Seòmar agus comataidhean

Last week, I think, we heard that a tenant can still be evicted if their landlord defaults on their mortgage payments. That falls into the space of questioning whether that is right and proper. Legally, it probably is right, but the question is whether it is ethical to throw a person out because their landlord defaults on their mortgage. That is why the question has been raised. We are looking for clarification from the Government of whether it intends to incorporate such issues within the eviction process and grounds.

The issue might be the ability to pay for support.

If a council does not make a recommendation for a rent control area, does it go any further?

We will go into evictions territory. Some of the witnesses who were previously at our committee have suggested to us, and to you, that we should review some of the grounds for eviction—in particular, the levels of proof that are needed in order to evict a tenant. There were also requests to improve tenants’ and landlords’ awareness of their various rights. Have you had a chance to reflect on that, and are you minded to strengthen the relevant part of the bill so that we are clearer about the grounds for eviction, the rights of tenants and so on?

My final query is about representation at the tribunal. We heard that people are rarely accompanied to or represented at the tribunal, but attend basically by themselves. That is often difficult and challenging for them and they might lack the experience to enable to do it. It has been suggested that the committee should ask the Government whether you think that that is an issue and whether we should give tenants more support at the tribunal to allow them to make their case better.

Thank you for that. I will come back to Mike Callaghan. Your submission to the committee recommends that part 1 of the bill should be reconsidered so that we can discuss further the issues about affordability—some people mentioned those in their opening remarks. Could you give us a flavour of why COSLA is saying that and what your recommendations are?

Thank you for those responses.

Mike, have you picked up anything about the tribunal process and how people engage with it? Are they satisfied or otherwise with how it works?

Thank you. Mike Callaghan, will rent control measures achieve the stabilising effect that we hope they will achieve?

You also say in your submission to the committee that you would prefer to give tenants stronger rights to challenge unreasonable rent rises. We have heard from a lot of tenants who are unhappy, or are unable or find it very difficult to go into the process of challenging rent rises with whoever has imposed them. Could you explain your thinking there? What would these additional stronger rights look like and how easy would it be for people to embrace them and use them in practice?