The Scottish government has pledged to introduce stronger rights for tenants in the country in its \u2018Programme for Government\u2019.<\/p>\n
First Minister John Swinney said the programme includes: \u201cMore rights and stronger protections for tenants, helping deliver more than 8,000 affordable homes, including for social and mid-market rent, and removing barriers on stalled building sites with the potential to deliver up to 20,000 new homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the announcement has prompted a scathing response from homelessness charity Shelter Scotland.<\/p>\n
Its director Alison Watson said: \u201cIt is disappointing to hear the Programme for government today, which lacked crucial detail about how the Scottish Government\u00a0plans to tackle the housing emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we welcome the continuation of the plans which have already been announced, this is simply not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are coming up to a year since a national housing emergency was declared. The situation is deteriorating across the country with a record high number of children trapped in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still no significant increases in plans for social home building, extra budgets or investment in housing services to prevent more people becoming homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, called for the government to cut landlord taxes.<\/p>\n
Landlords have to pay an 8% land and building transactions tax surcharge in the country.<\/p>\n
Douglas said: \u201cThe Scottish government\u2019s Programme for Government comes at an important juncture with the unresolved housing emergency and Holyrood elections in 12 months\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
\u201cImplementing the recommendations of the Housing Investment Taskforce and allowing more properties to be exempt from rent control areas are welcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, to truly bring down the cost of renting and get more people on the housing ladder as well as make it easier for people to buy and sell their homes, the Scottish government must urgently review all costs and taxes impacting private landlords, reduce the Additional Dwelling Supplement and revise the bands and reduce the rates for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. These are powers held by Scottish Ministers and action must be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Scottish government has pledged to introduce stronger rights for tenants in the country in its \u2018Programme for Government\u2019. First Minister John Swinney said the programme includes: \u201cMore rights and stronger protections for tenants, helping deliver more than 8,000 affordable homes, including for social and mid-market rent, and removing barriers on stalled building sites with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n