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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

  • Mandy Fitzsimmons
    endorsed 2022-04-11 13:07:26 +0100
    Affordable homes.
  • Hollie Hotchkiss
    endorsed 2022-04-11 13:04:25 +0100
  • Kelly Lovemore
    endorsed 2022-04-11 13:04:17 +0100
  • Aniela Piasecka
    endorsed 2022-04-11 13:00:40 +0100
  • Jennifer Elder
    endorsed via 2022-04-11 12:56:18 +0100
    Affordability. It’s impossible to save up for a home while renting.
  • Ashley Rogers
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:51:22 +0100
    A reduction in multiple home ownership to reduce the burden the private rental sector is putting on first time home ownership. The cost of rent is extremely high and potential home owners are being pushed out of the market while those profiting from other properties they have, continue to purchase more. The rich get richer is indeed how it works here.
  • Karolina Aliukaite
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:48:20 +0100
    Affordable homes
  • Aidrian Novion
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:34:36 +0100
  • Szymon Fiuk
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:15:41 +0100
  • Murray Settle
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:12:15 +0100
  • Adam Robertson
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:11:31 +0100
    Rent controls, and mandatory standards of housing conditions for all tenants
  • Sarah Krischer
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:09:22 +0100
  • Angela Fernandez
    endorsed 2022-04-11 12:07:36 +0100
    Tenant Protection
  • Callum Robertson
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:56:45 +0100
  • Steven Nichol
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:53:02 +0100
    Housing associations should not be allowed more housing benefit than the LHA.
  • Martin Mellon
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:42:26 +0100
  • Magdalena Radoch
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:36:42 +0100
    Affordable rent so I don’t have travel an hour one way to work.
  • Charlotte Roberts
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:35:54 +0100
  • Michael Armstrong
    endorsed 2022-04-11 11:26:14 +0100
  • Mark Vrionides
    endorsed 2022-04-11 10:35:47 +0100
  • Gillian Stewart
    endorsed 2022-04-11 10:09:33 +0100
    Limit rent increases to a 10%. Control Airbnb lets
  • S MacD
    endorsed 2022-04-11 10:06:15 +0100
    bring rent back down in places like Glasgow and Edinburgh, and place controls on holiday lets in places like the Hebrides so local young people can afford to stay in the area.
  • Alistair Cooper
    endorsed 2022-04-11 10:03:08 +0100
  • Kate Kinloch
    endorsed 2022-04-11 10:02:54 +0100
  • Virginia Aspinwall
    endorsed via 2022-04-11 09:59:29 +0100
  • Tanya Myers
    endorsed 2022-04-11 09:58:37 +0100
    subsidised renovations and renewable programmes to bring energy bills down!
  • Ana Arsene
    endorsed 2022-04-11 09:50:16 +0100
  • Bonnie Aspinwall
    endorsed 2022-04-11 09:42:11 +0100
  • james farlam
    endorsed 2022-04-11 09:40:15 +0100
  • Michael Carberry
    endorsed 2022-04-11 09:18:43 +0100
    Social renting must be returned to a tenure of choice if we are to deal with Scotland’s housing crisis. We need to identify the different tenures and adopt a strategy for each. Current government policy is to be tenure neutral, leading to confusing mixed messages, with damaging consequences in the social and private sectors.