Housing (Scotland) Bill: letter to Cabinet Secretary for Housing

To: Cabinet Secretary for Housing
From: Professor Russel Griggs OBE, Chair - Regulatory Review Group

Dear Mairi,

I am writing as Chair of the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) to provide independent advice on the progress, and implementation, of the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

This note provides an overview of the RRG’s role, and details recommendations on the pace of change, and enforcement and communications considerations.

Regulatory Review Group (RRG)

The independent RRG was re-established by the Scottish Government as part of the New Deal for Business to support Scottish Ministers in improving the regulatory environment for businesses and their involvement in that process. The RRG’s membership is detailed in the Annex. The RRG consider upcoming regulatory developments and, as part of its work programme, identified the Housing (Scotland) Bill as a scrutiny priority.

The RRG’s objectives are to:

1. Work constructively with the Scottish Government to ensure that policy officials and relevant Ministers are sighted on implementation challenges with regulations early in development.

2. Deliver purposeful and targeted written and verbal advice to the Scottish Government, drawing upon extensive expert insight from business and regulators across Scotland.

3. Support the delivery of the New Deal for Business by ensuring that the potential barriers to the success of Scottish Government policies are removed through an improved understanding of the practicalities of implementation.

The RRG’s remit is to examine and identify implementation challenges and appropriate mitigations of regulation. The RRG does not provide a view on the appropriateness of substantive policy or decisions to be taken on legislative priorities.

Housing (Scotland) Bill

Along with RRG members, I met with your officials on Thursday 30 October 2025. Officials provided an insightful update on this complex policy issue, and they also provided detailed responses to our questions. RRG members believe that a degree of uncertainty remains about the implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Bill, and that there exists a danger of legislating where uncertainty remains.

The following recommendations have been made by the RRG for consideration as implementation progresses:

1. The RRG raised the issue of sequencing of Housing Bill implementation activity as a key concern. Given the recent positive discussions we have had with other policy officials which has led to sequencing that works members believe that there is also a real need for impacts to be looked at collectively, with an ordered communication plan which effectively informs stakeholders and the general public. It is vital that activity is taken forward in an ordered and sequenced manner. We were encouraged to hear officials advise that they are already discussing that and they will provide the latest advice on sequencing to RRG members, including proposed timings on implementation (in particular with regard to the sequencing of social and private rented properties). We look forward to receiving this.

2. The risk of unintended consequences is significant and the need to avoid harm is vital, noting that, specifically, private investment in housing could be impacted. Private investment in housebuilding is vital to the housing sector in Scotland, and the implementation of rent controls could have a detrimental impact on investment. RRG members also have concerns that the risk of private landlords shifting to short-term lets to avoid being subject to rent controls is significant. Great care and consideration needs to be given by the Scottish Government to both monitor risk and, if necessary, find solutions to mitigate, or reverse course if significant impacts become apparent.

3. The landlord register requires significant improvement to provide a greater range of data than at present. At present, there is very limited ability for local authorities to be able to judge how many properties an individual landlord owns across Scotland. RRG members believe that there is a need for a comprehensive landlord register, which would fully assist local authorities in gathering data on the private rental sector when assessing the need for rent controls.

4. Thought should be given on exemptions from rent controls, and whether more exemptions should be considered than are currently planned. Current plans are for mid-market rent and buy-to-rent properties to be exempt from rent controls. RRG members believe that, in order to avoid unintended consequences with regard to investment in housing, further thought should be given as to whether other sectors such as community built housing should be considered for exemption from rent control measures.

5. The enforcement of Awaab’s Law requires careful consideration. RRG members have ongoing concerns about the enforcement of Awaab’s Law, particularly in cases where damp and mould issues may have been caused by faulty installation of insulation. In this circumstance members believe that this circumstance may raise questions over who should pay to rectify these issues. Also we believe there may be cases where even good remedial action and mitigation may still not solve the problem so consideration should be given to what happens in those cases.

RRG members are encouraged by the continued constructive discussion with Scottish Government officials on the Housing (Scotland) Bill as it progresses to the implementation stage. The RRG invites your policy officials to return as the proposals to implement the Bill develop further, to provide a further update.

A copy of this letter will be published on the RRG’s webpage and has been sent to your Ministerial colleagues with an interest in this area.

The RRG would be happy to discuss the above recommendations with you and would welcome an update on how the Scottish Government intends to take this forward during the policy development and legislative process.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Russel Griggs OBE
Chair, Regulatory Review Group

Annex

Membership of RRG:

• Chairman – Professor Russel Griggs OBE
• Fiona Richardson – Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA)
• James Fowlie – Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA)
• Craig Brown – Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland
• David MacKenzie – Trading Standards
• Ewan Macdonald-Russell – Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC)
• Susan Love – Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• Douglas White – Consumer Scotland

Members are representatives of business, regulators and consumers, however, are acting independently in their RRG involvement.