Private tenancies bill could bring about welcome changes for those who rent

This week the Scottish Government is due to publish its new private tenancies bill – a move which should bring in welcome improvements for the 330,000 tenants across Scotland who call the private rented sector (PRS) home. Once it becomes law, this bill will hopefully represent the most significant change to the laws and regulations that govern Scotland’s growing PRS in more than a quarter of a century.

Shelter Scotland has been campaigning for change and working with stakeholders for the past 10 years on this issue and our current Make Renting Right campaign has brought forward a powerful coalition of supporters who believe now is the time for fundamental, positive reform of the private rented sector. Our campaign is calling for stability, flexibility, a fair system, predictability and a new tenancy that works for both tenants and landlords.

One woman I spoke to was given two weeks’ notice for a £200 a month increase in rent

Fiona King

Over the past year we have been speaking with people across Scotland and listening to their experiences – both positive and negative – of living in the PRS. We know that people want flexibility, good landlords and affordable rents. One woman I spoke to on a campaign day in Aberdeen explained she was given two weeks’ notice for a £200 a month increase in rent. With two small children and the logistics of her and her partner’s work and study, other affordable options across the city were limited, so she explained they were forced to accept this huge increase in rent with barely any notice.

This real life example, and many others like it is exactly what this bill has the power to change for the better. The consultations leading up to the bill suggest this will be a timely rebalancing of the relationship between tenants and landlords to modernise and strengthen the rights of the growing number of private tenants in Scotland.

Make Renting Right has been backed by a majority of MSPs – representing support from all five political parties represented in Holyrood – and more than 30 organisations across Scotland including the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, National Union of Students, Barnardos, Poverty Alliance, Unison and many others. There is a consensus that the sector has changed – and so have the needs of the people who call it home. The PRS now represents 14% of all households, up from 5% in 1999. Private renters aren’t all students and flexible workers – one in four households now include children. It is increasingly the only choice for those individuals and families for whom buying a home is not an affordable or perhaps desirable option and for whom access to the social-rented sector isn’t possible due to the chronic lack of social-rented housing available in Scotland.

So the lack of security needs to be met head on. By introducing a new tenancy that is more straightforward and which gives both security for those who need it – and flexibility for those who want it – the sector can adapt to meet current and growing needs more successfully.

One critical proposal in the forthcoming legislation aims to address the issue of insecurity by removing the current ‘no fault ground for possession’ – which allows landlords to bring a tenancy to an end without providing a reason. This can be a huge shock to tenants, many of whom will have established roots in their communities, have children in local schools and are near to local support networks. This current sense of insecurity in private renting for tenants is compounded by the fact that many are afraid to insist upon essential repairs being done to their property for fear that, if they complain, they will be asked to leave their home.

So we are on the cusp of significant change. This bill has enormous potential to make renting right and Shelter Scotland will be working with partners and across the parliament to ensure that any legislation is practical, workable and fair. The devil will be in the detail once the bill is published, but in principle this is a huge step towards a modern, progressive private rented sector.

Fiona King is campaigns and public affairs manager at Shelter Scotland.