 Dy Animation o Madecraft is the debate on Motion 2625 in the name of Patrick Harvie, on a new deal for tenants. I'd invite All took on a new deal for tenants. I'd invite members who wished to participate in the debate to press the request to speak button or to press an R in the tap function, and I call on Patrick Harvie to speak to and move the motion. I've got a point of order from Edward Mountain. I don't know if you can hear me. My point of order is simple Mae gennym eich dweud Mixol gyda'r hunain o'i cyffin iawn. Mae gennym eich dweud cos i chi gweithio diogelio'i digw datgwyddo i gweithio. Felly, mae gennym eich dweud yn golygu yn gallu gennym eich dweud. Mae gennym eich dweud sy'n creu bawb i'r dweud o'u dweud y bydd eich dweud o'r dweud that virtual members would not be able to intervene or make intervention in debates. I can find no reference to it. Presiding Officer, I ask if you could guide me to the correct minute so that I can see where it has been agreed that virtual members cannot make in minutes or join in debates if they are not speaking. I can advise you that, in the guidance on hybrid meetings that was circulated to all members, that that point was made clear. I can also advise Mr Mountain and indeed the chamber that the issue about being able to make interventions or take interventions remotely is something that the bureau is looking at, I think, very seriously and with a degree of urgency. In fact, the chief executive, I understand, updated the finance committee this morning in terms of development. There is no imminent breakthrough in relation to this. I understand the frustration and every step is being taken to try and address those concerns, Mr Mountain. With that, we move on to the next item of business. As I say, I call on Patrick Harvie to speak to and move the motion for around 10 minutes, please minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm really delighted to be able to do so. I've taken part in housing debates over many years in this chamber and I've often, during those debates, taken the opportunity to reflect on my own experience of renting a home. I've known good landlords who act responsibly, but I've also known high rents and poor maintenance. I've been harassed out of a flat by an abusive landlord and I can still remember the shock of learning when I could eventually afford to buy a home just how much more I'd been paying to rent a room and kitchen than it cost to have a mortgage on an entire two-bedroom flat. I know very well from personal experience that Scotland's tenants need a new deal and I'm really delighted now that I have the opportunity to propose action to Parliament. The 700,000 people who rent privately need a new deal to give them the freedom to turn a house into a home, to better protect them from eviction, to challenge excessive rents and to assure them that authorities will take action if their landlord steps over the line. Over a million people who rent from a council, a housing association or a co-op need a new deal to keep on improving access to housing and drive up standards as we tackle the twin challenges of fuel poverty and climate change. Together, all the people who rent need a new deal that helps them to be better informed, more meaningfully engaged and better able to exercise their rights—a new deal that centres firmly on housing as a human right. That's why the draft new deal for tenants, which we announced yesterday, is a new deal for all tenants. It's why housing to 2040 earlier this year pledged to develop a whole rented sector strategy. It also incorporates the ambitions of the rented sector strategy that was set out in the shared policy programme between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Greens. For work on the scale of ambition, we need to hear from many perspectives. Over the last few months, I have met senior councillors, staff, tenants unions, landlords, housing associations, campaigners and letting agents. Above all, I think that the Government needs to hear more from tenants themselves. That is why we are working with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, whose expertise has been very helpful for us in engaging with private rented sector tenants. I have already committed to establishing a tenant participation panel for the private rented sector, the first of its kind to ensure that tenants' voices are front and centre. I am seeking views on how we can support the development of tenants' unions and other ways of engaging with tenants. Early in the new year, we will also be launching a new publicity campaign to make sure that tenants know their rights. I believe that a whole sector approach is required so that all tenants can expect value for money and good housing standards. Housing systems are integrated. Neighbourhoods and even buildings are mixed, and each sector can learn from the other. However, I recognise that, for private renters in particular, there is a power imbalance where tenants are less able to exercise their rights and still have less secure tenancies than in the social sector. Therefore, many of the specific policy proposals that I am seeking views on in that consultation are for private renting. That is why I have set out proposals for the introduction of a new housing bill in the second year of this Parliament, a new regulator for the private rented sector to enforce standards and work towards a national system of rent controls for the private rented sector by beginning to put in place the evidence framework that is needed. However, I know that there is more to be done for social tenants, too, and we are also consulting on a number of things to support them, including creating a new housing standard and regulating to set minimum standards for energy efficiency and zero emissions heating for all homes and exploring what further action we can take to ensure that rents in the social rented sector are affordable. I think that I heard an intervention from over here, first of all. Pam Duncan-Glanty. Thank you, minister, for taking the intervention, which seems to be a popular thing to do at this point. Tomorrow, approximately 14 people will be in court in Glasgow by housing associations, and it is possible that that is the result of evictions. You and I have both campaigns strongly against winter evictions. Would you consider bringing forward immediate regulations to Parliament to end winter evictions so that nobody has to be evicted in a house, in particular in this period, when they could be asked to self-isolate at home, where, of course, you could not self-isolate if you did not have a home? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will be coming on to winter evictions later, and Pam Duncan-Glanty knows that some of the temporary measures during the coronavirus pandemic are to be made permanent around discretion at the tribunal, but I hope that she understands that I am not able to comment on a court action. The establishing of high service standards—another one from the back, Presiding Officer. I apologise, minister. I will try very hard to be brief on previous correspondence with you on this matter. A lot of constituents still feel that social landlords have to do better than consulting in relation to increases. In fact, social landlords have to have regard for those of tennis, but there is no set process for what consultation should look like, and some believe that there has to be greater constraint on rent levels in the social sector. Will the minister give consideration to how any legislation in this place can take better account of that? Minister, I will give you some of that time back. I am grateful. I think that those are very fair points, and I hope that those kind of arguments will come across in consultation responses. Tenants' voice is critical if we are going to shift some of the power imbalances and address some of the injustices that exist. That can be in many places better organised at the moment within the social rented sector, but there is still scope to do that better to learn from the best practice, and I hope that people will take that consultation as an opportunity to put forward constructive ideas for how to achieve that. I am returning to private rented tenancies. I am seeking views on the existing tenancies and the grounds for repossession. I am exploring how tenants can feel more at home in their rented property, simple things like being able to decorate or keep pets. They might be seen as trivial by some people, but they are really critical to people feeling that a house is a home and supporting their wellbeing and mental health. I am proposing new restrictions on evictions in winter, and there are a number of questions about defining how that will work that we want to hear views on, as well as ensuring that the penalties for illegal evictions in the private sector are a meaningful deterrent. I am highlighting the need to help people living in non-traditional rented accommodation from student accommodation to residential mobile homes and from the gypsy traveller community to people in agricultural tenancies. It is right to raise standards, but it is just as important to ensure that renting is affordable. People who rent privately, on average, spend more of their income over a quarter on that rent, and for some it is much more than that. The social rented sector already has some safeguard in place to protect tenants from high rent rises, and all the money from rents should be reinvested for the good of tenants. That is, to say, the least inconsistent in the private rented sector, where approaches to rent setting can vary dramatically between different landlords. We are consulting on how to introduce an effective national system of rent controls by 2025 for privately rented homes, with appropriate mechanisms to allow local authorities to introduce local measures. I recognise that campaigners for this policy are impatient and I have even seen some people argue that we should be using coronavirus emergency legislation to bypass the need to consult. I do not agree with that. The Scottish Parliament has always consulted before legislating where we can, where that is possible, and that is as it should be. It helps us to make better law. The weakness of the 2016 reform to create rent pressure zones is a warning of legislation that is developed swiftly without adequate testing or dialogue. I want the new system to be one that works for the long term. That means collecting the information that we need, learning from what works well elsewhere and taking the time to get this right. We will improve on the data collection in the private rented sector around rents and other factors so that we have the evidence that is needed to inform an effective system. A more detailed consultation on rent control will follow later in the Parliament as that evidence-based gathers and picks up pace. At the same time, we will be looking at how best to share good practice and improve affordability in the social rented sector. Of course, affordability and supply are closely linked. I know that Parliament will support my commitment to our expanded programme of 110,000 affordable homes, 70 per cent of them for social rent by 2032. That is a programme on a larger scale than any for decades. I am determined to work with colleagues across Government and across Parliament to ensure that every contribution counts—public, private, community and third sector—to achieve that goal. New homes for rent are rightly a major theme in this new deal for tenants, but most of the homes that we will live in in 2040 are already here today. That is why we are seeking views on how we can improve quality and raise standards across the whole rented sector, both in terms of physical buildings and the services that are provided to all tenants. With that in mind, I am seeking views on establishing a new housing standard for all homes. I could say more that there is a great deal to do and a great deal of work ahead of us throughout this session of Parliament. There will be no shortage of views and the consultation is open for the next 16 weeks so that everyone can engage on the wide-ranging and ambitious aims of the agenda. In summary, I believe that that strategy will deliver a new deal for tenants with stronger rights, greater protections against evictions and access to better, more affordable homes. That will help us to deliver a fairer Scotland, tackled child poverty and meet our climate change targets. I urge MSPs from across the chamber to support that ambition, contribute their ideas and join me in welcoming this new deal for tenants. I move the motion in my name. I thank the organisations that have provided useful briefings ahead of today's debate, and I thank the many housing charities and organisations across the country who work in all our communities. The Scottish Government's draft rented sector strategy proposed a number of new rights and protections for Scottish tenants, many of which we support on those benches and want to see improved. Specifically around the issue of domestic abuse and the rights of victims, I believe that there is an opportunity to significantly improve and help to make sure that support is available. I hope genuinely that the minister will look at making this strategy an opportunity for all of us across this Parliament to contribute and to help to achieve that. However, from the outset, I would express concern at some of the more controversial proposals that have been outlined in the strategy. What the rented sector in Scotland needs is proper investment and further action to stop increased rents, instead of missed house building targets and cuts to the housing budget that we have seen put forward at stage 1 of the Scottish Government budget. I shelter Scotland, make clear in their briefing for today's debate, without increasing the supply of social homes. Realising the commitment to deliver the right to adequate housing will be extremely difficult. In the short time that I have today, I wanted to concentrate on a few areas that have been outlined in my amendment for today's debate. The strategy details plans to establish an independent regulator for the private rented sector to operate in a similar vein to that of the Scottish housing regulator, which currently covers social rents and a national system of rent controls. The minister has already outlined that further consultation on rent controls will be proposed later in this Parliament, but it is clear from countries where rent controls are currently in operation that the supply of rental properties has been negatively impacted and indeed the policy outcomes around controlling levels of rent have not been achieved. I would be interested to know when the minister is closing the debate at what assessment has already taken place, a genuine assessment by ministers of the proposal for a national rent control included in the strategy. How that discussion shaping the consultation that he has outlined will now take place, because I think that it is important that, if we are going to have that debate, we start to look at the unintended consequences and international lessons that we are already aware of. As it is becoming a hallmark of this Government, the unintended consequences around regulations and legislation are not properly looked at and there are concerns at the negative impact that will potentially have on tenants but also on landlords. The strategy that emits to outline what impact existing legislation such as rent pressure zones has actually had on existing high rental markets, for example here in the capital. I would also like to see what understanding and what important aspects of this will be considered in the strategy. I would be happy to, if I could get some time back. I thank Miles Briggs for giving way. It is very clear that rent pressure zones have not been used anywhere by any local authority. One of the issues is that the burden of responsibility is on them to come forward with the evidence. I hope that, even if the Conservatives do not support the proposals on rent controls, ultimately they will support the action that we need to gather the evidence and the data that is required to design a good system. I very much agree with that point. On rent pressure zones that were brought forward by the Government, local authorities have not felt that they provide them with the powers that they need or the opportunity to make any difference. It is something that we need to look at but, certainly in terms of the answer to the question of rent pressure zones, does not seem to be forthcoming. One of the key things is just market levels of rent, for example here in the capital, which are much higher than other parts of the country. It is important, above all, that we look towards the deliverability of affordable housing. In their evidence to the local government housing and planning committee, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations made clear their concerns around on-going rises in construction costs, but that spike in construction costs is having an impact both on maintenance and future developments. The association was clear that, without additional support from Scottish ministers, the long-term solutions to those issues will be difficult to develop. The impact on housing association budgets and abilities to keep rents affordable is an issue that they are concerned about as well. The programme for government SNP ministers set out a house-building target over 11 years into the future, 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70 per cent in the social rented sector and 10 per cent in remote rural and island communities. We have to look at the Government's record today. Since 2016, the SNP promised to build 50,000 affordable homes. Ministers have failed to meet that target. Up to March 2021, only 28,154 houses were completed in the social rent sector. In rural Scotland, that situation is even more concerning. SNP ministers spent less than half of the £25 million budget allocated to rural housing funds, just £11.4 million of that fund, delivering just 59 affordable homes in rural Scotland over that four-year period. The rhetoric is strong from ministers, but the delivering of those promises has not been forthcoming. Scottish Conservatives want to see SNP green ministers step up their affordable home-building agenda across the country. That is the only way that we can properly address the fundamental issue that is faced by tenants today and the lack of affordable housing that we see across our communities. Finally, I want to touch on what is a key part of my amendment for today. That is for us to look towards the strategy to also look at homeless people and the lack of action around temporary accommodation, which we have seen from the Government. SNP green ministers will know that the number of families and children in unsuitable and temporary accommodation is now at a record high with rental costs increasing. One of the main barriers preventing many people from securing a home and a secure tenancy needs to be considered as well. I hope that, as the strategy is developed, ministers will genuinely look at those issues and those concerns, because we need to make sure that the solutions that are being developed around the lack of affordable housing and the issues that many councils are currently facing around unsuitable accommodation orders are not forgotten about and will be included as we move forward. To conclude, Deputy Presiding Officer, it is vital that SNP green ministers listen to the real concerns that are being put forward at this stage of their strategy being proposed. I hope that we will see far more engagement from ministers across the Parliament, something that I do not believe that we have seen today on this strategy. Many of us coming to this debate have issues that we want to see included in the strategy and future legislation, and I hope that the minister will make sure that that is included. Finally, I will move the amendment in my name. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Briggs. I can advise the chamber that we are tight for time. That is not an instruction not to take interventions, but you may need to accommodate them in your time allocation. With that, I call Mark Griffin to speak to amendment 2625.2 for six minutes. I draw members' attention to my register of interest as the non-owner of a rented property in North Lanarkshire. Scottish Labour welcomes the publication of the draft rented sector strategy consultation finally arriving by the end of the year. We have long called for more meaningful Government intervention in the private entity sector, improving tenants' rights and protecting people from rising rents, just as my colleague Pauline McNeill's fair rents bill and her general work and campaign in the last session would have done. Once again, with more restrictions expected soon on top of the reinstatement of widespread self-isolation rules, the pandemic forces us to acknowledge that our homes have never meant so much to us. If we have somewhere that we can call home, if it is warm and safe, once again it is the first line of defence from Covid, we will support the motion today and agree with the aims of the strategy. Tenants must have secure and stable tendencies, rights to truly live in them, a pause clause and a chance to decorate, continued safeguards against eviction and private sector rent controls. However, we also want to use this debate to ask the Government to take immediate action because Covid continues to exacerbate the housing crisis. How quickly we move is key. Last month, the First Minister told me that the Government was happy to engage with the timing of legislation on rent controls. Our amendment this afternoon singularly seeks to hold the Government to that and secure agreement that the framework for those rent controls must be put in legislation sooner rather than later via the forthcoming housing bill. I would like to be able to support the Labour amendment if I understand its meaning correctly. When Mr Griffin says that the framework needs to be brought forward in the year 2 bill, is he referring, as I hope he is, to the need to generate the data that is required to understand and design a proper system? We are not going to be able to implement the rent control system fully in that year 2 bill, but we will put the framework in place for the collection of data. If that is what he means, I very much welcome his position and would like to support his amendment. Certainly not expecting the legislation to come into force in year 2 of the Parliament, but the framework for the rules, the data for the system, the broad system that we expect to see implemented, the details around that would certainly look to see that in the housing bill coming forward. However, let us not forget that the controls that are urgent, the number of children in private rented housing who live in severe poverty, more than doubled in the last decades from 2008. Living rent, I have said that they are ready to go on this too. Their proposed point-based system, linking rents to the quality of property, aligns with the strategy's vision, and that link to quality provides an incentive for landlords to make the improvements, but also a block on those landlords who refuse to do so. Importantly, it attaches the control to the property, not to the lease. The landmark reform would deal with the fundamentals of costly rents, taking a step forward towards the human right of an adequate home for all. However, 2023 is still a lifetime away for renters struggling now. The situation for those tenants is reaching crisis point. As living rents say, they cannot wait another five or so years for those protections. A major cost of living crisis is just weeks away. Energy bills set to rocket by 40 per cent in April. Last month, the Government's own statistic showed inflation bursting rent increases in Weston-Bartonshire, Ayrshire, Fife, Forfally and Lanarkshire in 2020. The contribution of rents to November's unprecedented 5 per cent inflation figure was the highest since March 2016, so that starting point that we are at is bleak. Almost 150,000 people are waiting for a social or a council house. Homelessness applications are up. After a University of Glasgow report estimating that £126 million is owed in the private sector, social arrears jumped £9 million over the summer. It looks like an estimate that arrears in the rented sector have topped £300 million. Changes to the notice period and pre-action protocols for evictions have proved to keep people in their homes, so they should stay. I look forward to working with the Government on that commitment. Going into the new year, I echo the call of Living Rent and Shelter for those reforms that have been made permanent. Doing so would prevent an eviction crisis in the short term, but the Government must also consider extending the eviction ban, given the fast-developing situation with Omicron. The importance of stability and security for renters is not secondary to affordability. It is fundamental to a sense of self and to make choices, and security stems from the ability to call a place, a home, as the minister points out. People without open space, without a spare room and the freedom to have a pet or redecorate, regardless of tenure, endured a miserable pandemic. Those who did, mostly occupiers, could work from home, do renovations and consider upsizing. Research from crisis also found that over 40 per cent of employers were unprepared to support a homeless employee and would even consider terminating their employment. That is a devastating statistic, and it reinforces the call that Pam Duncan-Glancy made for a winter eviction ban to be in place right now. I will conclude simply by supporting the strategy that is outlined by the minister, and I look forward to working with the Government on that and moving the amendment in my name. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Griffin. I now call on Willie Rennie to speak to and move amendment 2625.3 for four minutes, please, Mr Rennie. I have been in too many shoddy, damp, mouldy, poorly insulated, cold yet far too expensive properties that could ever be classed as a place called home. A building that makes you ill is no place to live. It should be a human right to have a warm, affordable home, and I am sure that everyone in all sides of the chamber today would agree with that objective. The question is how do we get there and how do we get there quickly because this crisis has gone on for far too long. All housing organisations speak with unity today when they point to the need for an increased supply of affordable housing. We simply do not have enough affordable or social homes and we need to build far, far more. At the election, we offered a commitment, a commitment to 40,000 homes for social rent in the next five years. That was an important part of our plan to build more homes that people can afford with an initial programme of 60,000. We want to return to a housing market that re-establishes social renting as a valid long-term option for people. However, there is concern from Shelter today that the Scottish Government's commitment for 110,000 over the next decade has been downgraded to an ambition, so it would be helpful to have clarity from the minister whether it is only an ambition rather than an election promise and a commitment. My amendment today is aimed at strengthening the Government's motion so that we can have confidence that the housing supply is a top priority for the Government. I am interested in what works. I am less interested in slogans. We are interested in rent controls, but we are cautious about how effective those rent controls will be. We want to support the motion today, the consultation that was launched last week and the future consultation that the minister has set out on rent controls in the future. We need to work on the detail. That is incredibly important. Despite what I said about a lot of poorly rented and poor quality homes, the private rented sector provides a lot of good homes for good tenants with good landlords, so we have a duty to get that right to make sure that any rent controls in the future create the right incentives for the sector. That is why I want to make sure that we get that right. We have seen from evidence from other countries that rent controls are often not clear cut. It seems to have an effect on the investment in the sector. It also has an effect on the type of properties that the private rented sector will invest in, but it will also potentially have an effect that the control rent or the cap becomes the minimum rise as well as the maximum increase. We want to see the detailed proposals and the evidence to back up those proposals, so we are open to seeing what works. It is important, as I said, that we ensure that we have a high-quality private rented sector. That is why we need to treat that with care. We will not be supporting the Conservative amendment this afternoon because it rules out the rent controls. We think that it is important to explore it and explore it with the evidence, but we will be supporting from the basis of what Mark Griffin said earlier on with the Labour amendment that it allows further evidence to be gathered, so we will be supporting. It is important that we invest in the housing sector in Scotland. Far too many homes are shoddy, far too many are poorly insulated, and that is why this paper and the housing to 2040 paper is incredibly important. We need to get that right. Too many homes are at stake. I move the amendment in my name. I draw members' attention to my register of interests. I am a councillor in Aberdeen City Council. A new deal for tenants is a crucial consultation to address long-standing issues in the rented housing sector, specifically security, affordability, standards and regulation. We all deserve a warm, dry and affordable home to live in, where we feel secure and safe. Access to housing is a recognised social determinant of health, sitting alongside education, health services, employment and economic stability as key factors in ensuring good health and wellbeing. There is no doubt that the pandemic has heightened anxiety and insecurity for many living in Scotland's rental sector. Many lost their jobs or became too unwell to work. Despite the lifeline of Scottish Government's support for tenants at risk of arrears and eviction, rising costs, cuts to universal credit, Brexit have created a perfect storm for many tenants across Scotland. I therefore welcome the SNP-Scottish Greens agreement that puts the rights of tenants and the right to housing at its heart. Like other north-east constituencies, over recent decades, Aberdeen South and North Concardin saw sustained high rents courtesy of the energy sector, yet the reality is that we continue to host poor-quality rented stock, particularly in Aberdeen City. Typically, dated council housing stock, now impacted by Damp and Mold, has largely gone and actioned. 59 per cent of homes in Aberdeen are not energy efficient, resulting in high fuel bills, high carbon emissions and residents unable to heat their homes to a comfortable level. Indeed, I currently have a local consultation under way with residents living in some of the poorest-quality housing in my constituency to identify the housing issues that are most impacting on them, and responses to date have been stark. The local economy, once propped up by oil and gas, has been in decline. That has reflected in the private rental sector, where between 2010 and 2014 rents consistently rose far above the Scottish average, only to decline rapidly since. That means that rents are largely the same as they were a decade ago. Some private housing developments that had commenced before then have now become unprofitable or even collapsed, impacting the supply of badly-needed social housing but also the delivery of developer obligations such as schools. We face the bizarre paradox where there is now an over-provision of private rented properties, yet in June 2020, the waiting list for council houses was over 6,000. Regrettably, Aberdeen City Council's commitment to build 2,000 new homes has fallen short, with only 900 completed to date, adding to an already significant shortage of affordable housing in the city. It is safe to say that local change is needed, starting with genuine commitment to build more high-standard affordable homes and where feasible retrofitting existing homes to make them warm, dry and more livable. I welcome our commitment to build 110,000 affordable homes over the coming decade, but, in that, I want to see local projects driven by what is required in housing areas and not what developers choose to include in a project specification—in other words, the tail wagging the dog. To conclude, the new deal for tenants consultation is a very welcome step from housing to 2040, and it offers a tangible opportunity for tenants to have their voice and for us to provide our constituents with good quality, secure and safe rental housing provision that they deserve. It goes without saying that the housing system in Scotland is notoriously complex and I welcome the opportunity to make positive changes to our rental sector to address the fundamental underlying problems that tenants and landlords face. It gives us the chance to address a number of issues such as, for instance, amending the Scottish model tenancy agreement for private residential tenancies, so consent for a pet is the default position for responsible pet owners. Landlords should only be able to refuse pets with good reason, putting an end to the blanket no pets policy, and that would bring it in line with recent amendments that were made on the English model tenancy agreement. We also need more social housing providers to introduce reasonable pet policies to allow responsible tenants and social housing to keep pets and suitable properties, allowing responsible tenants to keep pets. Now, if you are not a cat or a dog lover, that may not seem like a major problem, but cats and dogs bring their renting owners joy, love and companionship. A cat protection survey found that 92 per cent of social tenants in 73 per cent of private tenants in Scotland are able to keep their own cats and report that they had a positive effect on their life, such as making them happier, providing company, their affection and improving mental health. If that is the case, the chances of those tenants leaving are far less. I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Animal Charity Cat Protection, and its most recent report, which is very cleverly named Cat's Report, is about cats and their stats. It found that renting with a cat in Scotland can be quite difficult. Pet friendly rental houses are in short supply with just 10 per cent of private landlords explicitly allowing cats and only a further 25 per cent permitting a pet, but not specifically a natural pet. It is estimated that 1 million UK households who would like to own a cat cannot, because they live in rented accommodation that does not allow pets. That is a staggering 1.6 million more cats in the UK that could be re-homed if landlords allowed pets. Although I absolutely understand that landlords may be reluctant to rent to cat or dog owners for the fear that their pet might damage the property, that is not the case. For example, the charity showed that 83 per cent of cat friendly private landlords reported having no problems at all, but there is absolutely need to be a recognition that, in some cases, landlords are left with a far bigger cost than they would otherwise have if they needed to replace carpets and so on when re-renting, re-letting their properties. Often, a deposit does not cover the cost, so that needs to be considered. There are obligations and responsibilities in both sides, as always, in the case of landlords and tenant relationships. The dog trust and cat protection have created a pet CV to help potential tenants with dogs and cats to highlight that they are responsible pet owners, so that landlords and letting agents can be better informed. The pet CV sets out details about the animal, including if they are neutered, microchip, vaccinated and information about their general behaviour and temperament, so that could be a vital tool in helping landlords to assess that a tenant is a responsible pet owner. However, it is not just animal lovers who are facing issues when it comes to private and social housing. More needs to be done to improve the accountability, affordability and the quality of existing housing. The Federation of Housing Associations writes the points out that social housing is one of the main rights to a safe, warm, affordable home in a thriving community. Shelter Scotland insists that enough social houses are built to reduce affordable housing needs. Additional rights for tenants are welcome, but the SNP strategy fails to address the fundamental issues of shortages within Scottish housing and rental markets. I am sure that members across the chamber would agree with me that spiralling rents are often caused by housing shortages, and that is the real issue facing today's renters. Tenants are still facing rising costs caused by national housing shortage, particularly in rural areas, a situation that will not be helped with the reduction of the Scottish housing budget in the financial year 2022-23. We must see an increase in investment in rural areas like Dumfries and Galloway, where many young people are forced to leave communities because of a shortage of suitable housing. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Carson. The next two speakers join us remotely, first of all, Jackie Dunbar, to be followed by Pauline McNeill, Mr Dunbar, in four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I draw members' attention to my register of interest. I am still a servant councillor at Aberdeen City Council. Presiding Officer, I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak in this important debate today regarding the Scottish Government's plans to strengthen the rights of tenants across Scotland. In this day and age, everyone should have the right to a safe, secure, affordable home that meets their needs. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen the importance of having a suitable home with increased protections for renters being required, prevent evictions and ensure secure, safe housing for all during the difficult lockdowns. The Scottish Government delivered £10 million to local authorities to provide grants to tenants who have fallen behind in their rent as a result of the pandemic and who were at risk of eviction. Forming part of the package of measures local authorities could use to tackle homelessness, which included discretionary housing payments and additional advice on maximising incomes. Presiding Officer, nearly 40 per cent of people in Scotland rent their homes, so it is absolutely key that we get this right. It should not matter if you are renting from the local authority, a registered social landlord or indeed the private sector, everyone should be entitled to good quality housing that they can call their home. On that point, the on-going Covid-19 pandemic has offered us all an opportunity to reflect on what is important to us when it comes to our housing needs. Over the past two years, we have seen a very unique set of circumstances that nobody could have envisioned. Many people have been required to work from home, and that brings with it its own challenges. We have all spent more time at home than we perhaps would have liked or planned for, and for many renters, outdoor space is extremely limited. However, that has highlighted the need for high-quality, suitable housing for everyone in our country, not just those who can afford the most expensive rents. Housing should be a human right, and it should not be dictated by anyone's ability to pay. The Covid-19 pandemic has given us an opportunity to re-evaluate priorities when it comes to rented properties and has highlighted the need for protections for both renters and landlords. I am pleased to see the Scottish Government bringing forward this consultation to seek views on a proposal for a fairer, rented sector, increasing penalties for illegal evictions, restricting evictions during winter and giving tenants flexibility to personalise their homes and keep pets when the list goes on. I am also pleased to see, included in the proposals, the requirement for a minimum standard for energy efficiency, helping Scotland to reach our net zero goals and helping to ensure that no renter should have to make the decision between heating and eating. Renters make up nearly half of our population, and within the public sector housing there is an expectation that renters have the right to safe, secure housing that meets their needs, and that legislation seeks to level the playing field between public and private tenants and ensure that they are all afforded the same security. Thank you. I now call Pauline McNeill, who is also joining us remotely to be followed by Paul McClaren. Up to four minutes, please, Ms McNeill. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I believe that the Scottish Government missed the opportunity in the last Parliament to get private sector rents under control, and I say this because I felt a sense of frustration that my fair rents bill was not supported by the Government and Party. I believe that we lost some critical time in tackling poverty and inequality, but I want to make it clear that I plan to work with the Scottish Government and with Patrick Harvie, who I know is committed to doing this in better reforms. I hope that the minister will consider incorporating some of the ideas in my fair rents bill in forthcoming legislation. Tennis cannot wait until 2025 to see at least some change. There is the need for parity in the private rented sector with the public sector, and it is long overdue. It has been an extremely tough year with tens of thousands of people losing their jobs and their incomes, and for many in the private rented sector they have also had to contend with rents rising above the rate of inflation yet again. It will be worse, but the Scottish Government figures on private rents up to the end of September 2021 show an average rent increases in low days in greater Glasgow, again increasing above the rate of inflation. In between the years 2010 and 2021, you will see rent rises well above the rate of inflation on all property sizes, but do not believe it simply at Glasgow and Edinburgh problems. Statistics will show that, for example, in West Dunbartonshire, the staggering increase is a 71.1 per cent and an ASR 6.8 per cent. I am pleased that the temporary legislation that we passed during the Covid legislation of the Parliament has clearly succeeded in preventing mass evictions during the worst of the pandemic, but it has also sheltered public services from the additional pressures of responding to ensure a reduction in homelessness. A report by Andrew Watson of Glasgow University, published last month, found that around one in five landlords had current tenancies in arrears at July 2021 this year. That scales up to around 45,000 landlords across Scotland with arrears that Mark Griffin mentioned of around £126 million. It is a real crisis. It is a crisis that we need to get our heads around, but the state of the private rented sector leaves much to be desired. Many tenants routinely suffer from water penetration, dam incondensation and associated mole growth. Those problems are made frequently worse by repairs, which are often slow, and the issues on-going mean that they often go unrepaired and unresolved. I believe that rent controls must be linked to the quality of the accommodation that people rent. My fair rents bill would have done that. It is a clear link between poverty and high housing costs, and that should be at the centrepiece of the legislation, I believe. We cannot continue to accept the number of people who are living in poverty in this sector, many of whom have no alternative available to them, and that is the key point. Evidence shows that 30 per cent of tenants spend their income, 30 per cent of their income, and some spend 40 per cent to 50 per cent of their income. A mortgage is cheaper for most of those people, but, by the very problem, they will not get access to alternative options for housing. Young people are at the centre of this housing issue. They need a fair deal. We need a fair deal for families, and we need to recognise that single parents are very likely to be struggling in this sector to pay their rent. As we have seen, the number of children living in the private rented sector in severe poverty has more than doubled. I want to conclude by saying that we need a fair deal for students, too. There is a way to address Willie Rennie's point, which has continued with my bill. I am happy to talk another day about this. We cannot overcome the problems. Students in the private rented sector saw their rents in the past three years rise by 34 per cent, and many of them in private accommodation have no rights. I ask the minister to consider, in this reform, that the students will also be at the centre of housing reform, that we do it in this Parliament and that we make sure that we make a difference by tackling poverty and giving people a real option for a good, affordable, warm home. Thanks for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I welcome the consultation with all the relevant parties. I refer to my register of interests. I am a serving councillor in East Llywodraen. I am also in a rental property in East Llywodraen. I grew up on a councillor stating Dunbar with my mum, my dad and my sister. It was and still is a close-knit community. I have also been a councillor for 15 years in Dunbar, and the most pressing issue in that time in any councillor will tell you this, are housing-related issues. I think that people have mentioned about the various houses that have been and have been in various houses with various states and various sectors, so it is a much-needed consultation. In East Llywodraen, the right to biasing scheme has seen us lose 8,000 council houses with no means to replace them. Today and every day, we are still trying to recover from this. How we treat our tenants is key and fundamental to ensure a vibrant housing sector. As the motion highlights, there are 1.85 million people who live in the rented sector. That is 37 per cent of all housing in Scotland. They should have improved quality standards and rights in the place that they call home. They should have the right to more secure and stable tenancies, with improved safeguards against eviction, improved regulation and effective national rent controls in the private sector that the minister mentioned. Sheller Scotland said that this is an ambitious strategy. It offers a chance to mend many new aspects of a housing system that is currently failing thousands. The Scottish Federation of Housing Association said that we welcome the Scottish Government's ambition that all tenants should have access to secure, good-quality, affordable homes. In the short time that I have, I want to focus on two main issues in the consultation. Firstly, it is a commitment to deliver 110,000 homes. We need to ensure that we have an appropriate tenure mix, ensuring deliverability and looking at other fundamentals to support the long-term commitment. As we have heard, the target is for at least 70 per cent for social rent and 10 per cent that Finlay Carson mentioned in a remote rural and island community. That happens in Eastland. I think that the remote rural issue is a really, really important one. I will come on to that in a little bit second, but I think that we can maybe look to deliver that. We also need to ensure that the private sector can deliver its commitment with much of affordable housing targets dependent on that. That is, of course, being supported by £3.6 billion of the Scottish Government investment. Housing supply affects affordability and quality across all tenures, but we also need that supply to have the proper tenure mix. Everyone has the right housing that they need at a price that they can afford. Local authority and local development plans have a key part in that, as well as they deliver affordable rented accommodation. They need to be brave in their allocations. Mid-market rent has a role to play, along with built rent, which is a growing sector of Scotland and the all-vacure role in ensuring that tenure balance that I have talked about before. I am also keen for us to explore other funding models. In my constituency, I have seen housing delivered with funding from co-op pension funds and LAR housing trust through commercial lending. We need to look at ways at scaling up those delivery options to maximise grant funding. Both have worked with the council on regarding allocations, and that is really important. The second issue is about strengthening and enforcing housing rights. I welcome the Scottish Government's commitment to deliver a new human right to adequate housing through the forthcoming human rights bill. Shelter Scotland stated in this, that it is welcome and is a vital step on the journey to ensuring that everyone has access to home that meets their needs. A company with ensuring that is an adequate supply of house social housing in places that need it most will help to tackle Scotland's housing emergency. We welcome the rented sector strategy focus on marginalised groups and look forward to more work being done in this area to fix the broken and biased housing system that disproportionately harms people with disabilities, women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Just on that issue, only a few weeks ago, I met with East and Midlodend's women aid. They identified housing policies for those who fleeing domestic abuse required a different approach through a gender-compton approach. We need to ensure that changes are made for the sake of that alone. In conclusion, I look forward to working with all sectors in Scotland's housing sector to deliver that basic human right of a house over the head that they can call home. I now call Ariane Burgess, who is joining us remotely to be followed by Emma Roddick, who will also join us remotely up to four minutes, please, Ms Burgess. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to the minister for zero-carbon buildings, active travel and tenants rights for proposing this motion, which signals the beginning of a long overdue transformation in Scotland's private rented sector. For too long, tenants have been second-class citizens living in houses that they cannot make their homes. Housing is a fundamental human right, and I know that members across the chamber will agree that everyone deserves to live in a secure, affordable and good quality home. Draft new deal for tenants will deliver on that right, and I am proud to support this motion on behalf of the Scottish Green Party. Reforming the private rented sector is hard-graft, and that is why Green Ministers in government, with the grit and determination to tackle difficult problems, are so vital for the long-term wellbeing of tenants. During the pandemic, we spent more time indoors than ever. Our surroundings and sense of belonging are essential to good mental health, so seemingly simple things like allowing tenants to decorate their homes and keep pets and uplift mood and alleviate loneliness. Poor conditions have been far too common in the private rented sector, and we have seen some rents skyrocket even during the pandemic. Last winter, we saw evictions banned. It is time that is the case every winter, not just during a pandemic, and firm action will be taken against landlords who evict illegally whatever time of year. Greens in government will deliver protections and controls to ensure that tenants are not subject to unfair treatment with much-needed rent controls and action for unfair evictions. Tenants across the country who do not have the time, money or energy to fight their corner will now have a greater say in the private rented sector, with new tenants participation panel and options to establish tenants unions. They will be supported to do this with new powers to allocate long-term unclaimed deposits to fund rights and representation work. The landlords too will benefit, in turn, from tenants who are invested in the properties that they live in and connected to the communities surrounding them. Scotland is a founding member of the wellbeing economy governance group, and the new deal for tenants is exactly the kind of innovative approach that will put our wellbeing of the people of Scotland and the Scottish Government's housing policy. Those changes will not just be felt in urban areas. Rural and island communities will see action taken on residential mobile homes, agriculture and tide tendencies. Rent controls in those areas will also tackle the rural depopulation crisis by making housing more affordable and preventing young people being priced out of the communities that they grew up in. I am hopeful that, with new rent guarantee scheme for estranged young people, we will help some of the most vulnerable young people live authentically and break free of abuse. With the good review of grounds to end private tendencies and actions to make it easier to exit a joint tendency, we will make sure that tendencies are fit for purpose and can adapt more easily to changes in life circumstances. The deal for tenants may be new to us, but it simply brings us in line with many fellow European countries who have long protected tenants with measures such as rent controls. Back in August, as part of the shared policy programme, the Greens said that they would introduce a new deal for tenants. Four months later, we are delivering green MSPs as green ministers delivering on green promises. The Scottish Greens will stand with tenants and tenants unions to revolutionise the private rented housing sector, which will deliver—for people, not profit—with viewhouses as homes and place wellbeing at the heart of our housing policy. I now call Emma Roddick to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Up to four minutes, please, Ms Roddick. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I celebrated the strides made last session in terms of making private tenancies more secure. Although it did not undo the fact that I had been priced out of my studio flat in Inverness after the landlord hiked the price despite there being no hot water for a year or that I had been kicked out of another because the owner wanted to stick it on Airbnb, I knew that it would be harder for landlords to pull that in future. As delighted as anyone else who has put off getting a pet or snuck their cat into the back of a pal's car every time the landlord came round, we are here discussing the right to make your home your own. Affordability is now the big issue that we have to tackle for private tenants. Commitments to building social and affordable houses across Scotland will do wonders in attempt to claw back some of the balance in the housing market, but as fantastic as 110,000 new homes will be, it is not enough. We all know that it is not enough because the constant loss of homes to absentee landlords in tourist hotspots and the fact that so many people are waiting on housing lists that you have to be homeless to get a council house half the time cannot be addressed by house building alone. In terms of depopulation, a house expected in 2035 will not stop people leaving the Highlands tomorrow. I understand that the measures that we are talking about take time to implement. However, we have to recognise that a five-year warning to landlords that they will be able to increase rents will mean many hiking their prices now, and I urge the minister to do what he can to tackle that mindset. I have said this in the chamber before and I will keep saying it. We cannot make policy that relies on the goodwill of landlords. We have to make policy that puts the right of tenants, people who are using houses as homes, far above the rights of landlords to own multiple properties with little regulation and a guaranteed increase in their value. Miles Briggs called those proposals controversial and asked for bailouts for landlords instead. I would suggest that if you cannot meet your obligations as a landlord, you should not be a landlord. Are those proposals not extreme? They are just not conservative. Until Scotland starts to vote conservative, my colleagues on those benches should probably get used to the fact that the Government is not. In a number of communities that I represent, over tourism has prompted the conversion of, in some cases, over 50 per cent of locally available residential properties to holiday homes with key safes at the door, which lie empty, cannot house our badly needed health and social care workers, students or families and drive up the cost of both homes themselves and the ever scarcer long-term rents available nearby. Whatever figures you want to use to argue how much money that brings to local pubs and shops, those places will not stay open without staff and staff needs homes. Whatever you say about how much we need tourism, we need communities more. I had eight addresses in the space of three years before I found this flat. Now, that insecurity prevents you from embedding into your community. I know stories of people living rurally in Covid who realised that they suddenly had no neighbours to help with the messages, because all nearby houses were empty holidaylets. In 2019, the Scottish Government reported over 22,000 whole-home Airbnb listings. That is a whole fifth of our 14-year house building programme. Only four hosts were responsible for nearly two and a half thousand listings, and we know that that issue is only getting worse. Rent controls may well make unregulated short-term letting at higher prices for shorter stays even more attractive. While much of what I am hearing is so positive, I urge the Scottish Government to work across portfolios on that. We need to tackle the housing crisis from all angles if we are going to make a difference. There can be no doubt, as others have said, that Scotland is facing a difficult period in regard to the housing market. Here in the Lovians, it can be seen starkly as rents rise and available properties for. Something has to be done to address those problems. I want to play some role in my willingness and my party's willingness to work with anyone in the chamber on reasonable measures. However, we must be careful about what constitutes a reasonable measure. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking that doing something is the same as helping. We must not allow ourselves to be seduced by the easy option of measures that will help in the short term but will wreak untold damage in the future. It is incumbent upon the members of this Parliament not to be short-sighted, to see beyond our dogmatic convictions and to consider the consequences of legislation beyond this five-year parliamentary term. The Government so-called new deal for tenants is not the revolutionary legislation that we would have a country believe in. It is a package of old, tired and previously unsuccessful policies that define the concept of a short-term fix at the expense of future generations. Deputy Presiding Officer, my colleagues in the Green Party like to talk about the settled science. I am afraid that when it comes to rank controls, the verdict is in and they do not work. Mr Rennie asks for evidence about why we go down this road in a second. It is not as if we do not have examples after examples from across the world of agencies when we have seen implemented and have failed to fix the problem in regard to affordability. I am grateful to the member for giving way. There are a number of countries including some in Europe that have a system of rank controls and are not seeking to abolish it or saying that there are huge unintended consequences. However, what about the consequence of not acting? Mr Balfour and I both represent cities that have been seeing wildly disproportionate way above inflation rent increases. Do we simply not act and allow that to happen? I thank the minister for his comment. I think that the minister would recommend that the countries that he is talking about in Europe have a very different housing market to ours here in Scotland. The biggest issue that we face is that if we go for rank control, landlords who own maybe one flat or two flats will simply sell them, take them off the market and those who are looking to rent will have less choice rather than more choice, and that economically means that rents will go up. Of course, there will be short-term benefits for renters if these proposals go through. However, those are minimal and dwarf by the cost of future renters. I would argue that none of this is controversial. An economist from the left-leaning Brooklyn Institute in America stated that rank control appears to help affordability in the short run for current tenants. However, in the long run, they decrease affordability, they make negative extremes and they affect surrounding neighbourhoods in a way that no one would expect. I would suggest that if we go down rank controls, that is what will happen in this country. Yes, we need to fix the problem that has been created over the last 14 years. Scotland would be better served by the Scottish Government if it focused on meeting their targets on new houses built and that that would effectively bring places down and would make sure that there was enough accommodation for everybody to have rather than trying to fix the market. I now call Rona Mackay, to be followed by Mercedes Villalba. Some of the most distressing cases my office deals with are from tenants who are being forced to leave their homes, sometimes with very little notice and without regard to their personal circumstances. Some have been in their properties for years, sometimes decades, home where their children have grown up, where their neighbours are friends and where their lives have been rooted. At these times, I often ask myself how I would feel in that position. Lost, scared and confused I think would be the answer. That is why this consultation on a new deal for tenants is so necessary and so right and I profoundly disagree with Jeremy Balfour on rank controls. Tenants need to know that their tenancies are secure and that they can call the place where they live home by personalising it to their taste and that they will not be faced with exorbitant rent rises that they cannot afford and which would inevitably lead them into debt. Make no doubt about it, many private tenants are paying high rents, usually much more than a mortgage, for poor quality homes and we have heard that from across the chamber. The latest report from Citizens Advice Bureau states that under the category problems during a tenancy, figures have gone up by 54 per cent since the start of lockdown in 2020. Lockdown has shown us all the value of a secure and suitable home and this consultation in conjunction with the Scottish Green Party is the start of the conversation to ensure a new and better deal for tenants will be delivered. Unlike the previous private rented sector strategy, this strategy will pursue a whole sector approach considering the social and private rented sections together. Housing tenures are integrated across the same neighbourhoods and even the same buildings, and all tenants have the right to a safe, warm, affordable and suitable home, regardless of the form that their tenancy takes. While the aim of the Scottish Government to provide a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 is exemplary, there is no doubt that we need the private sector rental houses and responsible landlords for the foreseeable future. Of course, the housing shortage would experience and was born from market thatcher and our Tory Government's disastrous policy of selling off council houses. What a legacy to leave future generations now struggling to put a roof over their heads. The new deal recognises those difficulties and this much-needed agreement will help people in all aspects of renting a home. It aims to increase penalties for illegal evictions and restrict them during winter. It will give tenants greater flexibility to personalise their homes and keep pets, and that is crucial in my view. Why should tenants be denied the rights to enhance their lives that homeowners take for granted? Rent controls for the private rented sector and a new housing standard will apply, along with a regulator to ensure that the system is fair for landlords and renters. Crucially, it will also set minimum standards for energy efficiency, making homes cheaper to heat and helping climate change targets. The measures formed part of the housing to 2040 strategy published in March this year, and they take forward several commitments made in the co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party. The results of the consultation will feed into the final version of the strategy to be published next year, with elements of the proposals put to the Scottish Parliament in a housing bill in 2023. In conclusion, I know everyone across the chamber agrees that a warm affordable home is a basic human right. I write that it has been denied to too many people for far too long, so I welcome this new commitment to a new deal for renters. I hope that it will ease anxiety and give security to Scotland's 1.85 million people living in rented premises. I now call Mercedes Villalba, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Ms Villalba is joining us remotely up to four minutes, please. The pandemic has exposed what decades of failed housing policy has done to the rented sector in Scotland. Many tenants are being driven into debt by unaffordable rents and being forced to live in damp, old, poor-quality housing. I welcome the publication of the Scottish Government's consultation on a new deal for tenants, but let's be clear that it's thanks to activists in tenants unions such as Living Rent and campaigning MSPs such as Pauline McNeill, with her fair rents bill, that we're even seeing proposals for rent controls in the current consultation. I'm concerned by the Scottish Government's approach to implementing a rent control system. Their co-operation agreement with the Green Party commits to introducing rent controls by the end of 2025, but that means tenants will be waiting another four years for action to be taken on rent prices. It means that landlords will have another four years to raise rents with impunity. Living Rent is calling for urgent action from the Scottish Government. In support of that, our Labour amendment calls for a commitment that the legislation establishing the framework for rent controls be included in the housing bill in the second year of this Parliament. I hope that every member today will support that. The minister indicated earlier in the debate that no change in legislation could come until the consultation has concluded, but we're in the middle of an unaffordability crisis, and every month that rent controls are delayed is another month of increasing debt and insecure homes for renters. I'd like to ask the minister to look again at what urgent interim measures can be brought forward to help to address unaffordable rents right now. Rent controls are also going to be vital if we're going to improve the quality of rented accommodation and the security of tenure. Scotland's housing stock is in a state of disrepair with every second home failing the Scottish Government's own quality standards, but tenants have no real power to force landlords to make repairs and too often complains are met with a threat of eviction. Even if a landlord can't evict someone with a no-fault eviction, they can still use costs as a weapon to pressure tenants out by increasing rent. In countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, rent controls are used to force improvements and repairs in rented housing. We should adopt a similar approach in Scotland, with rent controls serving to incentivise improvements and deter unscrupulous landlords from refusing to make repairs or hiking up rents to secure evictions. The issue of unaffordable rent is not unique to the private rented sector. In 2019, the Scottish housing regulator found that up to 80 per cent of tenants in the social and public rented sector were concerned about their ability to pay rent. Too many social landlords leave tenants with no choice but to accept rent increases. We must democratise social landlords by putting tenants at the heart of their decision making. That is why the Scottish Government must make rent consultation statutory and their results binding on registered social landlords. Although my remarks today have focused on the need for rent controls and proper consultation on rent, those measures cannot be implemented in isolation. They must be matched by significant improvements in enforcement and measures that enhance tenants' rights such as ending the practice of tenant reference fees. Given that landlords received 14 times more in financial support than tenants during the pandemic, the Scottish Government now needs to prove to tenants that it is on their side by introducing those changes as a matter of urgency. I now move to closing speeches. I know that two members are not in the chamber, which is a discour to say not just to the chair but to other members in the debate, and I wouldn't expect an apology from each of them. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think that this has been quite a good debate. I have enjoyed many of the contributions this afternoon. They have been quite enlightening. I wonder what has happened to Finlay Carson, because he went all cuddly this afternoon about cats and dogs. That is not the character that I am used to. We are sitting in the chamber now that he has gone all soft, perhaps he has had too much of the sherry in advance of Christmas, but nevertheless it was a good contribution. I think that he has got across how much people really care about cats and dogs, especially when they are going through periods of self-isolation. I think that those things are incredibly important. It fed into what Audrey Nicholl was talking about, which was the health and wellbeing, and somebody who is particularly passionate about the need for improved mental health support. I think that it is incredibly important that we take into account the impact on people's mental health of poor housing. It was an erodic contribution that I thought was particularly powerful this afternoon from personal experience. She talked about, with quite a lot of knowledge about the interoperability of different parts of the housing sector, about holiday let, short-term let, about second homes, about absent landlords and the impact that that has on people, particularly in remote and rural communities that she represents. I was full of admiration when she spoke directly to the Scottish Government about the need to improve supply. Supply is at the heart of our amendment this afternoon, which I hope that the Government is able to support, because if it does, it will be able to support the main motion. I think that it was a good debate, because we have got into some of the complex issues that are at the heart of the debate. I was interested in evictions, because, of course, we want to minimise evictions as much as we possibly can, but it is interesting reading the briefings from both Shelter and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations where they address that from slightly different perspectives. Obviously, the Federation is keen to keep the tool of evictions as a last resort in order to make sure that they can address people who are simply refusing to pay their rent, even though they can afford to do so. They try to keep it down to a minimum. On the other hand, Shelter, who is saying that in the social rented sector, there are still far too many evictions, and they are also concerned about illegal evictions in the private rented sector. Even Shelter admits that we need to keep the tool of evictions in order to have a last resort. Of course, they focus on the need to use best practice to make sure that we can avoid people getting into the situations where they are not paying their rent, but they still nevertheless regard evictions as an important part of the tool that landlords should have available to them. I will be keen to understand from the minister exactly how that all fits together to make sure that we do spread best practice, but we do not deny the tools of control to make sure that those who are supposed to pay rent and can afford to pay rent are actually paying the rent that they are due. Second homes. Second homes is a big issue in North East Fife, and I know many constituencies across the country have dealt with the short-term lets in recent legislation. I know that there are still some bits of that that have got to be finally resolved in terms of the licensing, but nevertheless we have dealt with an important part of the housing market that is contributing to major problems in coastal and remote communities. However, the other part is second homes. There are some parts of my constituency where combined short-term lets and second homes account for about 80 per cent of the community. How on earth are you supposed to keep a thriving community together with local shops, a school and public services in a second home and buses if we do not have efforts to deal with second homes? I was interested in the 2040 plan, which includes a reference to more powers for local authorities, but it is scant on details and it would be really interested to understand from the minister what more is going to come forward and how quickly it is going to come forward, because this is an urgent situation that needs to be addressed for coastal and remote and rural communities. I will now call on Paul Sweeney to wind up for Labour up to six minutes, please, Mr Sweeney. It has been a really interesting debate because it described something that is the heart of Scottish politics and has been for over a century, the tension of power in our economy between landlordism and tenants' rights. It has been a perpetual struggle that has been borne out over decades. It is very much at the heart of why this Parliament was established and it is something that we need to confront boldly and with imagination. In that spirit, that is why Scottish Labour welcomes the publication of the draft rental sector strategy and will seek to drive that forward with encouragement and support, but also inject some pace with our proposed amendment. I hope that the minister will meet that with the spirit in which it is intended. That was a good insight to the start of the debate. I think that we have had some very good contributions. Of course, we are working against the clock. The pressure on tenants is rising by the day. Indeed, over the last decade, we have seen rent increases in Edinburgh of 46 per cent and in Glasgow of 41 per cent. We know that the longer that takes, the more pressure people are under. As incomes continue to stagnate, as continued cost pressures are experienced by the population, something is going to have to give, and it often is the mental wellbeing, the security and the fundamental ability of people to live their lives with a sense of wellbeing. We have to act urgently to address the housing crisis in our midst. That was described by many members. Of course, we are seeing the symptoms of that rising. Of course, we have seen in the past few years—in fact, in the past couple of years—with the pandemic, even with the temporary ban on evictions. Once that was removed, we saw social rental evictions increase due to arrears of 975 per cent. That is an explosive growth in pressure. Of course, we have estimates that the total social and private sector rental arrears has climbed to over £300 million. That was described by Ms Baalba from the north-east region. The crisis point is something that we cannot wait to address. Of course, Pauline McNeill, my colleague from Glasgow, addressed the point about short-term measures that can be implemented such as looking at protecting the renters' rights of the 2020 Covid legislation, alongside the extending powers to end evictions in certain circumstances where there is nothing related to antisocial or disruptive or criminal behaviour. I think that it is unreasonable to expect that kind of particular situation where the communities that are seen by people displaced from their homes ratcheted out of accommodation because of private landlordism resulting in homelessness. That is something that society cannot accept. It is a cost that is not priced in to how we deal with it. It is not something that the community of the whole should bear for the sake of private profit. The Scottish Government is proposing rent controls, which we welcome in principle, but our amendment calls for the Government to agree to move faster and agree framework legislation in year 2 of that parliamentary term. Our amendment, which I understand that the minister is prepared to accept, is very welcome indeed. I hope that we can work constructively to deliver that framework with the pace mindful of the pressures that renters are under. Of course, we have heard about how much insecure tenancy affects people's lives. Indeed, members who have personal experience have offered some pretty stirring testimony to that effect. I think that we also can understand that there are pressures that other people have to discuss rent controls. I think that we have to understand what we mean by rent controls. Rent controls exist, but the control lies with the landlord, not the tenant. That is an effort to try to redress that balance of control. Control is a constant thing. It is a question of who has the control, and that is what rent controls seek to address. I noted that there was a question about dogmatism. Let us look at the evidence, then. I know that the Conservative member for Lothians raised that point. We are dogmatic about ending poverty and ending the income-related issues that push people into homelessness and all sorts of other distress as a result of housing costs that are completely out of control as a result of landlordism. We have to address that urgently in our society, and we know that it can work because there are practical models. There have been ones that are flawed. Indeed, in Scotland there were rent controls from 1915 in Glasgow up until 1989, which resulted in significant issues in the city. However, we have learned from that experience and there are models now internationally that we can benchmark against. That is hopefully what the intended legislation is seeking to achieve. For example, in New York, there have been rent controls since 1940. They have not resulted in the calamitous effects that were described by the Conservative benches. Indeed, in San Francisco, there is an issue because pre-1980 properties are subject to rent controls, but those after 1980 are not. That creates a perversity in the market that causes distortions. That can be addressed. What you are describing is a false equivalence, because it is not the case that it is a constant that all rent controls are bad. The devil is in the detail, and we hope to address all that through the course of that legislation. That is why Labour supports it. We broadly support the principles behind the living rent campaign around the issue of democratic accountability. That was mentioned by member for East Lothian, particularly the legacy of the right to buy scheme that causes distortions in the market. Scotland, at one point, had the highest level of social tendencies in the world. In Glasgow, it was second only to Hong Kong worldwide for social rented tendencies. We have seen a massive disruption and change in the marketplace over the past 40 years that we have to address. Things are out of control, and we have seen numerous descriptions by members today about the impact that has had. The lack of control by the tendencies, the lack of control from the public sector, the rampaging profiteering that goes on in the market that has to be addressed. We hope to work constructively, as we go forward in the coming months and years, to address that with urgency, boldly and with imagination. Let's redress the power of rent controls from the landlord to the tenant. I now call on Alexander Stewart to wind up for the Conservatives up to six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful for the opportunity to close this debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. Today we have heard many contributions about the importance of protecting and enhancing tenants' rights, and I welcome that we have had time to debate this today. All too often, the rented sector and tenants themselves have become forgotten elements of the wider debate around housing. Now there is certainty and opportunity. Over the past two years, the pandemic has shone a light on many of the challenges focused by tenants up and down the length and breadth of the country. In response to that last year's coronavirus act, it included measures to protect tenants both in the social and private rented sectors from evictions. That was very much welcomed, and the period went from three to six months. Similarly, in the second coronavirus act, we talked about students who are stuck in rental contracts, and they were protected due to the Covid pandemic. Messages such as those are entirely justified, and those benches did not hesitate to support those. However, it is right that, going forward, the conversation now shifts, and we talk about supporting tenants in the long-term, and we look towards Scotland's recovery from the pandemic. There is much in the rented sector strategy that we can welcome, including measures to prevent illegal evictions and evictions during winter months. Although those protections are there, evictions are also talking about what happens to tenants themselves, and there is a gap in the rental market and the schemes that are proposed that new tenants provide financial guarantees to cover the cost of deposits, for example, and it is perhaps disappointing that such a scheme is not included in the proposals that we are debating today. However, going forward, it is clear that there are main issues facing tenants and that is sparing rents. Within my own area in Fife and Forest Valley, in my own region, there have been some of the largest increases. In two-bedroom properties, 5 per cent increase alone, but more than 30 per cent increase since 2010. When we look at three bedrooms, it is 40 per cent that you are looking at, but when it comes to four bedrooms, Fife has seen an increase of 72 per cent since 2010 and 16.5 per cent in the last year alone. Such statistics may be clear that increasing rents are going to be one of the main challenges that are focused on tenants. As we look forward to that, while conversations about increasing tenants' rights are very important, there needs to be a plan to talk about increasing housing. Tenants do indeed have the right for protections, but there also needs to be the rights to ensure going forward. While we talk about the proposals that will come towards the end of 2025, we should not suppose that that is a one-stop solution to ensuring that rents will be managed. It is also the fact that we have looked at what is happening in the rental market. We talked about some examples, and examples have been made of other parts of the country and around the world, but Sweden, for example, where rent controls have been contributed, has ensured that there is a second sub-let property market and that there has been waiting lists of over a decade. I am tempted to fix one problem on the rental market. We should not inadvertently create one other, so it is vitally important that we manage the situation. However, experience tells us that we should not try to push through proposals such as those without considering the potential pitfalls. We have had some very good contributions across the chamber this afternoon, and I would like to talk on some of them. My colleague Miles Big spoke about the need to increase supply of homes in Scotland and the supply of rental properties and those rental controls. The pressure zones have to be examined in this whole process about what can happen, because market levels and market rents will take place. Will there be any talk about the increase of supply of affordable housing, and the key to that was ensuring that supply was the priority? I believe that that is the case. Finlay Carson talked about the complexities of the issue, and we acknowledge that there are massive complexities when trying to manage rentals that need to have responsible tenants. There are many responsible tenants and there are many responsible landlords, but he also talked about the pet-friendly rentals. That is an issue that has been brought to the fore during the pandemic, and there is a play within the sector for that part when we are dealing with social isolation and loneliness. Jeremy Balfour talked about the difficulties that the market faced, the short-term assessments that should not be short-sighted, and there is an element of ensuring that we do not fall into that trap, that we understand the needs of the workforce and how sustainable they should be and can be to ensure that that takes place. In conclusion, we welcome the efforts to enhance and protect tenants' rights, and we have set out an appropriate timescale for doing that. There will be opportunities for people to contribute during the process. The key focus for this Government needs to be on investment in the housing sector more generally. The bigger problem-facing renters will be the lack of rental properties and maintaining a sustainable investment, and that is what the Government should do to ensure that change takes place. Going forward, it is appropriate that tenants' needs need to be looked at, and we will approach that and continue to call for that to ensure that there is a balance, there is an opportunity and there is a structure that supports the sector and enhances the sector, and I look forward to the debate and discussion that will take place going forward. I thank all the members who have contributed to what has been a constructive debate. There are clearly some issues of substance that we will disagree on, some calling for us not to do certain things, others saying that we are not going nearly fast enough. We will have those debates and perhaps disagreements, and that is all legitimate. I wanted to pull out one point that I think came right across the spectrum first of all. I think that there were a number of speeches from all parties that recognised the importance of home, and that that is something that we have learned more about and understood at a deeper level in these days of Covid, when more people have had to work from home or been isolated and being cooked up together. The necessity that we have to make that right to adequate housing a real, delivered human right in our society, and recognising that not everybody has that right to adequate housing being met, is really important. Recognising the meaning and the importance of home is really important. Residential properties are not principally speculative investments. They are not principally substitute pensions. They are principally homes. That is what they are for, and that really must be our priority. I hope that, going forward, whether there are differences that we might have on points of detail and individual policies, I hope that we will all continue to stick to that principle and to work towards the realisation of housing, adequate housing, as a human right, and something that has to be met everywhere. I want to, in the time that I have available, run through some of the contributions, and obviously in particular talk about all of the amendments that we will be voting in. The Conservative contribution from Miles Bregg's opening for the party, obviously we disagree on some fundamentals, but there were some important points of agreement as well. They are not least thanking the organisations who have sent briefings. Many of them have worked with me to help shape our thinking ahead of the publication of the strategy. The Conservatives have expressed support for measures to support those who are experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse, as well as for action on illegal evictions. I think that I have heard support for action on winter evictions as well. If there are any points of common ground that we have there, I will certainly look forward to working together on that. I do not agree with the Conservative amendment. I do not agree with the budget analysis that is in there. The focus, for example, on the rural housing fund is not by it's long way the only way that social housing is provided in rural and island areas. In fact, in the last Parliament more than 6,000 social homes were provided in rural and island areas. The amendment also deletes a lot of the ambition in our motion, so we will not be supporting that. Miles Briggs. I appreciate minister giving way. It's a fact, though, which the minister will have to accept that the housing budget is being cut by £10 million. There are contesting analyses about how we look at the budget. That's always the case. Pretty much every year, political parties and analysts and others will try and cut and slice the budget in different ways to present their own particular preference. I won't be supporting that amendment. I just wanted to touch on the point of disagreement about rent controls as well, about the principle of it. Miles Briggs asked what assessment has already taken place. We are not yet at the point of having a fully developed proposal on rent controls. We are at the point of recognising the depth of the problem and the need for it to be addressed. We are open to hearing all points of view on the particular design of a rent control system. We are being very clear that we need to gather far more detailed data on rent levels and on the other aspects of the private rented sector before we are able to design and present finalised proposals on that, and we will take an open mind. I will take one more if I have time. Miles Briggs. I appreciate minister taking this. I also highlighted rent pressure zones and the complete failure that we have seen for them to make any difference. What assessment has taken place on that? I think that it is very clear that placing, as I said earlier, the onus, the whole responsibility at the local government level to generate the data, to produce an evidence base to show that rent pressure zones are necessary is one of the fatal flaws in that system, and that is why I believe that an effective national system of rent controls is necessary. However, the fixation on market values, on the operation of a free market, is abundantly clear that a free market approach to housing has failed far too many people. In any case, housing is not just a market commodity. Housing is a human right. There is a moral case for fair rent, which I believe is equal to the moral case for fair wages. Few people these days would question the need for a minimum wage and for the state to intervene in what would otherwise be an extremely exploitative free market. I think that the case that we need to make is every bit as clear. I will come to Labour's position and recognise the long-standing case for intervention that has been made by Labour colleagues. I believe that our intention is to lay the framework for the data collection machinery that we need. That will start building the case. That is what is proposed for the year 2 housing bill. From my exchange with Mark Griffin in the early part of the debate, I understood that that was what the intention of the motion was, and I will support it on that basis. It is really clear that if we are going to take action, we need to take time to get the detail right. There will be elements of what is proposed in the strategy that will take through to 2025, near the end of this Parliament. There will also be measures such as on rent adjudication, which will happen much earlier, and I hope that we will continue to work with Labour colleagues on that. I want to recognise as well Pauline McNeill's long-standing work on the issue and thank her for the opportunity to work constructively. I would be very happy to do that. Let's be really clear. That is not about saying no change until 2025, very far from it. It's about saying that there will be a schedule of work beginning in the short term and working through to 2025, for example, on pre-action protocols, as Mark Griffin mentioned. On student accommodation, there is a review on that, and I will write to Pauline McNeill with more detail on that. The Liberal Democrat contribution is well-well. Willie Rennie recognised the level of cold, damp, overpriced properties that are still out there and recognised the reality of the problems that the strategy is seeking to address. A lot of its focus was on social renting. We were clearly on target to pre-pandemic to meet our delivery targets for social housing. The pandemic has provided a massive challenge to everybody in relation to the construction sector, but the 110,000 target is, I want to make it clear, a very clear commitment. As far as I understood Willie Rennie's amendment, he is not seeking to up that to an arbitrary and unfunded target but just putting pressure on us to deliver that target that we have committed to. On that basis, I would certainly like to support that amendment. If I have time for one more. The minister has eight minutes and is closing now. I thank all those who contributed to our thinking in developing the strategy, who contributed to the debate. It is very clear that Scotland is on a journey to a much fairer position for tenants in Scotland in both the private and social rented sectors, as well as in those perhaps more niche unconventional areas of rented accommodation. I invite Parliament to share my ambition for tenants in Scotland, for a new deal for tenants to make that fairer Scotland possible and to support the Government amendment, as well as the Labour and Liberal Democrat amendments. That concludes the debate on a new deal for tenants. It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of a legislative consent motion. I ask Keith Brown to move motion number 2618 on Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill UK legislation. Thank you Cabinet Secretary. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. The next item of business is consideration of three parliamentary bureau motions. I ask George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move motions 2651, 2652 and 2653 on suspension and variation of standing orders. I remind members that, if the amendment in the name of Miles Briggs is agreed to, the amendment in the name of Mark Griffin will fall. The first question is that amendment 2625.1 in the name of Miles Briggs, which seeks to amend motion 2625 in the name of Patrick Harvie on a new deal for tenants be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.