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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 21 December 2024
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Displaying 1153 contributions

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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 25 June 2024

Miles Briggs

I am not sure about having the transitional phase four weeks before the festival starts and then looking at it afterwards, given the damage that it will potentially have caused. We know from many people—Jason Manford being one of them—that the scheme has seen prices rocket such that people on a budget who want to come and showcase their talents in the festival just cannot. Statistically, we will need to see, but the damage will be done. I have made those arguments to you already.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

Good morning and thank you for joining us here in the room and online.

I want to ask a question about some of the evidence that the committee has heard from tenant groups, which have said that the proposals place too great an onus on tenants to challenge rents in rent control areas. Do you agree with that? Should the onus be on landlords to comply with any rent control designation?

Also, what is your opinion on the number of rent reviews that are taking place now? We have spoken to a number of panels recently and it is quite clear from some of the evidence that we have received from more rural areas that rent reviews are taking place almost annually, whereas that was not the case previously. Is that another unintended consequence of the measure? Do you have any data on that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

What impact have rent controls had on council colleagues being able to put together sustainable tenancies in the private rented sector, especially for people who are experiencing homelessness? Has that been undermined? What has your experience been of that? I do not know whether you have specific data on what the situation was like before the rent control legislation and after it. If you cannot provide us with that today, perhaps you could send it to us after the meeting.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

That would be useful.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

If you consider that and the rent control areas, how would that work in practice in Edinburgh? There are different markets in different parts of the city, and I think that most people would accept that it is an overheated market. We have seen in different countries rent controls being suspended and different models being introduced. Let us face it: what we as a country have done to date is like a patchwork quilt. What model could work? The bill has included bits and pieces of previous things, but maybe there is an opportunity to open this up to get something that will work in the Scottish context, especially given what we have heard today about rural and urban communities. Edinburgh might be a specific case, given the increases that there have been.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

That is a good point.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 June 2024

Miles Briggs

Good morning. Thanks for joining us today. Do you have any comments about the proposed changes to how joint private residential tenancies can be ended? We have touched on some of the issues where that has sometimes resulted in people being declared homeless where support has not been facilitated. How would you like to see that aspect progress, and do you have any suggestions on that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 11 June 2024

Miles Briggs

You have picked the short straw, Anna.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 11 June 2024

Miles Briggs

My three questions have been answered to some extent, specifically my question on evictions and the issues that witnesses wanted to be included in the bill. I will ask a question about what is not in the bill around extra supported living and extra care housing, as it might be known. Lyndsay Clelland, do you think that that should be included in the bill? I know that there are key groups of people in Edinburgh who are not able to hold down a tenancy, and the housing first approach does not necessarily support them. What are witnesses’ views on that? The issue also involves some student accommodation issues. I met the University of Edinburgh recently, and we talked about students with additional support needs and the one-size-fits-all model. Do witnesses want to mention anything on that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 11 June 2024

Miles Briggs

Good morning, panel members. Thanks for joining us today. I want to ask two questions on implementation. From the research that you have been doing, what lessons do you think that the Scottish Government could learn about how any new legislative change will be implemented?

On the emergency legislation that the Parliament passed and then had to reconsider, the social rented sector had specific concerns about the rent freeze, which was taken out of the legislation by the Government in the end. Mid-market rent still sits within that, and there are concerns over the impact that that is having, especially in my area of Edinburgh, where the building of MMR homes has completely dried up. I have put forward two lessons, and I wonder whether there are other things that you would like to tell us about. I do not know who wants to start on that.