SNP and Greens under pressure to back emergency rent freeze for Scots tenants

dailyrecord.co.uk:

SNP and Green ministers are under pressure to back an emergency rent freeze to help hundreds of thousands of tenants.Scottish Labour has tabled an amendment to a planned coronavirus law which would block any rises by landlords.Legislation going through Holyrood would give Ministers powers to respond quickly to future public health emergencies, including in schools and the justice system.Part of the bill would make it harder to evict tenants, but critics want rent levels to be part of any law.Mercedes Villalba, who represents the North East for Labour, is proposing a freeze on increases until a system of national rent controls is in place.She said: “As the cost of living caused by the Tories gets worse by the day, low income and hard-pressed families are being hit by soaring rents in order to keep a roof over their heads, meaning that many are forced to go without other essentials.“The SNP-Green government has the powers to ease the horrendous burden on so many poverty-stricken Scots, by supporting these proposals that would prevent landlords putting up rents, until Ministers deliver their promise to bring in a permanent system of rental controls.“SNP and Green MSPs must vote for this parliamentary amendment to protect impoverished renters and ensure that it passes into law, as part of the Covid recovery bill.“A failure to support these measures will be an abject betrayal of low income and hard-pressed families, who are suffering from grinding poverty due to Tory policies.”The measure is targeted at private landlords but council and social housing tenants would also benefit.According to the Living Rent trade union union, rents have risen by 10% in Edinburgh, Glasgow and across the central belt over the last year.They also