Skip to main content
Successful rent controls must apply in between tenancies
A new Bill seeks to prevent price-gouging landlords evicting tenants under dubious grounds only to hike up the rent for the next tenant. Living Rent is campaigning hard to make sure this provision becomes law, writes ADITI JEHANGIR

AT THE end of last year, after months of waiting, the Scottish Parliament finally voted the Housing Bill through Stage 1. This has not been an easy journey. Living Rent members have spent years lobbying politicians and putting in the groundwork for this Bill and it is a great step forward to see this go through to the next stage. 

As it stands, the Bill creates powers for the introduction of new rent control areas, in which rent increases would be capped. The proposed legislation is by no means perfect, as it does not cover social rents and relies on a flawed formula for setting limits on rent increases. However, in a welcome change from the emergency rent protections in place between 2022 and 2024, the highest permissible rent on a new tenancy would be determined by the rent paid by the previous tenants.  

This is huge for tenants as it will prevent landlords evicting tenants under dubious grounds only to hike up the rent. But crucially it will also ensure that rent increases are kept to a more affordable level. Gone will be the days of between tenancy increases of 40-50 per cent. The danger of rent controls applying only within a tenancy were most starkly demonstrated in the last two years.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Report / 30 March 2024
30 March 2024
ROS SITWELL reports from a conference held in light of the closure of the Gender Identity and Development Service for children and young people, which explored what went wrong at the service and the evidence base for care
Joanna Cherry MP (left) chats onstage with UN Special Rappor
Features / 26 October 2023
26 October 2023
ROS SITWELL reports from the three-day FiLiA conference in Glasgow
Women gather at the Marx Memorial Library, Clerkenwell, Lond
Features / 7 July 2023
7 July 2023
ROS SITWELL reports on a communist-initiated event aimed at building unity amid a revived women’s movement
The banner of Woman's Place UK, which organised the event, b
Features / 15 July 2019
15 July 2019
London conference hears women speak out on the consequences of self-ID in sport
Similar stories
Estate agents To Let and For Sale signs in Islington, north
Britain / 5 December 2024
5 December 2024
Tenement flats along Comely Bank in Edinburgh
Britain / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
Members of London Renters Union protest outside Sathy Proper
Britain / 11 September 2024
11 September 2024
Tens of thousands at risk of homelessness due to gap in Renters' Rights Bill, campaigners warns