Chamber and committees

As part of our ongoing statutory duty to keep the provisions of the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 under review, a series of reports have been published setting out the evidence as to why the Scottish Government believes the Act remains necessary and proportionate. You may wish to note that the most recent report was laid in Parliament on 12 January 2024.

To inform the development of this series of reports, Scottish Ministers issued regular ‘Calls for Evidence’ to a wide range of rented sector stakeholder groups in respect of the social, private and student rented sectors – including institutional investors such as the Scottish Property Federation and UK Finance, who were able to share the Call for Evidence with the investor community. Responses to the Calls for Evidence helped inform Scottish Ministers’ statutory ongoing review of the necessity and proportionality of the provisions.

In addition, I am aware that representatives from the Scottish Property Federation and UK Finance are members of the Scottish Government’s Private Rented Sector Stakeholder Group and have been able to feed in their views on the impact of the emergency Act via that forum for some time.

A well-regulated private rented sector is good for both tenants and landlords – whilst also being compatible with investment. We are working to develop a long-term model of rent control that works for Scotland, and I recognise how important it is for this Government to work with the housing sector and others to foster confidence and trust. We will therefore continue to work with stakeholders across landlord, tenant and investor groups to understand their perspectives. The Minister for Housing and I are due to hold a round table with a range of institutional investors later this month.