Anger at surge in private rent costs across Scotland as one area soars by 16% in a single year
Concerns that rent cap will have limited impact
A leading tenants’ organisation has accused landlords of “draining” people with “nothing left to give” after new figures revealed the soaring cost of private sector rents across Scotland.
Some areas of the country have seen the average prices for larger properties more than double in the past 15 years.
Statistics published by the Scottish Government also show the average mean monthly rent price for certain properties has jumped by more than 16 per cent in some regions over the past year alone, sparking concerns over the ability of ordinary households to meet essential bills.
While the monthly Scottish average rent increase for a one-bedroom property is up 4 per cent year on year - or £28 - to reach £738 a month, there have been particularly sharp year-on-year spikes in parts of the country.
In Dumfries and Galloway, for example, the average mean monthly rent price for a one-bedroom property went up from £434 last year to £505 - an increase of 16.1 per cent, well above the 12-month UK CPI inflation rate of 3.1 per cent for Scotland as a whole.
The Greater Glasgow area also recorded an increase in prices that outstripped both the national average and inflation when it comes to one-bedroom private rented properties, which were up from £794 to £865 a month - a rise of 9 per cent. It was closely followed by North Lanarkshire, where prices went up 8.8 per cent from £509 to £553.
The publication, based predominantly on advertised rent data, also lays bare the vast price increases across the private rented sector over the past 15 years. Across Scotland, the average mean monthly rental cost of a one-bedroom property soared by 67.1 per cent, from £442 to £738. The increase for two-bedroom properties was close behind at 66.3 per cent, up from £554 to £921.
Conversely, one area bucked the trend by seeing the average mean monthly rental costs for a one-bedroom property fall over the 12 month period. Prices in West Lothian dropped slightly from £614 to £612 - a 0.3 per cent fall.
Larger properties saw the biggest increases nationwide, according to the statistics. The monthly cost of four-bedroom properties went up by 88.3 per cent from £939 to £1,767. Three-bedroom properties, meanwhile, incurred an average rise of 71.4 per cent from £674 to £1,154.
In the latter category, Greater Glasgow, Lothian and Fife recorded the biggest increases anywhere in Scotland, with prices more doubling over the 15 year period in some instances.
The average cost in Greater Glasgow went up by 103.7 per cent from £1,067 to £2,174 this year, while in Lothian, the price rose from £1,291 in 2010 to £2,565 - up 98.7 per cent. Fife was not far behind, with prices up by 96.8 per cent from £773 to £1,522, followed by Dundee and Angus, where prices rose 85.6 per cent from £811 to £1,506.
Ruth Gilbert, the national campaigns chair in Scotland for the tenants’ rights union Living Rent, warned the significant rise in rental costs was outstripping the wage increases received by people.
She said: “Landlords' greed has crippled our ability to afford our homes. Over the last 15 years, landlords have pushed rents as high as double the rate of inflation in some places, draining tenants when they have nothing left to give.
“Over the last year, landlords have bullied this government into introducing damaging exemptions to rent controls that will continue to harm tenants and stretch our wages beyond reason. They continue to threaten to leave the market if their profits get dented, but this data clearly sets out that landlords have been raking it in for years.
“In the last 15 years, rents in Greater Glasgow have increased over 40 per cent above inflation, and near double the rate of inflation in Edinburgh. Very few tenants have had a wage increase above inflation, never mind a percentage match.”
Ms Gilbert added: “The exemptions to rent controls show that this government can’t be trusted to protect the interests of tenants. We need to fight to bring rents down.”
Under the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was passed by Holyrood in September, ministers will be able to designate parts of the country as rent control areas, allowing councils to restrict rent increases by landlords in line with the inflation plus one percentage point.
However, some tenants’ bodies and housing charities have said the measures amount to the “bare minimum”. Shelter Scotland warned the bill “does not go far enough” and lacks the financial backing to ensure frontline services are funded to deliver the preventative services within the legislation.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said it was clear from the latest data the private rented sector in Scotland “remains an unaffordable option for many, especially in Edinburgh and Glasgow where social housing is desperately needed most”.
The Scottish Government data found that average rents for two-bedroom properties - the most common privately rented residences in Scotland - rose by 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to the end of September, up £28 to £921 a month. Lothian had the highest average monthly two-bedroom bedroom rent (£1,356) while Dumfries and Galloway had the lowest (£569).
The average rent changes for two-bedroom properties were higher than CPI inflation in 12 out of 18 so-called broad rental market areas, with the steepest increases seen in Dumfries and Galloway (12.7 per cent) and Greater Glasgow (6.8 per cent).
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive at the Generation Rent campaign group, said more than half of areas in Scotland would have benefited were the rent caps in place over the past year, and called on councils to “look closely” at the situation.
“Our homes are the foundation of our lives, but it has become much harder for renters in Scotland to afford a decent place to live,” he said.
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