Rent freeze for private landlords could last beyond March, hints Green Minister
dailyrecord.co.ukA Scottish Green Minister has raised the prospect of extending a planned rent freeze beyond March for private landlords only.Patrick Harvie also criticised landlords at the “disreputable” end of the scale for imposing “eye-watering” rises on tenants.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced emergency legislation to protect tenants in the private and socially rented sectors.
Landlords will not be able to put up rents between now and March, a restriction blasted by industry leaders.In an interview with the Record, Tenants’ Rights Minister Harvie said the move was “temporary” but hinted it may not expire at the current end point.He said: “We’ll decide, in the light of the circumstances as they change, what the situation will be after March, whether the current measures, both on rent freeze and moratorium on evictions, will continue after for a continued period.”He also said different decisions could be made for different sectors: "We’re aware that in the social rented sector, not only do rents contribute to the investment in property....
but we also know that the social landlords have a duty to consult with their tenants on rent increases and to do that in line with an understanding of affordability.“Those protections aren’t there in the private rented sector, and so it might be that we need to understand the different impact of any continuation after March.”He continued: “There are private landlords who have also tried to keep rent low during the pandemic, who want to look after their tenants.
And we absolutely respect that. Sadly, there are also...a disreputable end of the private rented sector where we’re seeing really eye-watering increases at the moment.”He said there are “good” and “bad” landlords, and rejected claims
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