Restrictions on rent increases ended in Scotland today, meaning landlords can raise them as normal.
There are still terms and conditions however, as if a tenancy started after 1 December 2017 rent increases can only be approved once in 12 months.
Meanwhile landlords must use a prescribed form and provide three months’ notice.
A tenant will have 21 days of receiving the notice if they believe the proposed rent is too high, they can then apply to Rent Service Scotland who will decide the amount of rent the tenant must pay based on an assessment of the ‘open market’ rent, which could be lower or higher than the increase requested by the landlord.
Either tenant or landlord has a right of appeal within 14 days of receiving the Rent Service Scotland notification which would return to a rent officer who would make a ‘final order’ decision and finally an appeal can be made to the First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) within 14 days of the final order.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “Letting agents and their landlords across Scotland will welcome the end of the rent adjudication measures implemented by the Scottish government.
“Importantly, there will be no immediate replacement for temporary rent controls, and it will be back to standard rules for rent adjudication from 1 April 2025.
“Restrictive measures on rent control have caused rents to rise and stalled investment across Scotland. It’s now vital that policy makers learn the lessons and do not repeat the mistakes of restricting rents that put up costs for tenants over the long run.”
The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, temporarily controlled rent, limited evictions and set up rent review measures. This ended on 31 March 2024 but rent increase restrictions remained under the Rent Adjudication (Temporary Modifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2024.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that Scotland’s annual inflation rate hit a record-high annual rise of 11.7% in August 2023, which has been reflected in rising rents for new lets, pushing up costs for new or moving tenants.
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