By Important update for Glasgow landlords.
The Rent Adjudication (Temporary Modifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 ended on 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.
In summary, landlords can increase rent from 1 April 2025 by any amount up to the open market rent.
The above procedures only apply to mid-tenancy increases. There is no restriction on how much landlords can increase rents by between tenancies, though this may change once the Housing (Scotland) Bill is finalised.
If you are unsure on increasing your rent, read our article Should Glasgow Landlords Raise the Rent in 2025?
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%).
The property industry professional body, Propertymark, has warned that flexibility must be retained to accommodate inflation and the rising costs of energy efficiency improvements, or there is a risk that large areas of rental stock will fall into disrepair as landlords become unable to cover their costs. Propertymark will continue to work to ensure amendments are tabled to strengthen the Bill.
If you know a landlord or investor who would find this article useful, please share it with them.
Want to discuss the management of your property or portfolio? Get in touch with our Shawlands branch on 0141 649 7979 or click here to arrange a call.
Scottish Property Centre have branches in Dunoon, Cardonald and Shawlands covering the Argyll and Glasgow property markets. We have local experts serving local people.
Source – Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns, Propertymark
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