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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

  • Calum Sanderson
    endorsed 2022-03-03 17:22:56 +0000
  • Sinead Dana McNulty
    endorsed 2022-03-03 15:03:59 +0000
    With the cost of living rising, better security for tenants and owner occupiers alike would not go amiss which would include a winter eviction ban and no cut off of energy. We need to have more control over our homes – a real say in policy decisions and being able to bring up questions of quality without fear of evictions. With the environmental crisis, quality homes and cutting energy should be a key priority for the government. Therefore the scottish gov, should not delay implementing rent controls, which would significantly improve the housing stock whilst letting tenants maintain secure finances.
  • hamish brown
    endorsed 2022-03-03 11:16:57 +0000
  • Ian Doherty
    endorsed 2022-03-02 20:30:01 +0000
  • Cameron Scally
    endorsed 2022-03-02 19:22:02 +0000
    A points-based system of rent controls
  • Harry Brennan
    endorsed 2022-03-02 18:56:08 +0000
    Keeping rents from rising steeply – caps, lower levels, and make them actually match the quality of housing
  • Shannon Stewart
    endorsed 2022-03-02 18:26:04 +0000
    All of the above.
  • Mark Perrie
    endorsed 2022-03-02 18:25:31 +0000
  • Maya Khela
    endorsed 2022-02-28 19:48:36 +0000
    Clear and enforceable penalties for failures to do repairs and maintenance
  • India Thorogood
    endorsed 2022-02-28 17:29:14 +0000
  • Alan Rorrison
    endorsed 2022-02-28 17:17:40 +0000
    No rent increases
  • Joe Barnes
    endorsed 2022-02-26 22:42:41 +0000
  • Javier Chiyah-Garcia
    endorsed 2022-02-25 22:12:43 +0000
  • Kerri Gallacher
    endorsed 2022-02-25 13:11:45 +0000
  • Niamh Duncan
    endorsed 2022-02-24 19:26:31 +0000
    Enforced rent controls and enshrined standards of accommodation that landlords must provide
  • Rufus Bouverie
    endorsed 2022-02-24 17:32:14 +0000
    We need a winter eviction ban!
  • Emma Saunders
    endorsed 2022-02-23 09:48:44 +0000
    Rent controls! Rents are so unaffordable right now.
  • Jon Black
    published this page in News and Achievements 2022-02-22 15:12:17 +0000
  • Jon Black
    followed this page 2022-02-22 14:19:25 +0000