK, found that their respondents were approximately 45% female and tended to be older and more affluent than the general population, as well as less likely to have children living in the home with them, however it is not known whether this sample is representative of Scottish landlords more widely and the proportion of the overall sample drawn from Scotland is small.

Evidence from a 2013 study^[5] which carried out a secondary data analysis of the UK Wealth and Assets Survey found similar proportions of female landlords (46%) to the Shelter survey, which is slightly lower than the average for the UK population at the time. This study also found that, in terms of ethnicity, PRS landlords were majority white (88%) which was broadly in line with the proportion of white adults aged 16 or more in the general population at the time (89%). Although this data is now older and may not reflect the current situation in the Scottish PRS, evidence from the 2022 English Private Landlord Survey^[6], a repeat survey carried out by DLUHC, found that 44% of private landlords in England at that time were women, and in terms of ethnicity, 88% of landlords identified as White, with 4% Indian, 2% Black, 1% Pakistani or Bangladeshi and the remaining 5% Other. This was broadly in line with the 2011 Census statistics for England and Wales which found that 86% of the population identified as White, 3% Indian, 3% Black, 3% Pakistani or Bangladeshi and the remaining 5% Other^[7]. While this data does not all apply to Scotland directly, it may provide indicative information.

Broadly speaking, there is evidence from sector engagement and recent studies that some private landlords and landlord organisations have concern about the potential impacts of rent control and other regulations on their rental profits and willingness to remain in the market, but direct evidence has not been identified that indicates equalities characteristics will cause landlords to experience rent control legislation differently. However, it is possible that equalities characteristics may intersect with other socio-economic characteristics and behaviours (in particular the financial resources available to a landlord) in a way that affects landlords' resilience to change. For example, older, retired landlords with no pension/savings who depend on a few rental properties as their sole source of income may find it harder to adapt to regulatory change. The available data is insufficiently fine-grained to quantify how many landlords might fall into such groups. The impact on such landlords will also depend on the number of rent control areas established and the level at which the rent cap is set, and there is a requirement for Scottish Ministers to consult persons representing the interests of tenants and landlords in the proposed rent control area before the imposition of any rent controls. The rent control framework provides a significant degree of flexibility to allow the parameters to be chosen in a way to help stabilise rents in areas where market rents have been increasing particularly steeply, whilst ensuring a balanced approach that provides appropriate protection for the property rights of landlords.

In summary, the evidence base around equalities characteristics among private landlords in Scotland is limited. The data that exists is not strong in relation to what it can tell us about Scotland, but it may provide some indicative information about the Scottish sector. It is likely that the population of landlords within the PRS includes those with protected characteristics including ethnicity and gender which may potentially influence the way in which they are impacted by legislation. However, given the lack of recent, context-specific evidence in this area, additional research is required to address some of these data gaps, some of which could be incorporated into the evaluation strategy for the Bill.