Skip navigation

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

  • Lyndsay Miller
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:19:41 +0000
    Affordable rents that rise in line with earnings.
  • James Park
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:19:35 +0000
    ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY
  • Rebecca Menzies
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:19:34 +0000
    Rent controls, regulation
  • Stephen Rhind
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:18:57 +0000
    The abolition of the PRS
  • Sean O'Brien
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:18:39 +0000
  • Kimberley Bates
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:18:24 +0000
    Affordable good quality housing
  • Paul McEwan
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:18:08 +0000
  • Jack Kennedy
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:17:41 +0000
    There should be laws on the standards required for rented accommodation (inside and out) We are not animals!
  • Kerry Gillespie
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:17:40 +0000
  • Bren Muirhead
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:17:06 +0000
  • Anna Stewart
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:16:45 +0000
    Rental of holiday let’s should be taxed at a higher rate for income and council tax rates for them should be at least double. Nobody can save for a mortgage at current rates of rent rises in the Highlands and Islands. We have seen the area becoming a playground and a theme park for the rich.
  • Ellen Vanderhoven
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:16:35 +0000
    Affordability and security. Renting should be a financially and personally sustainable option for your whole life, viewed as an equitable alternative to home ownership.
  • Ben Black
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:16:30 +0000
    Rent controls and a better way to ensure rented properties are kept to a good standard and repairs are done whenever needed.
  • Deborah Bradnock
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:16:26 +0000
    Homes with insulation, double glazing, properly maintained and reasonable rents.
  • Josh Hamilton
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:16:02 +0000
  • Meg Bishop
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:15:25 +0000
    Rent controls!
  • Emily McCole
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:15:17 +0000
    Priorities are repairs done and make our rented homes worth the rents we are paying which they are not at the moment
  • Eleanor Gordon
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:15:15 +0000
    Affordable good quality homes should be a basic universal right. Achieving this this should be the top priority for government and local authorities.
  • Chelsea Fleming
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:15:13 +0000
    Making sure “landlord” isn’t someone’s job title!
  • Rebekka Puderbaugh
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:15:10 +0000
    Rent control and greater autonomy for renters
  • Joe Hesmondhalgh
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:14:59 +0000
  • Sophie Linger
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:14:42 +0000
  • Ruathy Bannerman
    endorsed via 2022-03-07 13:14:37 +0000
  • Scott Ogiamien
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:14:31 +0000
  • Tara Wight
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:13:34 +0000
    Rent controls and more social housing
  • Sylwia Osiecka
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:13:22 +0000
    Better quality housing and rent controls.
  • Renn Gardner
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:13:06 +0000
  • Sarah Bernstein
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:12:45 +0000
    Affordable and safe homes, secure tenancies. A serious reining in of the number of short term lets and second homes that make it impossible for young people to find housing in places like the Highlands.
  • Christine Chesterman
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:12:18 +0000
    Rent control that is fixed to the building, not the tenancy.
  • Liam Doherty
    endorsed 2022-03-07 13:12:17 +0000