Housing (Scotland) Bill - use of powers: consultation analysis - final report

Introduction

Background

This report presents an analysis of responses to a public consultation on the use of powers in the Housing (Scotland) Bill (the Bill). The consultation sought views on how powers within the Bill could be used: to exempt certain types of properties from rent control; define the circumstances where rents could be increased above the level of any introduced rent cap; and sought views on some of the detail around how new measures for ending joint tenancies in the private sector should operate.

The consultation was launched on 23 April and ran until 18 July 2025. It was brought forward during Stage 2 of the parliamentary process to allow the Scottish Government to give early consideration to the regulations required, with a view to bringing these forward at the earliest possible opportunity after the legislation was passed, and particularly to give more clarity around the operation of the rent control regime.

By the time the consultation closed, the Bill had completed Stage 2 and moved to Stage 3, where MSPs could propose further amendments to be debated. Stage 3 ended on 30 September 2025, with a final amended version of the Bill being passed by the Scottish Parliament.^[1] The Bill received Royal Assent, and became an Act on 6 November 2025.^[2],[3] Following this, the details of the matters covered in the consultation would need to be set out in regulations, which would also be subject to parliamentary approval.

An interim partial analysis (covering Questions 1 to 15) was published on 2 September 2025 to allow for early consideration of responses covering some of the issues that received the most focus when the Bill went through Stage 2 in the Scottish Parliament.

Profile of responses

A total of 4,784 valid responses were received.^[4] Of these, 636 were standard, non-campaign responses submitted primarily through the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space portal and 4,148 were responses to a campaign organised by Living Rent. These campaign responses were all submitted through the Citizen Space portal, and all contained identical answers in response to closed questions and identical comments at open questions.^[5]

Of the 636 non-campaign responses, 121 were from groups or organisations and 515 from individual members of the public.^[6]

Group respondents were allocated to one of eight groups by the analysis team. A breakdown of the number of responses received by respondent type is set out below, and a full list of group respondents is appended to this report as Annex 1.

‘Private landlord, letting agent or their representative bodies’ were the largest single group, with 45 respondents. However, analysis of the comments made by the ‘Individual’ respondents suggests that some private landlords may have submitted their response as an Individual. It is not possible to identify definitively the proportion of individual responses that come from different groups (for example tenants and landlords) as the consultation did not ask for this information. However, around 1 in 5 of the ‘Individual’ respondents identified themselves as being a private landlord at some point in their response. Overall, therefore, around 1 in 4 of the 636 non-campaign respondents (or 115 ‘Individual’ respondents and most of the ‘Private landlord, letting agent or their representative bodies respondents’), are private landlords.

A small number of individuals (14 respondents) identified themselves as being tenants in their qualitative comments.

Analysis and reporting

The report presents a question-by-question analysis of answers to both the closed and open questions. At the closed questions, the figures presented use variable bases (i.e. totals and percentages are calculated based on only those respondents who answered the question).

The report also includes summary analysis from online information and consultation sessions with tenants living in Mid-Market and Private Rented Sector homes. These sessions were organised and run on behalf of the Scottish Government by The Tenants Information Service (TIS) and Tenant Participation Advisory Service (Scotland) (TPAS). The consultation sessions gave participants an opportunity to respond to key questions contained in the consultation document, with a specific focus on those relevant to their own tenancy type.

A list of acronyms used in the report is included at Annex 2.

Finally, as with any public consultation exercise, it should be noted that the responses to the consultation cannot be considered to be representative of wider public opinion. Respondents are a self-selecting sample, and people or organisations who have a keen interest in the subject, who hold strong views and who have the capacity to respond are much more likely to take part.