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Rents up – but is this because of the fee ban?
Rents in Scotland have crept up to an all-time peak but are now stabilising – with the question being whether this reflects the market, or is a complicated result of restrictions introduced north of the border to restrict agency fees levied on tenants?
The latest Scotland Buy-to-Let Index from Your Move shows that the average rent in the country now stands at £539 per month, the highest level on record. The average monthly rent has increased £12 from £527 in November 2013.
Your Move says speculation remains rife over how future rental caps or more stringent letting controls may ‘disorientate’ rent levels.
“If buy-to-let investment dries up as a result of existing controls on fees and potential controls on rents and the pool of properties to let contracts, rents will swallow the shortfall and eat into tenant finances” warns Christine Campbell, regional managing director of Your Move.
“Demand and supply are still out of kilter, and in highly sought-after employment and cultural nerve-centres like Edinburgh, this overflowing competition for homes to let has topped up rent prices. [But] in real terms, average rents across Scotland are only 1.2 per cent higher than they were a year ago” she says.
