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A New Deal for Tenants: Rents Down, Rights Up!

  • Scotland’s tenants need homes we can afford, so that we’re not priced out of our communities.
  • We need security of tenure, not just a place we can stay for a while.
  • We need homes that are warm, so that heating them doesn’t cost the earth.
  • We need access to justice and better enforcement, so that we can defend ourselves when landlords treat us unfairly. 

The Scottish Government has promised to introduce rent controls and greater rights for tenants in this Parliament.
Between December 2021 and April 2022, the Scottish Government consulted on proposed changes to the law.

As Scotland's tenants union, we demanded:

  • AFFORDABLE HOMES: a point-based system of rent controls to bring down housing costs and improve housing quality and a greater supply of social housing

  • QUALITY HOMES: greater and clearer penalties for landlords who refuse to make repairs, as well as clearer incentives for improvements such as energy efficiency

  • SECURE HOMES: greater protections for tenants, including banning winter evictions, making all grounds discretionary and introducing meaningful penalties for breaches of the law

  • HOMES THAT ARE OURS: the right to make it ours by not facing undue restrictions on what we can do, such as having pets or redecorating

  • STRONGER VOICES FOR TENANTS: control over our homes, which means making rent consultation results binding, and ensuring we don’t face repercussions for exercising our rights

Get in touch if you want to get involved locally and push for change. 

6,152 endorsements
5,000 endorsements

Will you endorse Living Rent's response?


3379

  • Damon Dailly
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:13:59 +0000
    Rent controls that put housing in hands of tenants, should not be for profit instead it should be a human right
  • Richard Jenkins
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:13:31 +0000
  • Craig Wylie
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:12:19 +0000
    getting repairs done within a reasonable time period of reporting the issue.
  • Samuel Browne
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:12:06 +0000
    Affordable as ours is high
  • Neil Gray
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:11:45 +0000
    I want rent controls in the private rented sector alongside significantly more ‘social rent’ homes than is currently being proposed, both to reduce the heat in the market and to provide genuinely affordable homes – not mid-market rent, nor shared equity, nor so-called ‘affordable rent’, which are deeply unaffordable for those on low-incomes.
  • Linda Pearson
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:11:27 +0000
    Affordable rent
  • Dianne Risbridger
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:11:25 +0000
    Affordable rents for decent homes, which is a basic human right in my opinion. Quality of life should take precedence over financial gain but, sadly, money equates to power, leaving those with too little money at the mercy of those with too much. Remove the element of greed and we will have a much fairer society.
  • Eilidh Keay
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:09:19 +0000
  • Robert kusz
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:09:17 +0000
  • Graham Anderson
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:07:41 +0000
    Enforcing rent control and giving communities power over their aesthetic environment inside and out the home.
  • Andrew Bustard
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:07:30 +0000
  • Leanne Smart
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:07:09 +0000
  • Callum Smillie
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:06:45 +0000
  • Sms McCOURT
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:06:35 +0000
    All houses, flats wind & waterproof with heating systems that allow tenants on State Benefits to keep warm in Scottish winters. without going short of food.
  • Ryan Vance
    endorsed via 2022-03-07 14:06:33 +0000
  • Lisa Martin
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:06:23 +0000
  • Barry Donnan
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:05:47 +0000
    End the rip off rents and provide clean affordable housing for everyone who needs it. So many other outcomes are linked to housing – so let’s start with the most fundamental basic human right.
  • Eve Wallace
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:05:26 +0000
  • Katie Fannin
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:05:26 +0000
  • Alan Knight
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:04:29 +0000
    Affordable rents, better services, end of profiteering housing associations and landlords.
  • Calum MacLeod
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:03:48 +0000
    Huge increase in social housing needed, particularly in rural communities where rented accommodation is almost non-existent due to proliferation of holiday lets.
  • Charles John Tierney
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:02:27 +0000
    A better deal and better protection for tenants — a house is a home regardless if it’s rental or owned and tenants can be given short notice if the owner decides they want them out even if they have been exemplary tenants and have lived in the property for years
  • Persia Aitken-Edwards
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:02:26 +0000
  • Rachel Lam
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:01:55 +0000
    for tenants to get the fair treatment they pay and are entitled to when renting a property. Regarding weather proof and mould proof housing.
  • Ewan McCallum
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:01:20 +0000
    The removal of rogue landlords and a fair rent charter. To remove the ability of landlords to get mortgages to then rent out properties
  • Alison Buck
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:00:37 +0000
    Affordability and availability. Safe neighbourhoods for community first free unsafe and community killing short term lets. Landlord accountability and higher standards also for the masses of unsafe homes in Scotland.
  • Caitlin Lee
    endorsed 2022-03-07 14:00:31 +0000
    Rent controls now!
  • Caitlin Lee
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:59:54 +0000
  • Martin Law
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:59:25 +0000
    No, or very little, private renting, cheaper rents
  • Sophie Rowan
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:58:22 +0000