Cost of Renting Crisis

That the Parliament understands that rents across Scotland have increased dramatically in the last year, including in Dundee where they have reportedly grown by 16.9% on average across all sizes of property; is concerned by findings that UK private renters spend 28.4% of their gross income on rent, and that this is the largest proportion of income in over a decade; understands that the Scottish Government’s temporary rent cap of 3% does not protect tenants in many circumstances, including when the property is sold or one tenant leaves; considers that these rental increases have come alongside huge increases in other costs of living for tenants, such as energy and food; notes that the latest figures from January 2023 show a fall in real median wages of 3.3% in Scotland; believes that much of the current rental crisis is due to a lack of social housing and historic overdependence on the private rental sector; understands that the Scottish Government is committed to introducing a system of long-term rent controls by 2026, and believes that this must be based on genuine affordability and be linked to the property not the lease, to address what it sees as the spiralling housing crisis, as called for by Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants' union.