Chamber and committees

There are currently no plans to exempt mid-market rent (MMR) properties from the requirements in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

As MMR properties are delivered through Registered Social Landlord subsidiary companies and are therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the Scottish Housing Regulator, they require to be offered as a Private Residential Tenancy, meaning households benefit from all of the rights and protections flowing from that tenancy. This includes the current temporary rent cap measures, in place to support tenants during this time of economic uncertainty.

While the focus of the emergency measures is on protecting tenants, the Scottish Government fully recognise that the ongoing impacts of the cost crisis may also be impacting some private landlords. Therefore, MMR providers are able to apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a property, by up to 6%, in order to partially take account of increases in certain prescribed property costs.

Earlier this year the emergency rent cap was expired in relation to the social sector, after discussions led by COSLA, in respect of local authorities, and SFHA and GWSF for Registered Social Landlords, reached an agreed position with their members that would see increases of 6.4% and 6.1% respectively, as an average across Scotland. This voluntary approach to rent setting is intended to equate to an approximate average rent increase of less than £5 per week. Due to rents in the private rented sector being approximately twice as high as in the social sector, a 3% increase in the average rent of a two-bedroom private rented property (the most common size) is broadly comparable in monetary value to the average increase in the social sector.