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.

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3379

Stuart Turnbull endorsed 2022-03-07 11:26:37 +0000

Fair rent.
Kate Elliott endorsed 2022-03-07 11:26:27 +0000

here on Orkney we need more houses, there simply aren’t enough.
Flora Jean endorsed 2022-03-07 11:26:09 +0000
Richard Reeve endorsed 2022-03-07 11:25:23 +0000

Rent controls
Cameron Duff endorsed 2022-03-07 11:21:46 +0000
Matt McDonald endorsed 2022-03-07 11:20:15 +0000

Rent controls
Craig Manson endorsed via Conner Milliken 2022-03-07 11:16:39 +0000
Andrew Kellard endorsed 2022-03-07 11:09:18 +0000

A workable system of rent controls that’s fair and enforceable
Aikaterini Marinitsi endorsed 2022-03-07 11:06:55 +0000
Sarah Adams endorsed 2022-03-07 11:03:39 +0000

Safe, affordable housing for everyone who needs it. Making renting a liveable long-term option.
Lucy Bartlett endorsed 2022-03-07 10:59:57 +0000

Stronger rights for private tenants, tighter rent controls. Controls on the number of “whole flat/house” rentals on Airbnb.

More social housing and a better interim system to help those on the list.

If private rentals were better as above, I wouldn’t have become homeless.

If there were more social housing and better help in interim waiting period I wouldn’t have waited, put my life on hold, found it hard to keep employment, struggled with my mental health and been on and off benefits for over two years.
Francesca Meneghetti endorsed 2022-03-07 10:50:42 +0000
Tash Mcphillips endorsed 2022-03-07 10:47:15 +0000
Stephanie Cullen endorsed 2022-03-07 10:40:26 +0000
Michael Park endorsed 2022-03-07 10:38:15 +0000
Sarah Scott endorsed 2022-03-07 10:38:07 +0000

Rent reduction register for landlords and a simple way to prevent those providing poor living conditions from purchasing more property or renting out unlivable conditions
Tomas Hermoso endorsed 2022-03-07 10:35:36 +0000
Cameron Law endorsed 2022-03-07 10:29:53 +0000
Emma Wilson endorsed 2022-03-07 10:22:33 +0000

Better rights for tenants, and stopping landlords from constantly increasing rent above inflation.
Eleanor Walker endorsed 2022-03-07 10:21:45 +0000

rent controls so people can actually afford to live here
Sam Black endorsed via Scott Macdonald 2022-03-07 10:19:44 +0000

Affordable
Thalia Assan endorsed via Aerin Lai 2022-03-07 10:19:22 +0000
Jenny Lester endorsed 2022-03-07 10:15:04 +0000

We need rent controls now to stop landlords from increasing the prices before they come in. We need controls on how many properties one individual can own. We need an end to buy to let mortgages. We need rights for tenants for repairs, pets, and against eviction.
Ethan Law endorsed 2022-03-07 10:07:47 +0000

Bring down rent costs
Eilidh McIntosh endorsed 2022-03-07 10:07:44 +0000

I’m sick of seeing AirB&B lockboxes on every single door in my street (Edinburgh). Something has to change in favour of working people.
Andrew Morrison endorsed 2022-03-07 10:05:45 +0000

I want the place that I live in to feel like my own home. I want to feel secure in my own premises, not worrying about rent going up, if I’ll get my deposit back if I dare decorate my house, actually have a relationship with my landlord, I look after their property while living there and they help out fixing bigger issues. Being a landlord should be a full time job, not a passive income. Renting isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but feeling like you are wasting money paying someone’s mortgage as prices increase year after year is very stressful and pushes more people off the property ladder.
Clare Scott endorsed 2022-03-07 09:59:17 +0000

Better protection of tenants’ rights- especially on standards of repair. Tenants should not have to wait over a year for a critical repair with water coming in to their home, or have to spend the vast majority of their day contacting their landlord and other agencies to try and force landlords to do their job and keep their home in a decent standard of repair. A safe place to live is a human right and landlords need to be held accountable to ensure they uphold their end of the bargain.
Ruth Gilbert endorsed 2022-03-07 09:52:50 +0000

Rent controls, as a matter of urgency.
Sophie Cairns endorsed 2022-03-07 09:50:06 +0000
Trisha Mendiratta endorsed 2022-03-07 09:47:04 +0000

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

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