Landlords claim they're being "attacked for political reasons"

The Scottish Government is set to introduce emergency legislation to freeze rent and prevent tenants from being evicted.

This will apply to both the private and social renting sectors.

The First Minister announced it as part of the programme for Government, saying:

"Firstly, it will aim to give people security about the roof over their head this winter through a moratorium on evictions.

"Secondly, the legislation will include measures to deliver a rent freeze."

Ms Sturgeon said: "The Scottish Government does not have the power to stop your energy bills soaring, but we can and will take action to make sure that your rent does not rise."

The move has drawn split opinion, with campaigning groups who have been asking for this for months celebrating the announcement, but many landlords saying it's awful news for them.

Living Rent are a tenants Union.

Member Olly Brown told us:

"It's really great, it's much needed but it's only a temporary measure and we need rent controls to be introduced as soon as possible in order to bring down rents, because they're already completely unaffordable.

"It's a huge stress relief for a lot of people, they're looking at their energy bills, their food bills and they're looking more widely at what is effecting them on a day to day basis.

"So it's a huge relief but one of many steps that need to be taken to address the cost of living crisis."

The group do however want more details on if the legislation will cover purpose built student accommodation, and if it'll be backdated to cover people who have already been given noticed that their rent will rise.

John Blackwood, Chief Executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL), said: “Since rumours of this announcement broke, I have been inundated by landlords saying they will be removing their vacant properties from the rental market, and I don’t blame them.

“Who on earth is going to let a property in the knowledge that they will be unable to meet their own financial and maintenance obligations if their tenants don’t pay the rent or their outgoings increase?

“Instead of helping tenants pay their bills, the Scottish Government has chosen to penalise people who have provided the homes politicians have failed to provide for decades.

“Once again the Scottish Government fails to grasp the reality of Scotland’s housing crisis and has chosen the easy option of attacking landlords for political reasons which will only further reduce the supply of housing, putting more people at risk. This is not a solution, it will only cause more hardship."

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