Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Bill introduced

The Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 3 October 2022¹. The Scottish Government published key statistics underpinning the Bill on 10 November 2022¹. The legislation was passed by the Scottish Parliament in early October 2022 and imposed a temporary in-tenancy rent cap and moratorium on the enforcement of evictions². Following the expiry of the measures on 31 March 2024, the rent adjudication process in the private rented sector was modified for a period of one year².

The statistics set out housing cost to income ratios by tenure. Since 2006/07, people in the private rented sector spent the highest proportion of their income on housing, at 26%, compared with 24% for the social rented sector; for owner occupiers with a mortgage the average proportion fell from 12% in 2006/07 to 7% in 2019/20¹. Over 2017 to 2020, private rented sector households in the lowest income quintile paid an average of almost half (47%) of household income on housing costs, against 38% for social rented households in the same quintile¹.

In 2019, 60% of social rented households and 38% of private rented households had a net income of £20,000 or less, compared with 14% of households buying with a mortgage and 41% of households who own outright¹. Over 2018 to 2020, 63% of social rented households and 40% of private rented households in Scotland were estimated to be financially vulnerable, defined as households with savings covering less than one month of income at the poverty line, compared with 24% of households buying with a mortgage and 9% of households owning outright¹. An estimated 9% of social renting households had unmanageable debt in 2018-2020¹.

On fuel poverty, the 2019 Scottish House Condition Survey estimated 613,000 households (24.6% of all households) were in fuel poverty, of which 311,000 (12.4%) were in extreme fuel poverty¹. Fuel poverty rates were similar for households renting from housing associations (39%), local authorities (36%) and private landlords (36%), compared with 12% of households with a mortgage¹. Accounting for the Energy Price Guarantee, which came into effect on 1 October 2022 and froze the price cap for the average dual fuel customer paying by direct debit at £2,500, the Scottish Government estimated around 860,000 households (35% of all households) would be in fuel poverty, with around 600,000 (24%) in extreme fuel poverty¹.

Table 1: Estimated fuel poverty rates and levels by tenure under the Energy Price Guarantee¹

A later Scottish Government report, published in February 2025, said the fuel poverty rate increased from 24.6% in 2019 to 31.0% in 2022². It also recorded that UK CPI inflation rose from under 0.5% in February 2021 to a peak of 11.1% in October 2022, the highest rate for 41 years, and that the Bank of England raised interest rates 14 consecutive times from 0.1% in December 2021 to 5.25% in August 2023, before reducing them twice in 2024 from 5.25% to 4.75%².

Why it matters for households

The Bill's measures applied to tenants in Scotland's private and social rented sectors from late 2022, capping in-tenancy rent increases and pausing eviction enforcement². The statistics published alongside it show why rented households were the focus: they spent a larger share of income on housing than other tenures, were more likely to have low incomes and to be financially vulnerable, and faced higher estimated fuel poverty rates under the Energy Price Guarantee¹. The temporary measures expired on 31 March 2024, after which private rented sector rent adjudication was modified for one year². The Scottish Government's 2025 report states that lower inflation does not mean prices are falling, only that they are rising less quickly, and that the large increases of the previous three years have effectively been locked in².

What happens next

The Scottish Government said the 2021 Scottish House Condition Survey took place using a different approach to previous years, with key findings including an estimate of fuel poverty rates and levels in 2021 intended for publication in February 2023¹. It also said its estimates of households in fuel poverty under the Energy Price Guarantee would have to be revised if further support were announced¹. The February 2025 report records that the rent adjudication process in the private rented sector was modified for a period of one year following the expiry of the measures on 31 March 2024².