Chamber and committees

I am not sure that the minister understands his own bill, because it is backdated to September and the extensions that he has outlined mean that there is the potential for the provisions to last up to 18 months. The minister probably needs to rethink that.

The Scottish housing market is complex, especially in the capital. We all rely on the mixed housing market to provide the homes that Scotland needs now and in the future. The decision by SNP-Green ministers has been made without any consultation with the sector, and it will have consequences.

In Scotland, we have never had Government rent controls in the social housing sector. Rightly, housing associations are independent organisations that have been able to set rents each year, taking into account tenant feedback, affordability and the resources that are required to invest in maintaining properties and buildings, as well as building much-needed homes, which the Government has also failed to achieve.

The bill’s impact is, therefore, worrying, as the bill goes against the historical position and brings in the possibility of wider rent controls for the sector, the shattering of confidence to invest in new affordable homebuilding programmes and the real prospect of private landlords removing private rented properties from the market in the coming years.

For housing associations and private landlords, the bill presents a risk of hundreds of millions of pounds of lost income. It might require them to rewrite their future business plans and scrap investment in new affordable home builds, and it will undermine budget simulations for energy efficiency and decarbonisation for net zero—both key Government targets and the minister’s specific responsibility—which will be impacted.

The bill has already significantly impacted the potential delivery of new homes in Scotland; it will be much harder for housing associations to plan, if they are able to do so. Lenders might be nervous about lending, or they might lend at higher margins as confidence over future rental income decreases.

The bill introduces a risk that has not previously existed in Scotland—historically, we have had lower rents. It will undoubtedly trigger a slowing down of the building and construction of affordable homes and it could trigger a wider downturn in the construction industry at the worst possible time for our economy.

The cabinet secretary needs to look at inflation across the eurozone.

More specifically, just a few months ago, both the minister and the cabinet secretary—[Interruption.]

Will the member take an intervention?

Can the minister outline why the figure of 3 per cent was arrived at as the maximum increase for rents agreed by the adjudicator?

I move that we do not support the suspension of the standing orders. The Scottish Government has insisted on enforcing an emergency legislation timetable in relation to the bill. That has meant that members saw the content of the bill only late last night, leaving them little time before the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee met this morning and before they are being expected to debate the bill and vote on its general principles.

Prior to the introduction of Covid-19 emergency legislation, consultation was undertaken with the sectors that were directly impacted, but that is not the case with this bill. The Scottish housing market is complex, and unintended consequences of the bill will be clear. However, the decision by Scottish National Party-Green ministers has been made without any consultation with the sector’s representative bodies, and has resulted in much frantic activity since the announcement was made by the First Minister to assess the negative impacts that the bill will clearly have.

I hope that Parliament will consider that we need the opportunity to properly consider the bill and its impact. The process under which the bill has been introduced is unacceptable and flawed, and the Government has tried to bypass any in-depth scrutiny from Parliament. Organisations and businesses that will be impacted have highlighted that to us all.

I therefore ask ministers to provide members with the same opportunity that they had with the emergency Covid legislation to look at the bill in more detail, and I urge members to vote against the suspension of standing orders.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Has the Scottish Parliament provided all members with reassurance that the bill is compliant with article 1 of the first protocol of the European convention on human rights? There are rumours that there will be a legal challenge to the bill. Given that the Parliament has previously been informed about poor legislation facing legal challenge, will the Scottish Government let Parliament know about that?

Will the minister take an intervention?

Will the minister take an intervention?

The money that the tenant grant fund issues is a loan. Do ministers intend to provide that as a grant that would not be paid back?

The key point is that the bill will make the situation worse. The cabinet secretary and her Government have presided over 15 years of this housing crisis, and the bill will supercharge it. In the years to come, the situation can only get worse for students if fewer rented properties are available, which will clearly be the impact of the bill.

What we have already seen from this SNP-Green Government is that it is likely to use its majority in Parliament to push the legislation through without listening to genuine concerns or accepting amendments.

Scottish Conservatives will look to bring common sense and safeguards to the bill. We will ask that the concerns of key sectors, such as social and charitable housing associations, are reflected in the bill—that is vitally important. We also want to see additional resources for tribunals, which will now be tasked with extra work.

It is critical that there is incorporation of robust planning and monitoring of the potential negative impacts of the bill—the minister did not really outline that in any detail.

It is unclear for how long ministers intend to freeze rents or keep rent controls in place, beyond what the First Minister described in relation to 31 March. We need to see a time limit put in place. What mitigation measures will be provided for social and private landlords?

The process through which the bill has been introduced has been unacceptable, flawed and designed to bypass any independent scrutiny that the Parliament could bring to bear. The very organisations that the bill will impact have also not been part of the conversation. SNP, Green and Labour MSPs are about to use Scotland as a guinea pig. They are about to undermine the foundations of Scotland’s housing market.

International rent control schemes demonstrate the negative impact that rent controls can have and suggest the long-term negative consequences for our Scottish mixed housing market. We know how this will end: fewer private lets, a slump in building affordable homes, increased rents for future tenants and students unable to secure vital accommodation in order to study at university.

SNP, Green and Labour MSPs will be directly to blame for the significant damage done to our housing sector. The greater housing crisis that will come from this will be at their desks. I hope that they will make sure that the people of Scotland hold them accountable for their actions.