Marble Falls On social media, ACORN’s affiliate in Scotland, Living Rent, trumpeted a huge victory in winning rent controls in a historic first anywhere in the United Kingdom by a resounding vote of 89 to 28. Coupled with the progress in Westminster on the housing bill that ACORN and its allies are on the verge of winning, these are huge steps forward for tenants and our organizations.
As tenancy has increased around the world along with the unaffordability of housing, in cities, large and small, rent controls have become a rallying cry. In several cities in Canada, ACORN has won rent controls, sometimes by convincing cities and provinces to maintain pandemic era caps. Controls and affordability are huge issues in prominent mayoralty campaign in New York City, Seattle, and elsewhere.
According to the report in The Guardian the Scottish measure allows ministers “to designate rent control zones, allowing councils to limit rent increases to one percentage point above inflation, up to a maximum rent increase of 6%….” These zones can be tricky. Over the last decade, we have won zones in Edinburgh, but have sometimes had difficulty in getting the council to actually designate the neighborhoods where zones would apply. In many cases, this will open up other fights at the local level to bring the new caps into effect.
The government is already carving out exemptions. “The Scottish government’s housing minister, Màiri McAllan, announced last month that mid-market rent and build-to-let homes, including student accommodation, would be exempt from the cap because of concerns the measure could suppress housebuilding.” The sides are drawn here and are far apart as the Guardian also reports,
“…Living Rent described the exemptions as ‘a cowardly response to extensive lobbying from landlords’ that would ‘create a two-tier system of rent controls.’ The Scottish Association of Landlords described the move as “a promising development” and previously lobbied for the cap rate that was eventually agreed.”
The bill that passed also included positive provisions to give tenants more protections against unhealthy homes where mold is particularly a problem. Deadlines were included for landlords to make improvements. There were also provisions concerning domestic violence and some protections for tenants against evictions, if they complained about their living situation. Council taxes, which are similar to US property taxes, would not be capped for “second and empty” homes which ACORN has also won in consultations in Wales, so that’s important as well.
The fight for tenants never stops and even victories are sometimes bittersweet, when we think of what we won versus what should have been, and in the Scottish case, many of the most progressive features of the bill were cast aside. In that vein, the Guardian’s report ends with the last shoutout from ACORN’s…
Living Rent’s national campaigns chair, Ruth Gilbert, saying: “In the midst of a housing emergency, the rent controls proposed are the bare minimum that tenants need. After the vote, MSPs need to go much further with bold action that actually addresses the housing emergency through a range of additional measures, not just paper over the cracks.”
This fight for tenants’ rights in Scotland just entered a new chapter, but it’s a long way from over, and ACORN never gives up a fight.