PERMANENT rent controls will return to Scotland after housing reform legislation passes its final Holyrood hurdle, but students and mid-market renters will remain at the mercy of the market.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill passed by 89 votes to 28 on Thursday night after a week of marathon sessions as MSPs considered more than 400 amendments to the legislation which will cap rents at 1 per cent above inflation up to a maximum of 6 per cent.

Acknowledging the Bill was an “important step forward,” Ruth Gilbert of tenants’ union Living Rent said the Bill was an “important step forward,” but said: “Over the last few months, the government has capitulated to the demands of landlords and has gutted the Housing Bill of key progressive mechanisms.”

One of those concessions was the exemption of purpose-built student accommodation, mid-market rentals, and build-to-let properties, a move Ms Gilbert branded a “cowardly response to extensive lobbying from landlords,” arguing it would “create a two-tier system of rent controls and cause a spike in the development of unaffordable tenures.”

Urging MSPs to back the Bill, which will also place an “ask-and-act” duty on all public service workers to speak up if they believe someone is at risk of being homeless, and bolster legal protections for tenants against damp and mould, Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan said: “We believe that everyone in Scotland should have the opportunity of a warm, safe and affordable place to call home.

“It is ultimately the cornerstone of a life of dignity and a life of opportunity.”

Reluctantly backing the Bill, Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin said: “We want to build houses, we want to end homelessness, we want rent controls that work not just in theory but in practice without harming supply.

“This Bill is a step forward, but it is a very small step forward.

“We wish it was a more radical one that we could vote for.”

Also backing the Bill, which was first tabled by Green ministers during their coalition with the SNP, Green housing spokeswoman Maggie Chapman said: “A basic human right to live in a warm, safe home has become a platform for profiteering.

“This Bill and the rent controls it introduces is the first stage of the new deal for tenants that the Scottish Greens promised.”