Chamber and committees

Finally, would you accept that the national safety standards could have been achieved through a registration scheme and did not necessarily need a licensing scheme?

How many exemptions would you expect to be made available? You will know about the pressures in Edinburgh during the festival, when a lot of people rent out a spare bedroom in their homes. I have received emails from constituents who say that they need the extra money to make ends meet. With the costs of energy rising, people are acutely aware of the potential to bring in additional income. How many exemptions would you expect each council to provide? Do you expect there to be a cap?

Good morning to the cabinet secretary and to the other members of the panel. I have a few questions about the evidence that the committee has heard on a different approach—specifically, on regulation through a registration scheme rather than through the licensing scheme that has been put forward. In your consideration of the issue, why was the suggestion of a registration scheme, rather than a licensing scheme, not taken forward?

I want to continue Murdo Fraser’s line of questioning on unintended consequences. Witnesses from the sector have told the committee that licensing of short-term lets could lead to many owners leaving the sector, potentially costing Scottish tourism tens of millions of pounds in lost revenue annually. How would the cabinet secretary respond to those claims?

We have touched on the issue of disproportionate impact. What assessment has been made of the effect on those who, for example, rent out a property for the month of August in Edinburgh during the festival, or those in rural areas who rent out properties during the summer months when we have peak tourism? Real concern has been expressed that the scheme will have a disproportionate impact on small and rural businesses, as a percentage of their income. Do you share those concerns? How can they be overcome, given that the sector is often very different in different parts of the country at different times of the year?

I also highlighted the complete failure of rent pressure zones to make any difference. What assessment has taken place of that?

It is a fact, which the minister will have to accept, that the housing budget is being cut by £10 million.

I thank the organisations that provided useful briefings ahead of today’s debate and the many housing charities and organisations that work in all our communities across the country.

The Scottish Government’s draft rented sector strategy proposes a number of new rights and protections for Scottish tenants, many of which Conservative members support and want to see improved—specifically, those that relate to domestic abuse and the rights of victims. There is an opportunity to significantly improve support and to help to ensure that it is available, and I genuinely hope that the minister will look at making the strategy an opportunity for all of us across the Parliament to contribute and help to achieve that.

However, at the outset I express concern about some of the more controversial proposals that have been outlined in the draft strategy. What the rented sector in Scotland needs is proper investment and further action to stop increased rents instead of missed house-building targets and cuts to the housing budget, which we saw being put forward at stage 1 of the Scottish Government’s Budget (Scotland) Bill. As Shelter Scotland made clear in its briefing for the debate,

“Without increasing the supply of social homes, realising the commitment to deliver the right to adequate housing will be extremely difficult.”

In the short time that I have, I want to concentrate on a few areas that are outlined in my amendment.

The strategy details plans to establish an independent regulator for the private rented sector. That regulator would operate in a similar way to that the Scottish Housing Regulator, which covers social rents and a national system of rent controls.

The minister has already outlined that further consultation on rent controls will be proposed later in this parliamentary session. However, it is clear from countries in which rent controls are in operation that the supply of rental properties has been negatively impacted and, indeed, policy outcomes around controlling levels of rent have not been achieved. When the minister closes the debate, I would be interested to hear from him what genuine assessment ministers have made of the proposal in the strategy for national rent controls and how the discussion to shape the consultation that he has outlined will take place.

If we are going to have that debate, it is important that we start to look at unintended consequences and international lessons that we are already aware of. It is becoming a hallmark of the Government not to look properly at the unintended consequences of regulations and legislation, and there are concerns about the potential negative impact on not only tenants but landlords.

The draft strategy aims to outline what impact existing legislation, such as on rent pressure zones, has had on existing high rental markets, of which the market in the capital is an example. I would like the need to understand that important aspect to be considered in the strategy.

Patrick Harvie rose—

I am happy to give way—if I can get some time back, Presiding Officer.

I very much agree with that point. Rent pressure zones were introduced by the Government, but local authorities have not felt that they have been provided with the powers that they need—and that the zones do not give them the opportunity to make a difference. We need to look at that. An answer to the questions around rent pressure zones does not seem to be forthcoming. One of the key questions relates to the market levels of rent. In the capital, for example, they are much higher than they are in other parts of the country.

Above all, the delivery of affordable housing is important. In its evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations made clear its concerns about on-going rises in construction costs. The spike in construction costs is having an impact on maintenance and on future developments, and SFHA was clear that, without additional support from Scottish ministers, long-term solutions to that issue will be difficult to develop. The impact on housing association budgets and the ability to keep rents affordable is, obviously, of concern to the SFHA.

In the programme for government, Scottish National Party ministers set out a house-building target over 11 years into the future of

“110,000 affordable homes by 2032—with at least 70 per cent for social rent and 10 per cent in our remote, rural and island communities”.

Let us look at the Government’s record to date. Since 2016, the SNP has promised to build 50,000 affordable homes, and ministers have failed to meet that target. To March 2021, only 28,154 houses were completed in the social rented sector. In rural Scotland, the situation is even more concerning. SNP ministers spent less than half the £25 million budget that was allocated to rural housing funds; £11.4 million of that funding delivered just 59 affordable homes in rural Scotland over a four-year period.

Ministers’ rhetoric is strong, but delivery of their promises has not been forthcoming. Scottish Conservatives want SNP and Green ministers to step up the affordable home building agenda across the country. That is the only way in which we can properly address the lack of affordable housing across our communities, which is the fundamental issue that tenants face.

A key part of my amendment is that we need to look not only towards the strategy but at the lack of action from the Government on temporary accommodation for homeless people. SNP and Green ministers will know that the number of families and children in unsuitable and temporary accommodation is now at a record high. The increase in rental costs is one of the main barriers that prevents many people from securing a home and a secure tenancy, and must be considered as well.

I hope that, as the strategy is developed, ministers will genuinely look at the issues and concerns that I have raised. We need to make sure that the solutions that are being developed to the lack of affordable housing and the issues with the unsuitable accommodation order that many councils face are not forgotten about and will be included as we move forward.

It is vital that SNP and Green ministers listen to the real concerns that are being put forward at this stage of the draft strategy. I hope that ministers will engage across the Parliament far more on the draft strategy. I do not believe that we have seen such engagement to date. Many members have come to the debate with issues that we want to include in the strategy and in future legislation. I hope that the minister will make sure that those issues are included.

I move amendment S6M-02625.1, to leave out from “, improved regulation” to end and insert:

“and improved regulation; acknowledges, however, that the biggest challenge facing those in the rented sector is the rising cost of living caused by a national housing shortage; notes that the Rural Housing Fund delivered just 59 new homes over four years; notes with concern the decision to reduce the housing budget in 2022-23; further notes concerns that current levels of investment in this sector are not high enough to meet the target of building 110,000 affordable homes by 2032; notes that the number of households in temporary accommodation is now at a record high and that high rental costs are one of the main barriers preventing those who are homeless from securing new tenancies; regrets that the implementation of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014 was repeatedly delayed; notes concerns that the introduction of rent controls may be counter-productive and result in reduced choice for private tenants; calls on the Scottish Government to provide increased investment in the housing market to ensure tenants have access to a wide range of affordable properties, but otherwise welcomes this draft strategy seeking to make renting a home more affordable, safer, with a higher quality, better managed and more secure.”