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ARTICLE · 14 NOVEMBER 2023

The Private Residential Letting Bubble: An Unintended Consequence

Shepherd and Wedderburn
Shepherd and Wedderburn
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You don't have to look too hard for examples of countries where systems of rent controls have been tried and found wanting.

United KingdomReal Estate and Construction
Peter Smith
Peter Smith
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You don't have to look too hard for examples of countries where systems of rent controls have been tried and found wanting.

It's been just over a month since the Scottish Parliament approved legislation to extend the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 from 30 September 2023 to 31 March 2024.

On the same day the extension took effect, private residential letting agents were drawing breath as Q3 2023 closed to mark yet another quarter of double-digit rent increases in a busy year for the Scottish private residential letting market.

The latest extension to what the sector has dubbed the "emergency legislation" is the last permitted by the current Act.

Introduced to protect residential tenants during the cost-of-living crisis, the legislation-imposed restrictions on evictions from residential tenancies on certain grounds and limited in-tenancy rent increases to 3%, or in some cases 6%. Between tenancies, landlords are free to increase rents

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