Private rents in Scotland soar by 14.3% in a year

Despite a rent cap, there has been a sharp increase in average rents across all property sizes in Scotland, with the most common size of home in the private rented sector (PRS) – two-bedroom homes – rising by 14.3% in the year to the end of September.

The data has been released by Scotland’s chief statistician who also reveals that tenants are paying £841 per month in rent on average – which is £105 more than the previous year, and well above the UK CPI inflation rate of 9%.

All 18 of the country’s Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) recorded an increase in average two-bedroom rents, with 11 of them exceeding the inflation rate.

The Scottish Government’s rent cap only applies to existing tenants – not to renters looking to sign a new lease – and was extended until March 2024.

The highest rent rise was in Greater Glasgow, where rents rose by 22.3% or £191 per month, followed by Lothian, where rents increased by 19.8% or £197 per month.

The lowest increase was in Dumfries and Galloway, where rents went up by only 1.5% or £7 per month.

Lothian had the highest average monthly rent for two-bedroom properties at £1,192, while Dumfries and Galloway had the lowest at £487.

‘Landlords have raked in huge profits’

Aditi Jehangir, the secretary of Living Rent, told the Daily Record: “Year after year, while the rest of us have been forced to tighten our belts, landlords have raked in huge profits, hiking up rents and forcing tenants out of the places they called home.

“The rent cap is a huge relief for tenants already in homes in the private rented sector, however as the hikes in new market rents demonstrate, unless the Scottish Government acts now, thousands of tenants will be faced with astronomical increases when the cap runs out in March.”

She added: “From March, tenants need to be able to properly challenge rent increases until the Scottish Government introduces rent controls to cap rents between tenancies and bring rents down.”

Rent rises are a ‘predictable’ result

The Scottish Conservatives have pointed out that the rent rises are a ‘predictable’ result of the government’s failure to build homes.

The party’s housing spokesman, Miles Briggs, said: “This is the entirely predictable result of the SNP-Green government’s imposition of a rent cap, and their longstanding failure to tackle the shortage of housing stock.

“If landlords are prevented from raising rent gradually in line with inflation, it’s inevitable that there will be eye-watering jumps of this kind.”

Mark Griffin, the Scottish Labour housing spokesman, said: “These shocking increases lay bare the perilous state of Scotland’s housing sector.

“The SNP’s failure to use the opportunities of the rent freeze to act on the big problems in our housing sector has failed Scots.”

Scotland’s minister for tenants’ rights, Patrick Harvie, said: “These statistics show how rents charged by private landlords in Scotland have been rising for more than a decade, and they are yet more evidence of the importance of action to make rents more affordable.

“There is no one solution to addressing rent affordability and our work to introduce long term rent controls as part of the next Housing Bill is one measure being taken forward.”

Property sizes also saw big rent rises

Other property sizes also saw big rent rises, the chief statistician reveals, including:

11.7% or £68 per month for 1-bedroom properties, reaching £648 per month

13.3% or £121 per month for 3-bedroom properties, reaching £1,026 per month

13.4% or £196 per month for 4-bedroom properties, reaching £1,656 per month

15.1% or £64 per month for 1-bedroom shared properties, reaching £490 per month.

Since 2010, Lothian and Greater Glasgow have seen the highest increases in average rents above the rate of inflation for all property sizes.

Dundee and Angus, East Dunbartonshire, Fife and Forth Valley have also seen above-inflation increases for all property sizes except one-bedroom properties.

However, Argyll and Bute, the Ayrshires and Dumfries and Galloway have seen below-inflation increases.

The statistics are based on advertised rents, and do not reflect the rent cap restrictions that apply to existing tenants since September 2022 under the Cost of Living (Tenants Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

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