Almost half of those made homeless last year because of rental arrears came from the private sector, Scottish Labour warns.
The political party analysed Scottish Government data showing that 46% of those whose tenancy was terminated due to rental arrears had come from the private rental sector (PRS).
The analysis points out that this is despite the PRS accounting for just 15% of housing in Scotland.
The party said the figures highlight the need for an overhaul of the sector.
Scottish Labour party housing spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “Despite only accounting for 15% of Scotland’s housing stock, almost half of homelessness applications due to rent arrears are being made to those in debt to private landlords.
“It is now time for the SNP government to establish why this is happening and act to protect tenants from exorbitant rents.”
Scottish Labour has also released a survey for tenants and landlords to respond about their rental properties in the country and how they would feel about an annual cap of the consumer prices index plus 1% as it resurrects calls for a “Mary Barbour law” – named after an activist who opposed rent increases in Glasgow in 1915.
A report from Scottish Labour said: “Whilst the majority of private landlords charge fair rents, a minority of landlords take advantage of high demand and charge excessive rents, and it seems that for some households, the private rented sector is not working.”
Comments (17)
“It is now time for the SNP.
How do these politicians hold down a job? Basic economics!! If you hammer the life out of private landlords with ridiculous taxation and regulations and ban agents from being able to charge a fee to process applications then rents go up to cover the shortfall for both landlord and agent, and if rents go up people can’t afford to pay it, if they can’t afford to pay them they either won’t rent or they can’t keep up payments and get evicted, they then can’t rent anywhere else because of the arrears they have on this one and couldn’t afford somewhere else to rent anyway because rents have gone up, and therefore they become homeless.
Not to mention the private landlords that are doing it to top up their pension rather than to make a serious living and end up just selling because of the ridiculous taxation and regulations etc resulting in fewer properties to rent, which in turn pushes rents even higher due to shortage of stock.
And so the cycle continues………..
You’re crediting politicians with more than an ounce of commonsense.
Politicians prefer to treat the symptoms with populist measures, but end up just making things worse.
Alternative headline “54% of tenants who were evicted for rent arrears were evicted by Social Housing Landlords”
Good point well made!!
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BAN TENANT FEES!!!
Funny how that works!!!
Fully agree.
“It is now time for the SNP government to establish why this is happening and act to protect tenants from exorbitant rents.”
It’s very easy Pauline McNeill “exorbitant rents” result from exorbitant taxes and over-regulation, that your party supports, and would like to make even worse.
High rents->higher arrears -> more evictions for arrears. Simples- but then your are handicapped by being a politician.
Another political half-Witt. No wonder the country is in turmoil. Don’t pay your rent you get kicked out. Simple. So go elsewhere and purchase your accommodation if you don’t like that which is provided by the Private Rented Sector at MARKET RATES. Stop bleating and provide the housing the for nothing to these poor souls that don’t pay their rent. I don’t like the taxes I have to pay but I pay them. I would like an Aston Martin to drive but I have to put up with something far less because I can’t afford what I want! It’s life these politicians need to grow up and stop acting like petulant children. They are in this problem because they have been asset stripping the social housing for years originally paid for by the public.
Well said.
Another piece of bad journalism just because a politician says something doesn’t make it true. Where are the counter party views? pick up the phone and speak to the Scottish Landlords Association – it ain’t difficult.
If Labour said martians have bought up all the property in Scotland would you just report this as being the gospel truth?
‘Almost half of those made homeless last year because of rental arrears came from the private sector, Scottish Labour warns.
The political party analysed Scottish Government data showing that 46% of those whose tenancy was terminated due to rental arrears had come from the private rental sector (PRS).
The analysis points out that this is despite the PRS accounting for just 15% of housing in Scotland.’
Uh, obviously around half of those who become homeless after not paying their rent are going to come from the PRS, and the other half from the social sector – because they are the two rental tenures – although I note the social sector isn’t mentioned despite evicting more than private landlords.
What fools to say then that the PRS in Scotland only makes up 15% of the total stock – they are including owner-occupiers in the overall total even though they cannot get into rent arrears because they don’t pay rent. Farcical. I wish these dullard figures wouldn’t keep being repeated.
Also, what do they expect to happen to people who sign a contract to pay rent for a house and then renege on the contract? There is a new ridiculous idea coming into the narrative – that landlords should allow tenants to stay indefinitely in their property – and also allow this, regardless of whether the person pays the rent or not – because if the landlord evicts the non-paying tenant they have ’caused’ the homelessness.
Landlords do not cause homelessness figures to rise as they provide housing (if they evict one household, they relet to another); they ameliorate homelessness. The causes of homelessness are varied and usually related to tenant behaviour – non-payment of rent because of poor budgeting and spending on other things instead – eg drugs, alcohol, holidays, take-aways, mobile phones, Sky etc; also divorce or separation meaning that one person is left to pay all the bills which they cannot afford and also single tenants taking on a home with all the associated bills that in reality they cannot afford to sustain (this also affects repossessions) and so on.
I am really sick of housing providers like us being told we cause homelessness, when our accusers provide no housing at all and support policies against landlords which are now causing landlords to have to increase rents, evict and sell up. Even then, we do not ’cause’ homelessness; Government policies do.
Like. likelikelikelikelikelikelike
Okay here is my tuppence worth for absolutely free and to save any significant expenditure in trying to establish why it is happening.
It’s because they haven’t paid their rent and private landlords are not a charity or quasi social landlords. You can’t hammer landlords with unfair taxes and generally treat them like dirt and then expect them to step in and fill the void left by your social housing failures.
Now The Scottish Labour party can get on with the not so difficult task of trying to determine how they managed to go from fifty six seats in 1997 to only one in 2015.
You’re welcome.
Well said that man!
Seconded
Property Industry Eye’s comment-of-the-century award.