Infrastructure and
Capital Investment Committee
Private Housing
(Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill
Call for views
The
Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee is seeking views on the general
principles of the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill. A copy of the Bill and the accompanying
documents can be found at—
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/92310.aspx
The Bill was
introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 7 October 2015. The Infrastructure and Capital Investment
Committee is expected to be designated as the lead committee for Stage 1
consideration of the Bill.
Aims of the Bill
The aim of
the Bill is to replace the current system of private tenancies in Scotland. This
would see the existing short assured tenancy and assured tenancy replaced with
a single new tenancy, known as the private residential tenancy. The Scottish
Government believes that this new tenancy model will provide appropriate
safeguards for landlords, lenders and investors.
The Bill also
aims to provide tenants with protection against excessive rent increases and
provide rent predictability, including the ability for Scottish Ministers to
introduce caps on rent increases for sitting tenants in Rent Pressure Zone.
Committee consideration at Stage 1
The
Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee expects to consider written
submissions and to take oral evidence between October 2015 and December 2015, before
reporting on the Bill’s general principles in early to mid January 2016.
Consultation
The Committee
is keen to gather the views of all interested organisations and individuals on
the Bill’s proposals and their likely impact. This can be done in two ways:
1. Smart Survey
An online
survey has been created which should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.
This can be accessed at the following link:
http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/privatehousingbill/
2. Written submission
Should you
wish to make a more detailed response to the Bill’s proposals, the Committee
invites you to submit these in writing.
Written
submissions should be submitted electronically (preferably in plain text Word
format and without graphical borders or headers) to—
[email protected]
Given the
volume of evidence expected to be received, the Committee suggests that submissions be limited to four sides of A4.
To allow the
Committee to take account of any views received, submissions should be sent to
the address below, no later than Thursday
19 November 2015.
Written
submissions will be made public on the Committee’s webpage. If you do not wish
your response to be made public, please contact the clerks to discuss (you may
wish to refer to the Parliament’s
policy on treatment of written evidence).
The Committee
welcomes written evidence in English, Gaelic or any other language.
If you have
any further questions regarding the Committee’s scrutiny of the Private Housing
(Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill, please contact the Committee clerking team at the
above e-mail address or on 0131 348 5229.