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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

  • Steve Byrne
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:29:27 +0000
  • Stewart Bremner
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:27:20 +0000
  • Shona Macnaughton
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:27:00 +0000
    Rent controls
  • chloe reid
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:23:20 +0000
    affordable housing
  • mairi beaton
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:19:45 +0000
  • Michael Sheils
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:18:31 +0000
    Affordable path out of private rented accommodation for those in need of support (disabled, care leavers, etc)
  • Ross Hudson
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:17:40 +0000
    Rent controls
  • Daniel Garcia
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:14:32 +0000
  • Amanda Reid
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:13:47 +0000
    Unemployment on benefits
  • Annwen Thurlow
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:13:39 +0000
  • Emilie Reed
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:13:31 +0000
  • Mark McEachran
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:10:49 +0000
    Every family/household limited to ownership of one, rental accommodation. Those with existing properties are not affected.
  • Joe Marshall
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:10:27 +0000
  • Mark Burns
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:07:41 +0000
  • Diane Mitchell
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:03:51 +0000
    Keeping rents affordable for all.
  • Anne Robertson
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:03:03 +0000
  • Stephen Rowan
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:01:50 +0000
    Manage the proliferation of second homes in rural & island communities used for tourism & leisure, reducing the availability of affordable homes in the private rental sector, inflating property prices, impacting on social cohesion & stability. Second priority is to ease fuel poverty by better insulation, wider choice of suppliers, green energy assistance, and fairness in the electricity tariffs which penalise the Scottish Highlands despite it being a net energy producer. Will these do?
  • Shaun Thomas
    endorsed 2022-03-07 19:00:19 +0000
  • Chris Addison
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:57:11 +0000
    Keep communities together with genuinely affordable housing prioritising locals first
  • Callum Aird
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:56:58 +0000
  • Chris Thomson
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:51:36 +0000
    Availability of affordable housing within all communities.
  • Stuart Skelding
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:46:41 +0000
  • Sarah Stewart
    endorsed via 2022-03-07 18:44:11 +0000
  • Lena Wånggren
    endorsed via 2022-03-07 18:41:47 +0000
    Affordable not-for-profit publicly owned housing. Build more affordable housing that is council/publicly owned!
  • Ellis Armstrong
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:38:45 +0000
  • Rahnuma Feist-Hassan
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:38:23 +0000
  • Emily Wallace
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:38:12 +0000
  • Lee Bodkin
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:36:38 +0000
  • Virginia Bell
    endorsed via 2022-03-07 18:30:40 +0000
  • Susan MacArthur
    endorsed 2022-03-07 18:29:57 +0000
    Good quality housing is a right not a privilege. Housing needs met across tenures. High standards, affordability meaningful and enforceable regulation in private rented sector including all short term lets. Fairer Local Housing Allowance and rent controls. Better oversight and data collection in PRS to better inform policy. Increased tenants rights in easily accessible and not complex process where both tenant and landlord know where they stand. Never use PRS to re house people who have experienced homelessness. People before property!