Chamber and committees

That comes to the end of our questions. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. It has been helpful to understand a bit more about what you are doing at rent service Scotland. As that was the final public item on our agenda today, I now close the public part of our meeting.

That was helpful. Our intention was to get an overview of the bill. We will move on to some more detailed questions, starting with Gordon MacDonald, who has some questions about rent.

I would like to get a little more detail on rent control areas. Will putting the duty on ministers to decide whether to propose or designate rent control areas, informed by the local authorities, protect local authorities from the pressure and legal risk? Is that part of the thinking? Can we be assured that, given the design of the bill, the Scottish ministers are prepared and resourced to shoulder that risk where necessary?

Thank you. That was helpful. I call Miles Briggs, who has some more questions in this area.

A representative of rent service Scotland, who is in the room at the moment, will join us shortly. We can ask for a bit more detail about that.

Willie Coffey has a number of questions about evictions.

At the beginning, we spoke about balance, so I will bring in Pam Gosal to ask some questions.

Thank you for that overview. Mark Griffin has a question.

Great. It is always helpful to understand that a bill sits within broader work, because we can sometimes be a bit too focused on a bill without understanding all the component parts of the work being done.

In relation to getting the right balance between the rights of tenants and the rights of landlords, you said that the Government is aware that landlords face rising costs and that tenants need affordable housing and a good renting experience. In that regard, you mentioned personalisation and the right to keep pets. Can you tell us anything else about how the bill seeks to achieve the right balance between the rights of tenants and the rights of landlords?

You have both mentioned local nuances. How were the differences between rented housing in rural and urban areas considered when the bill was being drafted?

On evictions, purpose-built student accommodation is not covered. Is there scope for covering that in the bill? Did you consider that? It was covered during the pandemic.