Changes To Rent Adjudication From 1st April 2025
The Rent Adjudication (Temporary Modifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 end today, 31 March 2025.
This means that until the Housing (Scotland) Bill is enacted, agents and landlords can set rents without restrictions and the rules for rent assessments will revert to their pre-Cost of Living Act terms.
The rules on rent increases and adjudication from 1 April 2025:
If a tenancy started on or after 1 December 2017, rent increases will be allowed once in 12 months, the prescribed form must be used and three months’ notice given.
If a tenant thinks a rent increase is too high, they will be able to challenge this within 21 days of receiving the notice by applying to Rent Service Scotland who will set the amount of rent the tenant should pay based on an assessment of the open market rent. This could be either lower or higher than the increase requested by the landlord.
Either tenant or landlord then has a right of appeal within 14 days of receiving the Rent Service Scotland notification. A final order will then be made by the rent officer but appeals to the First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) are still possible within 14 days of the final order.
Housing (Scotland) Bill
The Bill is expected to gain Royal Assent later in 2025 and be enacted in 2027. It will place a duty on each local authority to assess rent levels and increases in its area. The local authority will then be required to submit a report to the Scottish Ministers.
Ministers will use the reports to determine if an area should be a designated rent control area. Once a cap is in place, rent increases will be limited to CPI plus 1% (up to a maximum of 6%).
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