New figures show the Scottish Housing Bill and its rent controls will make the situation worse for PRSs, rather than easing the “housing emergency”, says the authority's chief executive, David Alexander (main image). Ta.
This figure shows that before rent controls were introduced in September 2022, rents were rising steadily at well below inflation rates, and for example, between 2010 and 2022, rents for one-bedroom apartments revealed that the average annual increase rate was only 2.6%. Comparable rents are currently increasing at 11.2% per year. 
The same was true for three-bedroom properties, with rents increasing by 2.9% per year until 2022. Since the law took effect, rents have increased by 25.4%, with an average annual increase of 12.7%.
different from reality
David Alexander, chief executive of DJ Alexander Scotland, added: “The Scottish Housing Bill has just been debated at Holyrood, but the proposals it contains contradict the facts outlined in the latest annual statistics.
“These figures show that the introduction of rent control from September 2022 has actually led to a significant increase in rent growth. Prior to this date, most of Scotland had , rents continued to fall or remain close to inflation levels in real terms.”
The intervention hurt tenants' pockets more than anything else that could have happened. ”
“What this legislation has done is put the brakes on real estate investment in the private rental sector (PRS), leading to landlords exiting the market and resulting in demand increasing to unprecedented levels. That continues to this day.”
Mr Alexander said: “The logic of this data is to scrap plans for rent control and rent caps and work with PRS to grow this sector as a sustainable and valuable component of Scotland’s wider housing supply and to distribute it to the market. That means we need to do it,” he concluded. Find your level again.
“The intervention has hurt tenant pockets more than anything else that could have happened. It is only by learning this lesson and responding wisely that the current level of demand for PRS will be resolved. Failure to do so will only lead to further price increases in the future.”
Read more about the Scottish Housing Bill.
