PROTESTERS have gathered outside the Scottish Parliament calling for the SNP Government to bring in rent controls.
Living Rent, the union which represents tenants, organised the demonstration one day after new Scottish Government figures showed that rental costs for a two-bed property around Edinburgh had more than doubled since 2010.
The average rent in the area, the figures show, increased from £665 per month in 2010 to £1358 this year, with a 14% rise in the past 12 months.
Glasgow saw the next highest increase, rising from £564 in 2010 to £1024 in 2024 – a jump of 82%.
For Scotland as a whole, the jump was 61%. The cumulative inflation rate from 2010 to 2024 sits at about 50%.
The figures prompted Living Rent to stage a protest outside Holyrood calling on MSPs to bring in a system of rent controls.
Rent controls are Government-imposed regulations that limit the amount landlords can charge tenants or increase rents. Critics claim they can lead to reduced housing supply and investment.
Living Rent pointed to polling from Future Economy Scotland which has found that the majority of people in Scotland support rent controls – including 90% of SNP voters.
The union’s national campaigns chair Ruth Gilbert said: “If this government is serious about ending the housing emergency and child poverty, it needs to bring in robust rent controls that bring rents down.
“Decades of poor regulation and a reliance on the free market has seen landlords hike up rents to eye-watering prices. Meanwhile our wages have stagnated and the cost of living overall has pushed people further into poverty.
“MSPs have a historic opportunity to show what a progressive response to the housing crisis looks like.”
The stage one debate on the Housing Bill, during which MSPs will vote on its general principles, will take place on Thursday.
“It’s a particular difficulty for our younger members … They need strong enforceable rent controls – that are attached to properties, not tenancies. We are supportive of the measures currently contained in the Housing Bill and can see no valid reason for diluting or abandoning any of them.”
There have been concerns that the SNP Government may be set to “water down” the rent controls in its Housing Bill after it proposed amendments which would allow prices to continue to rise faster than inflation.
Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: "If we get it right, the Housing Bill could be one of the most important pieces of legislation that will be introduced in the lifetime of this parliament, so we have to make sure it’s not watered down.”
He went on: "Everyone has the right to a warm, safe and affordable place to call home. We need to ensure that this bill is robust and that it gives tenants the protection, stability and peace of mind that they need. That should include making rents more affordable, and helping to repair our broken housing market.
"That's what I set out to do when I was the Minister leading on this Bill. We will stand against all attempts to water it down or to put the interests of the exploitative landlords ahead of tenants."
