Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill: business regulatory impact assessment
Business and regulation impact assessment (BRIA) for the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Bill and sets out how this legislation considers the impact on businesses including costs and benefits.
Footnotes
1. The latest available figures across the period 2017 to 2020 and are sourced from Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland Tables
2. Financial vulnerability is defined as households with savings which would cover less than one month of income at the poverty line. Data covers the 2018 to 2020 and is sourced from Scottish Government Statistical publication on Wealth in Scotland 2006-2020)
3. Wealth in Scotland 2006-2020 (data.gov.scot)
4. https://www.nus.org.uk/campaign-hub/cost-of-living-crisis
5. Alarming research on student poverty @ NUS Scotland (nus-scotland.org.uk)
6. £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme payment; £650 Cost of Living payment for those on means-tested benefits; £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment; 150 Disability Cost of Living Payment; £150 Council Tax rebate; £100 to households who are not able to receive support for their heating costs through the Energy Price Guarantee.
7. In 2021/22 there were 18,675 students in receipt of an independent students bursary, totalling £17.6 million. As well as 28,730 students in receipt of a young student's bursary, totalling £43.2 million. While in 2020/21, there were 10,675 instances of students receiving assistance through the discretionary funds, totalling £13.3 million.
8. Sourced from ONS Private Rental Index results to July 2022, Citylets Quarterly Reports, and Rightmove Rental Price Tracker).
9. Accommodation Costs Survey 2021 (Unipol and NUS).
10. 59% of tenants reported not having experienced an increase, and this increases to 63% if the "no answers" are excluded.
11. Around 17% reported never increasing rents and around 32% reported increasing rent only when the tenancy changes.
12. "What do lower income tenants in Scotland's private rented sector want to see from a new Rented Sector? Summary report"September 2022 (Unpublished – in press)
13. Living in Scotland's private rented sector: a bespoke survey of renter's experiences" September 2022 (Unpublished – in press)
14. 1. Where a landlord intends to sell the let property to alleviate financial hardship (private sector only, excluding regulated tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984): 2. Where a landlord intends to live in the let property to alleviate financial hardship (private sector only); and 3. Substantial rent arrears (social and private sectors).
15. The op end scenarios analyse the potential costs to landlords over the 6 month period to March 2023 only and focus on the PRS only.
16. Nationwide Rentbetter survey of landlords and letting agents – 2020 Published by Indigo House
17. If it's assumed that the starting dates of tenancies are approximately equally distributed over the course of a year, this would suggest that less than a quarter of sitting tenants would experience a rent increase over a 6-month period. In the current environment, with high levels of inflation and rents rising, it is plausible that landlords look to increase rents within tenancy at a greater rate than in the past and perhaps sooner than they would otherwise done so. Our estimate accounts for this potential behavioural change.
18. This range has been informed by letting agent rental market forecasts (Rightmove forecast that from Q2 2022 to Q4 2022, the average new let rental market price will increase by 8%) and the current level of inflation (an annual 9.9% to August 2022).
19. Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
20. Home Energy Scotland private sector landlord advice
21. Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan: overview · Home Energy Scotland)
22. Social Housing - Home - Scottish regulator report signals high investor confidence in providers
23. Health and wellbeing in the private rented sector (UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence; 'Generation rent' and the emotions of private renting (K. McKee, AM. Soaita, J. Hoolachan) ; Health and wellbeing in the private rented sector Part 2 (UK collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence.
24. Index of Private Housing Rental Price, UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
25. £722 x 2 months.
26. £1444 (rent accrued) x 132 (number of evictions in 6 months in 2019).
28. coronavirus-recovery-reform-scotland-bill-consultation-analysis.pdf
29. Internal analysis of published eviction decisions in 2022 (Jan to August) by the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland suggests the median level of rent arrears for those evicted due to rent arrears totalled £6,800, whilst the mean was £7,600.
30. https://www.nus-scotland.org.uk/articles/alarming-research-on-student-poverty
31. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/MHF-Thriving-Learners-Report-Executive-Summary.pdf
Contact
Email: housing.legislation@gov.scot
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