Landlord and tenant engagement questionnaire on rented sector reform

Closed 27 Oct 2023

Opened 29 Sep 2023

Contact

housing.legislation@gov.scot

Feedback updated 8 Mar 2024

We asked

On 29 September 2023, the Scottish Government launched a questionnaire asking private and social rented sector landlords and tenants questions on rental sector reform to inform development of legislation to deliver A New Deal for Tenants through a Housing Bill in this parliamentary year. The questionnaire was accompanied by a paper on the current proposals, which is available on the Scottish Government website.

You said

The questionnaire closed on 27 October 2023 and in total 6,650 questionnaire responses were available for analysis. The largest respondent groups were PRS landlords, accounting for 44% of respondents, and PRS tenants, accounting for 29% of respondents. Other points to note are that:

  • 48% of all respondents came from the four groups with a landlord perspective (PRS landlord, PRS landlord organisation, SRS landlord and SRS landlord organisation).
  • 33% of all respondents came from the four groups with a tenant perspective (PRS tenant, PRS tenant organisation, SRS tenant and SRS tenant organisation).

Overall the analysis demonstrates that there are a variety of views on proposals for rented sector reform, with respondents in general agreement on a number of issues, and divided on others. More generally, feedback on the questionnaire included concerns that the closed question only format did not allow for a nuanced response and did not allow stakeholders to provide further information or commentary.

We did

The Scottish Government is grateful to those who took the time to provide a response to this questionnaire. The analysis report has now been published, and we have also published a separate report with analysis of email responses received in relation to the matters covered in the questionnaire. Where consent has been given to publish responses from organisations these can be viewed here. 

We have carefully considered the wide range of views expressed and sought to incorporate findings into the final policy proposals. The Scottish Government intends to implement these proposals to deliver a New Deal for Tenants by introducing a Housing Bill to Parliament in this parliamentary year.

Published responses

View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.

Overview

Housing to 2040, our first national strategy and route map, aims to deliver our ambition for everyone to have a safe, good quality and affordable home that meets their needs in the place they want to be. This will be supported by making changes to improve the way the rented sectors operate.

Our A New Deal for Tenants: Draft Rented Sector Strategy, published in December 2021, sought views on a number of proposals for changes to improve the way the rented sectors in Scotland work. An analysis of consultation responses was published in August 2022.

Following this consultation, a number of these proposals are being progressed further. Some are for the private rented sector (PRS) only, some only for the social rented sector (SRS) and some for both sectors. You can read the stakeholder paper for further information on the following proposals being considered and which sector they would affect:

  1. Rent control (PRS)
  2. Ending a joint tenancy (PRS)
  3. Greater flexibility to personalise a home (PRS)
  4. Greater flexibility to keep a pet (PRS & SRS)
  5. Unclaimed tenancy deposits (PRS)
  6. Greater protections during the eviction process (PRS & SRS)
  7. Changes to social housing pre-action requirements to reflect the potential impact of domestic abuse (SRS)

The paper provides some helpful background for tenants and landlords who wish to respond to the Scottish Government’s Landlord and Tenant Engagement Questionnaire on Rented Sector Reform, which is asking for views on some of the details of the proposals being looked at. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.

Useful information about responding to this questionnnaire

As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the questionnnaire midway through, your response will be lost.

Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.

After the questionnaire has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use. Due to the large number of responses we expect to receive we only plan to publish organisational responses.

A analysis report will usually be published some months after the questionnaire has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us. 

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