Chamber and committees

What impact have rent controls had on council colleagues being able to put together sustainable tenancies in the private rented sector, especially for people who are experiencing homelessness? Has that been undermined? What has your experience been of that? I do not know whether you have specific data on what the situation was like before the rent control legislation and after it. If you cannot provide us with that today, perhaps you could send it to us after the meeting.

That would be useful.

If you consider that and the rent control areas, how would that work in practice in Edinburgh? There are different markets in different parts of the city, and I think that most people would accept that it is an overheated market. We have seen in different countries rent controls being suspended and different models being introduced. Let us face it: what we as a country have done to date is like a patchwork quilt. What model could work? The bill has included bits and pieces of previous things, but maybe there is an opportunity to open this up to get something that will work in the Scottish context, especially given what we have heard today about rural and urban communities. Edinburgh might be a specific case, given the increases that there have been.

That is a good point.

Good morning. Thanks for joining us today. Do you have any comments about the proposed changes to how joint private residential tenancies can be ended? We have touched on some of the issues where that has sometimes resulted in people being declared homeless where support has not been facilitated. How would you like to see that aspect progress, and do you have any suggestions on that?

You have picked the short straw, Anna.

My three questions have been answered to some extent, specifically my question on evictions and the issues that witnesses wanted to be included in the bill. I will ask a question about what is not in the bill around extra supported living and extra care housing, as it might be known. Lyndsay Clelland, do you think that that should be included in the bill? I know that there are key groups of people in Edinburgh who are not able to hold down a tenancy, and the housing first approach does not necessarily support them. What are witnesses’ views on that? The issue also involves some student accommodation issues. I met the University of Edinburgh recently, and we talked about students with additional support needs and the one-size-fits-all model. Do witnesses want to mention anything on that?

Good morning, panel members. Thanks for joining us today. I want to ask two questions on implementation. From the research that you have been doing, what lessons do you think that the Scottish Government could learn about how any new legislative change will be implemented?

On the emergency legislation that the Parliament passed and then had to reconsider, the social rented sector had specific concerns about the rent freeze, which was taken out of the legislation by the Government in the end. Mid-market rent still sits within that, and there are concerns over the impact that that is having, especially in my area of Edinburgh, where the building of MMR homes has completely dried up. I have put forward two lessons, and I wonder whether there are other things that you would like to tell us about. I do not know who wants to start on that.

Alex Marsh, did you want to come in on that?

I will bring Joshua Davies in, because the Nationwide Foundation’s submission states that a

“a wider scheme of tenant support and enforcement is needed.”

Could you outline what that might look like? Other panel members might have something to add, too. We have already heard some information on a home report for tenants, which is an interesting concept. What would that look like? I go back to your point, Alex, about the sector needing to have certainty over what is needed and who will do that work, both in local government and in the housing sector. I will bring you in, Joshua, as I was looking specifically at your submission.