A leading property market analyst says rent caps are not the solution to high rents – at best, they merely delay the inevitable increases.
David Fell of lettings agency Hamptons, says: “The evidence from Scotland suggests that rent controls rarely work as intended. At best, they delay rent increases; at worst, they set a new benchmark where landlords feel compelled to increase their rents every year by the maximum allowed. Faced with uncertainty over future rules, many landlords choose to raise rents little and often rather than risk falling far below market levels.
“While the Renters Rights Act will give tenants more time and power to challenge rents at tribunal, the evidence suggests caps are only a sticking plaster. Longer term, the only way of making rents more affordable is to increase the number of homes available to rent and boost competition among landlords for tenants.
Fell made his comments after conducting one of the most detailed analyses of the rent control experiment in Scotland.
Analysing data from across the Connells lettings group, Hamptons found that Scottish landlords are more likely to have increased rents than in England & Wales during both 2024 and 2025.
So far this year, 67% of landlords in Scotland raised the rent when they had the ability to do so, the highest figure for any region and above the 58% who did so across Great Britain as a whole.
Between September 2022 to April 2023, rent increases for existing tenants in Scotland were capped at 0%. And from April 2023 to April 2024, increases were capped at 3%. Since April 2024, rent increases have been limited to the lowest of the ‘open market rent’, or the rent proposed by the landlord; or the ‘permitted rent’ where the tenant is paying at least 6% below the market rate.
The current law in Scotland can limit the scale of rent increases, particularly for tenants who are paying significantly below market rates. As a result, landlords are increasingly choosing to implement small rent increases annually to ensure that tenants remain as close as possible to market rates.
For those landlords who did raise their rent, the size of the average increase was actually lower in Scotland (10.1%) compared to the Great Britain average (12.2%). Nevertheless, Scotland’s overall average rental growth is higher as a greater share of landlords in Scotland chose to increase rents over the last year.
Since June 2025, the pace of rental growth on new lets has picked up in Scotland, despite rents falling across Great Britain. Scottish rents rose by 2.5% from the same time last year, one of only two regions in Great Britain where rents rose by more than 2% over the last year.
Looking specifically at what has happened to rents since the 3% cap on rental increases in Scotland was loosened in April 2024, shows that rents on new lets in Scotland have risen by 7.3%, an increase only surpassed by the North East of England.
And even looking longer term, newly agreed rents in Scotland are up 36% over the last five years, higher than the 32% increase across Great Britain. It’s a similar story for renewals too, with the average cost of renewed contracts rising 32% over the last five years in Scotland compared to 29% across Great Britain.
Evidence suggests that relatively few disagreements between landlord and tenant end up with Rent Service Scotland, the body responsible for determining market rents in cases of disagreement. Around 1,000 cases were heard in the year to April 2025. This means that around 1% of landlords and tenants end up at a tribunal at some point during their relationship.
Typically, the cases which made it to Rent Service Scotland were tenants paying well below market rates.
Hamptons analysis of Rent Service Scotland data shows the average proposed rent increase was 20%, with Rent Service Scotland placing the fair market rent at 23% above current levels. However, the average increase was reduced to 9% due to rent controls.
The potential introduction of ‘Rent Control Areas’ from 2027 is likely to have a similar impact. In these areas, rents may be capped at CPI+1%, with a maximum increase of 6%. The evidence suggests that landlords are increasing rents ahead of their ability to set them more freely, potentially being curtailed.
Share of landlords increasing the rent on contract renewal
| 2025 YTD | |
| SCOTLAND | 67% |
| WEST MIDLANDS | 62% |
| EASTERN | 62% |
| NORTH EAST | 61% |
| SOUTH EAST | 61% |
| NORTH WEST | 61% |
| EAST MIDLANDS | 60% |
| LONDON | 59% |
| WALES | 57% |
| YORKSHIRE & HUMBER | 51% |
| SOUTH WEST | 51% |
| GREAT BRITAIN | 58% |
Source: Hamptons
This article is taken from Landlord Today