Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes, and there are 140,000 more homes than households in Scotland.

No.

Thanks very much. We could talk about this all day.

I accept what you are saying about the tenant-landlord relationship imbalance and that we need to address that. I hope that the bill goes some way towards doing that.

I am curious about the amount of social housing. When you compare the amount of social housing in Scotland with the amount in European Union or OECD countries, we are in line with Austria. We have 632,000 units of social housing stock. The Netherlands is the only other country that has a higher proportion of such stock. If all the other countries, whose social housing stock is below 10 per cent of the total housing stock, have managed to bring in rent controls, why is it difficult for Scotland to do that?

On personalisation of homes, I will come to Callum Chomczuk first. In your submission, you have more or less said that you are generally supportive of the proposals to allow more personalisation of homes by tenants but that the guidance should be further clarified. What needs to be in that guidance?

I am glad that you mentioned the proposed increase in deposits for those who want to personalise their home, but surely there is a balance in there somewhere. If somebody has a sense of ownership because they have been able to personalise their home, they are likely to be a longer-term tenant and, therefore, a landlord is guaranteed their rent. However, some landlord organisations have suggested that higher deposits should be part of the consent process of allowing alterations, or that there should be a condition that tenants must reinstate the property to its original condition when they are giving up the let. What do you think about that?

Yes, absolutely.

Yes, I appreciate that.

I have a final question. Should there be a restriction on the type of pet that people can keep?

Kate, do you have anything to add?

Before I bring in Lucy Hughes, I want to come back on that. Last week, Hearthstone Investments told us:

“This is a very delicate ecosystem, but if rent controls are implemented with that in mind, where they protect against inflation, the system works.”—[Official Report, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, 18 June 2024; c 6.]

Do you agree with that?