'I had to move out after £300 rent increase'

People living in rented properties say they are being hit with dramatic increases now that Scotland’s rent cap has come to an end.

In a bid to address the cost of living crisis at the end of 2022, the Scottish government introduced temporary legislation which banned most rent increases and evictions.

This freeze was later changed to a 3% cap which ended in April.

That's when Gilly Ramage and her flatmate were given notice that their rent would increase by £300 a month.

They had been paying £1,100 for a two-bedroom flat in Glasgow’s Southside but they were told the price would jump to £1,400.

Gilly, a 33-year-old admin worker, told BBC News what followed was the most stressful period of her life.

"It was torture," she said.

"We were struggling to pay the rent anyway because our bills were £400 a month, so this extra £300 was just not doable."

Unable to afford the hike, Gilly and her flatmate moved out in the hope of finding cheaper flats separately.

"I had no idea what the market was like," Gilly said.

"I was pretty much applying for or trying to get a booking for every single flat I could find.

"Most of them didn’t even get back to me and the ones that did said there’s no more bookings available, and this was within an hour or two of the advert going up."

The Scottish government's most recent housing market review showed that rents in Glasgow increased by more than 22% in the year to September - almost double the national average.

Gilly eventually found a one-bedroom flat for £650 a month – still an increase of £100 on what she was paying before.

She said it was not somewhere she would have chosen to live “if given the choice”.

She said she never imagined being in such an uncertain living situation at this stage in her life.

“When you’re younger and you think about your thirties, you assume you’ll have your life put together," Gilly said.

“I work full-time, I feel like I should be able to live by myself and live quite comfortably. It’s just a constant struggle.”

Her situation is not unique – tenants’ rights union Living Rent told BBC News they had seen a 300% increase in the number of people contacting them about rent increases since April.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also show that average rents in Scotland have increased more rapidly than in England or Wales, despite Scotland being the only UK nation to have introduced rent controls.

Average rents increased by 10% in Scotland, 8.9% in England and 8.2% in Wales in the 12 months up to April 2024.

When the rent cap in Scotland ended, a system came into force which allows tenants to challenge a rent increase by taking it to an adjudication service.

This has the power to restrict increases to 12% but it is not illegal for a landlord to request a higher rent.

Christina Laird and her flatmate are about to undergo this process themselves after receiving notice of a 33% rent increase for their flat in Edinburgh.

"It’s not a case of having a choice, we just wouldn’t be able to afford it," the 27-year-old charity worker told BBC News.

"We aren’t on huge wages, we both work for charities, so we’d have to completely change our lifestyles.

"We’d have to make a decision to move much further out of the city which would be difficult with work, and we’d have to rely more on public transport so that’s another financial increase.”

Christina said that in order to afford the increase, she would have to “dramatically” reduce how often she visits her family and socialises outside of work.

"I don’t live a luxury lifestyle, I don’t travel a lot, I don’t splurge – it would be a case of cutting back my life to a point where it’s quite bare," she said.

Christina said they were hoping they could negotiate a 12% increase, although it would still have a “massive impact” on their daily lives and finances.

"The thing that’s upset me the most is this has really emphasised the power imbalance in the renting market," she said.

"I can’t afford to save because I’m paying someone else’s mortgage."

Living Rent are urging people to challenge any increases but they said many tenants had found the adjudication system “complicated and confusing”.

“Some of them have even received eviction notices after raising their rent increase with the adjudication process,” said campaigns chair Ruth Gilbert.

“And some tenants are choosing to leave their flats rather than go through the stress of the rent adjudication service, and for those that do, a 12% increase is having a huge impact on their ability to live.”

Ms Gilbert said Scotland “desperately” needs a permanent system of rent controls.

Landlords say rising mortgage rates and increasing bills for repairs have often resulted in rents not recovering their costs.

"The only effect of these short-term, poorly thought-through measures has been to vilify landlords, reduce investment, reduce supply and increase costs for tenants and landlords, causing significant harm,” said John Blackwood, chief executive of the Scottish Association of Landlords.

"The sector has long seen the consequences of a lack of appropriate social housing in Scotland that forces people into rented accommodation which might not be suitable for their needs.”

Scottish ministers have come under heavy scrutiny from both housing providers and campaigners for cutting the affordable housing budget by £163m overall, or 22%, in real terms for 2023-24.

Mr Blackwood said the Scottish government must “work with all partners” to put together a plan that “encourages investment across all parts of Scotland’s housing sector” and increases construction of social and owner-occupied homes.

In its Housing Bill published earlier this year, the Scottish government set out its intention to introduce a form of long-term rent controls – but the bill is still to be scrutinised at Holyrood and it will not come into effect until at least 2026.

After sustained pressure from campaigners and opposition parties, the Scottish government also declared a national housing emergency in May amid record open homeless cases and spiralling private rent costs.

However, this declaration places no obligation on Scottish ministers to take any specific actions to address the emergency.

Several local authorities, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, had already declared housing emergencies of their own.

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said a fairer, well-managed private rented sector was in the interest of both tenants and responsible landlords.

He said: "Our Housing Bill includes a package of important reforms to the rented sector that aim to improve affordability and strengthen tenants’ rights, including the introduction of long term rent control."