Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thanks for that bit of detail.

Dan Wilson Craw and Emma Saunders have indicated that they want to respond, too.

Alex, do you have anything to add?

You have inspired a supplementary question. The committee is keeping an eye on petition PE1778, which is about the landlords register scheme. The petitioner has stated that the scheme is “not fit for purpose” and that there is no scrutiny of whether an applicant is a “fit and proper person”. The petitioner explains that

“there are no checks carried out by any relevant Authority”

on, for example, whether the landlord is in possession of an up-to-date gas safety certificate for the property, unless a lack of proper documentation is brought to the attention of the local authority.

Would it be helpful to address the “fit and proper person” aspect in the bill? Deborah Hay, you are nodding, so I will go to you.

That is great. We will now talk about the subject of rent. Pam Gosal has a couple of questions on that.

Good morning, and welcome to the 19th meeting in 2024 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. Please note that apologies have been received from Stephanie Callaghan. I remind all members and witnesses to ensure that their devices are in silent mode.

The first item on our agenda is to take evidence on the Housing (Scotland) Bill from two panels of witnesses. On our first panel, we are joined by Joshua Davies, who is programme manager at Nationwide Foundation; Anna Evans, who is the director of Indigo House Group; Deborah Hay, who is a senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Professor Ken Gibb, who is director at the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, which is based at the University of Glasgow; and Professor Alex Marsh, who is a professor of public policy at the University of Bristol.

I welcome the witnesses. There is no need for you to operate your microphones, as we will do that for you; it is one less thing for you to have to think about while you are talking. I will start with a couple of overview questions. Members will direct some questions to specific witnesses, but I would like to hear from all of you on my opening question. We would be interested to hear a brief overview of your research work and key points that might be relevant for the consideration of the Housing (Scotland) Bill. I will start with Deborah Hay.

Is there anything specific that you want to tease out and highlight?

What sense do you have of the balance between the rights of tenants and those of landlords in the bill?

I will bring in Willie Coffey, but we are going to continue with this theme, so do not worry—we are still in that space.

We are getting tremendous responses, but we are quite tight for time and we have a few more questions to ask on the rent area, as well as questions on the personalisation of homes, joint tenancies and tenancy deposits—that lets you know what is coming.