Chamber and committees

I will bring in Timothy Douglas, then we will have to move to question 3, because we have taken half an hour over the first two questions.

I will bring in John Boyle, and then I will move on to Miles Briggs.

That is very helpful. I want to come back to John Boyle, who has used the term “cap and collar” a couple of times. Could you unpack what you mean? That might be an industry expression, and I want to make sure that everybody understands what you mean by it.

I am sure that it will come back to you. We will have to move on, because we are getting very tight on time. I will extend the time for this panel by 20 to 25 minutes.

Mark, do you have more questions?

Thank you very much, that brings us to the end of our questions. I appreciate your coming in. We have run over time a bit, but it was important to hear all your points. If there is anything else that you think we have not had time to cover, please feel free to write to the committee on those points.

I welcome to the meeting our second panel of witnesses. We are joined in the room by Lisa Mallon, who is a housing manager at the City of Edinburgh Council; Derek McGowan, who is service director for housing and homelessness at the City of Edinburgh Council; and Jennifer Sheddan, who is head of housing at Glasgow City Council. We are joined online by Kelly Ferns, who is a research and development officer at Argyll and Bute Council; and Ally Macleod, who is head of housing and building standards at Aberdeenshire Council.

We will try to direct questions as much as possible to specific witnesses initially. However, if you would like to come in, please indicate that clearly to me or to the clerks. If you are online, you should do that by typing R in the chat function. There is no need for you to operate your microphone; that will be done for you.

I will begin with rent. This question is for everybody, if you have something new and different to add to what somebody else has said. What are your views on the rent control areas provisions in the bill and how they might have an impact on councils? Do you think that rent controls being introduced in areas would lead to rent stabilisation?

Okay. Does anybody else want to give their view on the rent control areas provisions and whether controls that are in place in areas will lead to rent stabilisation?

Okay. I will go a bit deeper. The provision is that councils will gather data and identify where they might want to propose a rent control area, and that will be brought to ministers. I am interested in understanding how that work might impact on councils.

I see nodding heads across the panel.

Does anybody online want to come in on the question about the impact on councils of the rent control areas provisions in the bill?

Some of you have started to get into my second question, which is about the unintended consequences of rent control. I will stick with Kelly Ferns. We have heard about this from the City of Edinburgh Council. Can you outline the current state of the private rental market in Argyll and Bute and what you anticipate happening as a result of the bill?