Chamber and committees

I do, and that is why the Government has a long-term programme of reform under the new deal for tenants, on which we have consulted and on which we will be working in relation to permanent legislation. Richard Leonard is well aware that temporary, emergency legislation needs to be justified as being proportionate in relation to the immediate circumstances. That is what we are doing.

I will move on. A great many members spoke about what they see as being the potential impact on the social rented sector. That is extremely important to the Government. From their different perspectives in the debate, Miles Briggs and Mark Griffin shared their concerns on that, some of which are very legitimate. Some members suggested that the measure has already had an impact on the rental income of RSLs. That is not the case. It will have no direct impact on the rental income of RSLs during the first six months.

I am very pleased to open the debate on the introduction of the Scottish Government’s Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill. In doing so, I express my thanks to everyone in the Government who has worked so hard, at an extraordinary pace, to make that possible.

Almost a month ago, the First Minister launched this year’s programme for government, which was published in the context of a severe cost crisis—one that poses a danger not only to livelihoods but to lives. At that time, perhaps we thought that it could not get much worse, but, thanks to the frankly astonishing actions of the United Kingdom Government in the past two weeks, it has. We should make no mistake: this has the makings of a humanitarian emergency. This Parliament does not have all the levers that we really need to fully tackle the crisis, but we are determined to do what we can with the powers that we have to protect those who need it most.

Tenants, on average, have lower household incomes and higher levels of poverty and are more vulnerable to economic shocks. Some 63 per cent of social rented households and 40 per cent of private rented households do not have enough in savings to cover even a month of income at the poverty line. That compares with 24 per cent of households that are buying with a mortgage and 9 per cent of households that own outright. Not many households will escape the cost crisis altogether, but tenants are much more exposed. That is why the bill will provide tenants in the private and social rented sectors, as well as those in college and university halls of residence and purpose-built student accommodation, with greater protection.

The UK Government’s response to the energy crisis through the energy price guarantee falls far short of what is needed to protect people from severe financial hardship. We anticipate that, as a result, many more tenants will fall into fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty this winter. Tenants do not just need help with their housing and energy costs; they need to feel secure at home over the winter.

With that context in mind, the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill has three key aims: first, to protect tenants by stabilising their housing costs by freezing rents; secondly, to reduce impacts on the health and wellbeing of tenants caused by being evicted or made homeless; and thirdly, to reduce unlawful evictions.

In addition to those important measures to protect tenants, the Government recognises that not all landlords are in the same financial position, so we have included in the bill necessary safeguards that will give them flexibility where it is genuinely needed. The intention is for the provisions to last until at least 31 March next year.

I am going to have to move on, I am afraid. I have taken a number of interventions.

As a result of changes that Parliament approved back in June, any eviction for rent arrears already has to take into account all the circumstances of both landlord and tenant that are judged to be reasonable by the tribunal or court, and it must be demonstrated that steps have been taken to help tenants to manage or reduce arrears.

The bill includes a provision to ensure that the restriction on the enforcement of an eviction order applies only for a maximum of six months from when the order was issued. That applies to individual cases and is separate from the consideration of whether the moratorium on evictions is extended beyond 31 March.

The restrictions will apply to all eviction orders granted in proceedings raised after the moratorium comes into force and will also apply to proceedings raised before the bill comes into force where the eviction notice was served after 6 September. It will not apply to eviction orders granted in proceedings raised before 6 September. Our aim here is to ensure that no one is evicted in a case started after, or in response to, the announcement of our intention to introduce an emergency rent freeze.

We know that many private landlords are professional and supported their tenants during the pandemic, but we cannot ignore the fact that a small minority will try to circumvent the new protections, including by trying to unfairly bring existing tenancies to an end. That is an affront both to tenants and to those landlords who follow the rules.

That is why the bill makes some vitally important changes to the way in which civil damages can be awarded for unlawful eviction, making it more attractive for tenants to challenge an unlawful eviction and receive appropriate damages where one has occurred. The provisions introduced in the bill replace the basis for the assessment of damages that the tribunal or court can award to a minimum of three times and a maximum of 36 times the monthly rent, though there will be discretion to award a lower amount if that is appropriate. In addition, the legislation will create reporting requirements where a landlord has been found to have unlawfully evicted a tenant. That will act as a strong disincentive to those unethical landlords who would seek to avoid going through the proper legal process.

The part of the bill that deals with rent adjudication looks ahead to a time when, we hope, we will be entering recovery from the cost crisis and are therefore intending to support transition out of the emergency measures. A big concern is that the lifting of the restrictions could lead to a large number of landlords seeking to increase their rent all at once. Returning to open market rent could result in significant and unmanageable rent increases for tenants and a volatile market. In those circumstances, the existing rent adjudication process would not provide an effective mechanism for determining a reasonable rent increase. The bill therefore contains a regulation-making power to temporarily reform the rent adjudication process to support transition out of the emergency measures and mitigate any unintended consequences from the ending of the cap.

The member will be well aware that, as with the temporary restrictions under the coronavirus legislation, not just criminal but antisocial behaviour is very clearly exempted from the moratorium on eviction.

During the debate, the member will have heard me make it clear two or three times now that we have not yet made decisions about what will happen after 31 March. In the period before then, there is no direct impact on rental income for social housing. Does he accept that we are working in good faith and are already having constructive dialogue with the social housing sector to understand all the important issues that he raises?

We are engaging actively with landlords in the social rented sector as we develop our temporary emergency measures, as well as the safeguards that will come alongside them. We continue to seek close partnership working with them to determine the best way forward from 1 April 2023.

To support that important work, officials convened the first meeting of a short-life task and finish working group earlier this week, bringing together leaders from across the sector. The group will help to support consideration of the decisions that we and social landlords will take on rent affordability and related matters next year.

I agree that dialogue and partnership are necessary. Both I and the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government have had repeated conversations with the social rented sector and we absolutely understand the multiple pressures that Bob Doris has rightly highlighted. I can assure him and the sector that the Government is committed to continuing to work with social landlords on the development of our emergency measures and their interaction with our ambitious housing programme. I stress that no decision has been taken about the use of emergency measures after the initial period that runs to 31 March and that any such decision will be informed both by the cost of living situation as it develops and by our on-going active engagement with the sector, which is already under way.

Households can obtain free help and advice through various routes, including via direct mail to households living in or at risk of fuel poverty. For example, local authorities write directly to property owners in areas that are targeted by our area-based schemes. They might also refer them to Home Energy Scotland and to our warmer homes Scotland service. We do not keep a central record of those activities.

Yesterday, we launched our one-stop cost of living website, which provides a wide range of advice, including schemes to tackle fuel poverty.

I am happy to engage with members from all parties on the development of the new contract but, as things stand, warmer homes Scotland, which is, of course, a demand-led scheme, provided support to more than 5,300 households in 2021-22, despite being impacted by the Covid pandemic. That is among the highest figures since the scheme began.

We are leading the way in these islands in supporting households in fuel poverty. In fact, the chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation, Andrew Warren, recently wrote:

“My advice to Whitehall is simple. Whether you take the high road or you take the low road, you had best be copying Scotland’s initiatives.”

We will continue to develop and seek to go further, but we are making excellent progress in supporting people with energy during these difficult times.

I am sorry that Mr Rennie chooses to denigrate the work not only of Government but of our partner agencies, whose support to households in 2021-22, as I said, involved the highest numbers since warmer homes Scotland began. There is no need for that kind of language about the work that people are doing throughout this country to support people in the cost of living crisis, including with the cost of energy.

There is a huge amount more to do not only in the current context but throughout this decade to retrofit our homes for energy efficiency and zero emissions heating. I hope that, in the future, we will see political parties across the chamber joining us in ensuring that we pursue that as ambitiously as we can.