SHOCKING new figures have revealed a 104% rise in rent across the Lothian area in the last 14 years, as campaigns for tighter rent controls get stronger.
Statistics released by the Scottish Government yesterday show the hike in rent for the region, which includes Edinburgh, as well as Scotland as a whole.
The 104% jump concerns a two-bedroom property – the most popular size – although rent for all types of property has also significantly increased.
The figures come ahead of a rally organised by renters’ rights group Living Rent, which is due to take place outside Parliament today to campaign for stricter rent controls.
Rent increases across Lothian have consistently sat above the cumulative inflation rate of around 50% for the last 14 years.
A new housing bill is due to be debated in Holyrood tomorrow, which if passed would see a comprehensive system of rent controls introduced across Scotland.
It has been proposed with the aim of protecting tenants and preventing homelessness.
Living Rent hopes that its rally will ensure MSPs understand the rights of tenants, and that controls are needed to make the city genuinely affordable.
However, the challenge comes from landlords making threats of legal action if their profits are impacted.
The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom property has increased from £665 to £1,358 since 2010, with a 14% increase in the past year alone.
The increase across Scotland as a whole is 61% since 2010 and 6.2% since 2023.
Change could be on the horizon, with the announcement last month that the new housing bill would enforce rent control zones, restricting rent increases to the rate of inflation plus 1% up to a maximum of 6%.
It is hoped that tenants will ultimately be protected from ending up in “totally preventable poverty”.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Ruth Gilbert, a spokeswoman for Living Rent, said: “During a cost-of-living crisis, landlords have been increasing rents more than double the rate of inflation.
“This is draining tenants when they have nothing left to give.
“Despite landlords loudly protesting any form of rent controls which will hit their profits, this data clearly shows that they have been raking in the money for years.
“Very few tenants have had a wage increase above inflation.
“Yet in the last fourteen years, rents in Greater Glasgow have gone up over 30% above inflation, and 81% overall. In Lothian, rent increases are double inflation.
“Rent hikes are directly contributing to inflationary pressure – we simply cannot go on like this. It is clear landlords cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
“Given rents have risen on average 61% in the last 14 years in Scotland, we urgently need to see a system of rent controls that can bring rents down.
“Tenants are on their knees and this parliament needs to act and deliver rent controls that regulate the uncapped profits of landlords.”
