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Labour wants to ban “rip-off” private rent rises

Moray Council housing tenants will be consulted on a potential 11% rent rise.
Moray Council housing tenants will be consulted on a potential 11% rent rise.

Banning private housing “rip-off” rent rises will benefit the low paid most, according to Scottish Labour.

An analysis by the party revealed that up to 68% of tenants in the private rented sector earn less than the average Scottish weekly wage of £519.

Labour said it was evidence of the SNP failing to stand up for vulnerable tenants as it voted three times against their plans to ban exploitative rent rises in 2014.

The number of households in the private rented sector living in poverty has more than doubled in a decade to more than 100,000, with one in four Scots below the breadline in the private rented accommodation.

In Aberdeenshire, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom property is £898 per month, in Lothian £779 and in Greater Glasgow £626.

The average tenant in Edinburgh spends nearly half of their income on rent, which is the UK’s second most expensive city to rent in.

Labour housing spokesman Michael McMahon said: “The private rented sector has exploded in size in the last decade, now standing at over 300,000 households in Scotland.

“This growth has come at a time when social housing waiting lists stretch into the hundreds of thousands and the property ladder is simply unreachable for too many.

“We have to reform the private rented sector to make it work for tenants. When you’re living wage to wage the last thing you need is a bad landlord ripping you off with an exploitative rent hike. It could mean the difference between heating and eating.

“Scottish Labour will ban rip-off rent rises to protect low paid tenants and make the sector work for those who use it. The SNP would rather vote with the Tories to protect bad landlords. That simply isn’t good enough.”

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess: “It’s strange that Labour never mentioned rent levels or private sector tenancies during any of the consultations which took place before the Housing Bill was introduced.

“They only raised it after the consultation and only after (party leader) Ed Miliband raised in at Westminster – as with the bedroom tax and other issues, the Labour branch office in Scotland had to wait on instructions from their London head office.”