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The Housing (Scotland) Bill received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025, becoming the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, which is designed to strengthen tenant protections, raise housing standards, and help prevent homelessness.
The new Act introduces fresh duties for local authorities and landlords across various tenancy types, while also granting additional rights to tenants.
Key provisions of the Act:
+ Local authorities must carry out regular assessments of rent conditions in their areas (such as average rent levels and how quickly they’re rising).
+ Scottish ministers can designate “Rent Control Areas” (RCAs) where more stringent rent regulation applies.
+ In RCAs, limits will be placed on how much rent can increase — likely tied to inflation (CPI) + 1% and capped at 6% per year.
+ There are restrictions on how often rent can be increased during a tenancy and between tenancies.
+ Courts and the First‑tier Tribunal must consider whether an eviction should be delayed, taking into account tenant hardship, seasonal/other factors.
+ Changes to how damages for unlawful eviction are calculated.
+ New rights for tenants:
- Tenants in both private and social housing can request permission to keep pets.
- Private tenants can ask to make alterations or decorate their homes.
- In a joint tenancy, one tenant can now end their part of the tenancy without everyone else having to agree.
In addition, a new “Ask & Act” duty: public bodies (e.g., health boards, police) must ask whether someone is homeless or at risk and take action.
Local authorities must act earlier, up to six months ahead of homelessness risk (rather than only closer to the crisis).
Strengthened protections for tenants impacted by domestic abuse: landlords and social landlords have new duties to support tenants whose arrears or housing risk stems from abuse.
The legislation also introduces powers to implement Awaab’s Law in Scotland – requiring landlords to respond promptly to hazards like damp and mould.
Changes to mobile‑home pitch fees (they will follow CPI rather than RPI), and amendments relating to fuel poverty reporting, and data sharing between the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and the New Homes Ombudsman.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, commented: “Royal Assent for the Housing (Scotland) Act marks another significant milestone for the private rented sector. Local authorities across Scotland will now start to prepare and submit reports to the Scottish Government on the rent conditions in their localities by the end of May 2027, which could lead to the introduction of Rent Control Areas.
“Letting agents need to work with landlords to prepare and comply with requests for information from councils as well as understand how the new rights for tenants in terms of pets and making changes to rented property will impact how they manage tenancies.
“Further clarity is still needed from the Scottish government on exemptions to Rent Control Areas and guidance to support the changes. Propertymark stands ready to work with the Scottish Government to ensure the reforms are implemented in a way that is evidence based and fair to landlords, tenants and letting agents.”
Ralph Peters, Bidwells’ head of rural, Scotland, believes that a bill which started as a “well-intentioned” piece of land reform legislation which all sides could have worked with “has ended up becoming a bureaucratic nightmare”.
He continued: “Any draft legislation, with hundreds of proposed amendments at the committee stage, still requiring extensive secondary legislation to implement, clearly lacks clarity and precision in its drafting.”
“A Land Commission and SNP government target to reduce large landholdings now threatens to undermine the very landscape-scale restoration that the government itself has championed.
“Even the Scottish government’s own Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee has said that, in its current form, the bill is too large and too complicated. With widespread concern among stakeholders on all sides it is disappointing and worrying the calls to reconsider the legislation have gone unheeded.”
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