Living Rent today publishes a major new report, exposing a loophole unscrupulous landlords are abusing to exploit tenants. You can read the full report here. We are calling on the Scottish Government to do four things:  1) Limit the length of holiday lets to no more than 31 days2) Limit how many days of the year a property can be rented out as a Holiday Let3) Require holiday let landlords to register - just like normal landlords have to4) Require third-party companies - like Airbnb or Edinburgh Party Lets - to register, just like normal letting agents have to However, we will not wait for action from the Government. We can also today announce that we are pursuing a number of cases of sham holiday lets in court, and will take direct action against landlords and letting agents operating them. You can read more about the report here: The National, Aberdeen Evening Express, The Times, Yahoo, Edinburgh Live, Glasgow Evening Times, Daily Mail, and more.   Over the last decade, the Scottish Government has introduced a number of welcome changes in the Private Rented Sector (PRS); including requiring landlords to register, the introduction of mandatory tenancy deposit protection schemes, better protections from evictions, clarifying the illegality of premium fees, and the introduction of the First-Tier Tribunal to make the process by which tenants can raise disputes more accessible. While more remains to be done, the PRS is undoubtedly a better place for tenants following these changes. However, a major oversight risks undermining these steps forward: regulations around short-term or holiday lets are subject to far less regulation. Living Rent has been contacted by increasing numbers of tenants who have signed holiday lets that are nothing of the sort: some lasting for far in excess of 6 months. These holiday let leases afford tenants almost none of the protections tenants would be guaranteed under Short-Assured Tenancies or Scottish Private Residential Tenancies; neither landlords nor agencies operating on their behalf need to register; properties are exempt from HMO licensing; tenants aren’t entitled to third-party protection of their deposits; the properties are not subject to the same standards in terms of fire safety and repairs; and it is significantly easier to evict someone from a holiday let. There is reason to believe that some landlords are exploiting this lack of regulation in holiday lets to avoid their legal responsibilities as landlords - putting tenants and communities at risk. Our report outlines the situation, and finishes by proposing a way forward.

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“The Council? I’m just fed up” he says. “Look…” He points at a gaping black hole in the bathroom ceiling. “I’ve been trying to get that fixed for ages. And that.” His pointing finger moves to indicate a patch of dangerous black mould. “I’ve given up trying to get the Council to do something about it. It’s like banging your head off a wall.” In June 2016  Azad Adam and his wife, who suffers from breathing difficulties, moved into a third-floor flat in May Court, one of Muirhouse’s six surviving high rises. Collectively known as “The Six Blocks” these comprise two 14-storey tower blocks, Fidra and Birnies Courts, and four “open deck access” rectangular blocks, Oxcars, Inchmickery, Gunnet and May Courts.  “It looked good when we moved in,” says Mr Azad (43). “The Council had just redecorated it.” But he soon realised that they had just painted over damp patches and removed black mould with bleach. They soon reappeared. “The bathroom always felt damp, and it got worse and worse. There was water coming through the ceiling.” The ceiling was covered with pine cladding. “I removed the cladding,” he says, “and was horrified by what I found beneath. The ceiling was ‘blown’. It was soaking wet and mouldy.” Since then the dampness has spread to bedrooms and all attempts to get it fixed have fallen on deaf ears.   Continue reading

Alongside climate catastrophe, growing inequality, under-employment, rocketing rents, the effects of social displacement (gentrification) and the wholesale of public services, Universal Credit is the elephant in the room destroying working class neighbourhoods as the negotiations around Brexit drag along, diverting all other political attention. Continue reading

Is the whole concept of rent the real problem? It just might be. Read our reflections from the recent symposium on THE PROBLEM OF RENT. Continue reading

Wyndford Tenants Union - Nothing is too good for the Wyndford. Continue reading

Come along to this great film night featuring a series of radical community films, not often shown and not to be missed! Tuesday 19 March, 7-10pm at the Flying Duck  Continue reading

THE PROBLEM OF RENT brings together contributors to the recently published Rent and its Discontents: A Century of Housing Struggle and housing activists. Continue reading

We’ve launched our proposals for rent controls in Scotland, seeking to control the price of housing, improve quality and tackle gentrification in our cities. More than being another policy, rent controls push back against the power that landlords have over tenants, by ensuring what landlords charge is equivalent to the property’s standard. All renters will benefit from this change but especially the young, black and minority ethnicity communities, migrants and the working class people as they earn less and are disproportionately represented in the private residential sector. Continue reading