The Private Housing Rent Control (Exempt Property) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 - business and regulatory impact assessment

Section 2: Engagement and information gathering

Engagement approach

Development of the rent control measures brought forward in the Act was supported by widespread engagement across the private rented sector. This engagement was detailed in the supporting BRIA for the Rented Sector Reform measures in the Bill^[38], which was produced to support consideration of the Bill at introduction.

The Scottish Government carried out several public and targeted consultation exercises as part of the development of the measures in the Act, as well as direct engagement with different stakeholders across the sector. This included the New Deal for Tenants consultation and the consultation from April to July 2025 in relation to the potential uses of powers in the Act which relate to rent control. This recent consultation sought to hear from businesses and consumers who would be most likely to be affected and identify circumstances where there could be disproportionate effects from the use of these powers.

As part of ensuring that views from across the sector were heard, various approaches to engaging with different groups of stakeholders. Some engagement with landlords and investors was carried out through working groups and taskforces, with other engagement being carried out through stakeholder representative organisations who were able to organise opportunities for officials to meet with their members. Officials and Ministers also met with tenant representatives.

Our experience with previous consultation on matters relating to the PRS has indicated that tenants may be less likely to engage in the process than other groups with an interest, in particular landlords and their representative organisations. Recognising this, we carried out targeted engagement as part of our recent consultation, in order to ensure that tenant voices could be considered as part of the policy development.

The proposed regulations setting out the criteria for exemption for BtR and MMR have been brought forward at the earliest opportunity in order to give clarity to the sector, in support of removing a perceived barrier to investment in MMR and BtR properties, supporting the supply of new properties and increasing the availability of rented homes in Scotland.

It is anticipated that further regulations will be brought forward, which will set out other aspects of the rent control regime, including establishing verification routes for the proposed exemptions, and setting out potential circumstances where landlords may be able to increase the rent above the rent cap.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders as we progress this wider implementation of the rent control measures, and we anticipate that further business and regulatory impact assessments will be carried out to support future regulations, building on the engagement and consideration of potential impacts which are set out here.

Over the longer term, the Scottish Government also anticipates working with stakeholders to develop a coordinated programme of monitoring and evaluation of the measures in the Act, including rent control.

Internal SG engagement / engagement with wider Public Sector

Internal SG engagement

The exemptions regulations were informed by engagement within Scottish Government including Better Homes, More Homes, Communities Analysis and Rent Service Scotland.

Consideration of the potential for cumulative effects on landlords arising in combination with the other rented sector measures in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, along with other legislation which may impact the sector, will continue as the overall package of measures in the Act are implemented.

Officials also met with the Regulatory Review Group (‘RRG’), an independent group set up by Scottish Government to promote and develop an environment where both business and government work together to promote better regulation and sustainable economic growth, on 30 October 2025 to discuss implementation of the Act. RRG has subsequently issued recommendations, including in relation to these proposals^[39].

The RRG considers that the risk of unintended consequences during implementation of the measures in the Act is significant, noting a specific concern that private investment in housing could be impacted as a result of the implementation of rent controls. They have concerns that the risk of private landlords shifting to short-term lets in order to avoid being subject to rent controls is significant. As a consequence, they recommended that the Scottish Government gives consideration to monitoring risk and if necessary, finds solutions to mitigate or reverse course, if significant impacts become apparent.

The concerns raised by the RRG echo those raised during stakeholder engagement and in the consultation responses. As set out above, the current proposed measures in relation to exemptions are intended to mitigate some of this risk to investment in the PRS.

The Scottish Government also acknowledges the importance of ensuring that individual private landlords in the PRS are not disproportionately impacted by the rent control measures in the Act. Consideration of other measures which could be brought forward to safeguard the interests of private landlords is currently ongoing, and it is anticipated that further measures in respect of this will be brought forward ahead of any rent control areas being established.

The RRG also recommends that the Scottish Government considers whether there should be other exemptions beyond MMR and BtR, and specifically whether other sectors such as community built housing should be considered for exemption from rent control measures. Our recent consultation asked a question about other categories of housing provision where an exemption from rent control might be appropriate, and we will continue to consider this as implementation of rent control progresses.

UK/ Devolved Administrations

The Scottish Government has not engaged with governments in other parts of the UK in relation to these proposals, as they relate solely to devolved matters.

Wider Public Sector

A local authority working group was established to support the development of policy for the Bill, in order to allow local authorities, COSLA and ALACHO to feed into work to develop the wider approach to rent control. Engagement with this group will continue as the measures in the Act are implemented.

There has also been engagement with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and with local authorities and housing associations who provide MMR accommodation through subsidiaries.

International

The Scottish Government has not engaged with government organisations regarding these proposals as it is not considered that they will affect other countries’ trade with Scotland. Whilst there has not been direct engagement with policy makers in other countries who have implemented other rent control regimes, the Scottish Government considered published literature on rent controls^[40], including those in different countries, as part of the overall design process of the rent control regime set out in the Act.

Business / Third Sector engagement

Business Engagement

In addition to our wider public engagement, officials and ministers have engaged with businesses and business representative organisations throughout the process of designing the rent control measures in the Act.

This includes engagement with the Housing Investment Taskforce, through the Taskforce’s Rent Control Workstream. Housing Investment Taskforce provided input from investors and developers on how rent control impacts decision-making on large, scale investment in homes for rent. The Taskforce published their report on 09 June 2025, including a recommendation to exempt MMR and BtR properties from rent control.

Officials also met with Scottish Federation of Housing Associations members through their mid-market rent focus group. The group provided input on how rent controls will affect those registered social landlords who offer mid-market provision, as well as meeting with the Scottish National Investment Bank and Scottish Futures Trust. This engagement included engagement with MMR providers who are small businesses. This engagement did not reveal any concerns specific to small businesses operating in the MMR sector.

Ministers and officials also met with organisations representing landlords, letting agents, the property industry and the financial services industry, both collectively through the PRS Stakeholder Engagement Group, which includes representatives of interests across the sector, and through targeted engagement.

A number of businesses also responded to the public consultations set out below, including our consultation in 2025 on the possible use of powers set out in the Act which allow for properties to be exempt from the rent cap, or for rents to be permitted to increase above the rent cap in certain circumstances where this is appropriate. Respondents included investors, developers and landlords, as well as umbrella organisations representing different parts of the sector.

Third Sector Engagement

Alongside engagement with businesses and business representative organisations, Ministers and officials have also engaged with third sector organisations around these proposals, and in particular with third sector organisations which represent tenants and tenant interests. This included engagement with members of the PRS Stakeholder Group, as well as individual engagement with organisations as part of the policy development work.

Public consultation

Views on the introduction of rent control and some aspects of the use of the powers in the Act were sought as part of two public consultations, as well as an engagement questionnaire. These exercises were carried out at various points in the development of the rent control measures set out in the Act.

The Scottish Government consulted on the vision and principles of a national system of rent controls as part of the ‘New Deal for Tenants: Draft Rented Sector Strategy’^[41] public consultation, and an independent analysis of the consultation responses was published in August 2022^[42].

The Scottish Government then issued a targeted engagement questionnaire^[43] In September 2023, to support direct engagement with tenants and landlords in both the private and social rented sectors through an online survey. The independent analysis of this questionnaire and supplementary discussion groups has also been published on the Scottish Government website^[44], along with a separate analysis of the email responses received during the course of the engagement questionnaire^[45].

To support delivering a system of rent control capable of balancing the interests of tenants with the property rights of landlords, the Act includes a regulation-making power for the Scottish Ministers to specify, through regulations, types of property or other circumstances relating to the tenant or landlord where the restrictions on rent increases would not apply.

To ensure the use of this power is informed by the views of those affected, a requirement to consult before making regulations was also included.

A consultation designed to specifically consider the potential use of powers in the Housing (Scotland) Bill^[46] ran from 23 April 2025 to 18 July 2025, alongside the Parliamentary Bill process. This consultation sought views on specific questions, including how powers within the legislation could be used to exempt certain types of properties from rent control, and circumstances where rents could be increased above the level of any introduced rent cap. Consideration of the consultation responses has supported the assessment of potential impacts of rent control on different parts of the PRS, in order to ensure that further measures are framed in a way which minimises disproportionate impacts and avoids unintended consequences.

A total of 4,784 valid responses were received. Of these, 636 were standard, non-campaign responses, and 4,148 were responses to a campaign. Of the 636 non-campaign responses, 121 were from groups or organisations and 515 from individual members of the public.

In recognition that it can be harder for consultation and engagement work to reach tenants in the private rented sector compared to registered private landlords, online information and consultation sessions were organised and run on behalf of the Scottish Government by The Tenants Information Service (TIS) and Tenant Participation Advisory Service (Scotland) (TPAS), in order to specifically reach tenants living in Mid-Market and Private Rented Sector homes. These 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.

An interim partial analysis^[47] of the first 15 questions of this consultation, covering the possible use of the powers to exempt properties from rent control was published on 02 September 2025 in order to inform the ongoing development process and the Stage 3 debates on the legislation. A full analysis of the consultation^[48], which also included summary analysis from the information and consultation sessions, was subsequently published on 06 January 2026.

Other stakeholders

A Private Rented Sector Stakeholder Working Group was established in March 2023 to support the development of the measures in the Bill. It is intended to provide a formal mechanism for engaging directly with stakeholder representatives from across the sector. Engagement with stakeholder representatives through this Group continued throughout the Bill’s passage through Parliament, and is continuing as part of the implementation process for the rent control and rented sector reform measures in the Act. An overview of membership of the group and meeting minutes are published on the Scottish Government website^[49].