The Edinburgh residents 'forced to leave home' as three per cent rent cap lifts

Struggling tenants across Edinburgh are being hit with notices warning their rent will rise to unaffordable levels, an Edinburgh Live investigation reveals.

From April 1, emergency legislation that allowed landlords to up the rent by just three per cent was lifted - as well as the ban on evictions.

Now worried tenants - among them students and young professionals starting out in their careers - fear being made homeless by crippling hikes amounting to hundreds of pounds a month in some cases.

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Landlords, meanwhile, told us there is 'no justification’ for a rent cap - and that the ‘system is broken’.

Back in November 2023, Edinburgh Council declared a housing crisis in the wake of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Then in April, the controversial emergency legislation to protect tenants was lifted by the Scottish Government.

The tenants

Edinburgh tenant Leora Soibelman, 21, was forced to leave her five-bedroom shared Marchmont flat after the landlord increased their rent by 14 per cent.

The Edinburgh University student said: “We were told our rent would go up from £3,700 to £4,250 per month making it impossible to stay."

She had hoped to stay in the flat for her remaining time at university but it was impossible to afford so found another property. Now she fears a repeat of the upheaval.

Leora added: “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay in the same flat and having to go through this all again is exhausting and the uncertainty is scary."

For those who do receive a rent increase, the tenant’s union Living Rent is urging people to appeal it. Recently, an Edinburgh tenant in Newington received the notice that his rent will be hiked by a staggering 21 per cent.

However, he said he went back to the letting agent to appeal and the landlord settled on a 17 per cent rise.

He explained: “Our letting agent sent us a voice message initially saying our rent would be increasing to £3,500 a month, an increase of over 50 per cent. She then clarified it would be £2,900, an increase of 21 percent and finally £2,700, just over 17 per cent.

“We were told by our letting agent that the regulations had changed on April 1 and she said the advisory increase for rent in Edinburgh was 12 per cent. She explained our landlord, however, had decided to go above the advisory 12 percent increase and said they would issue us with an eviction notice if we didn’t comply with the rise.

“Last year our rent also increased above the three per cent cap because they included Wifi costs in with the rent which they claimed cost £100 extra a month.,

“We’ve decided to move out rather than pay the additional rent because our flat isn't worth £2900. It has a lot of issues, our front door broke, we have cracks in our windows and our gas doesn't work.”

He added: “It’s been really stressful to deal with this during exams”

This comes after Edinburgh Live spoke to Jess Fenn, 29, who fears she may be facing homelessness after she received a 12 per cent which would see her two-bed flat go from £940 to £1,052.80 per month. “It’s just unaffordable. I’ve made this flat my home, and Edinburgh is my home, but I might have to sleep on my friend’s sofa. We don’t have any family around here but I don’t think we can stay in this flat unless we win the appeal. I won’t go without a fight.”

We also reported how two Edinburgh residents were forced to find new accommodation after being warned of an upcoming 30 per cent rise in their rent. Emma, 24, had lived in a flat in Silverknowes with Tara since April 2022, but said they had to look elsewhere after they were given an eviction notice following a discussion about a 30 per cent increase in July 2023.

The landlords

With discussions of a new housing bill proposing a rent cap of zero per cent increase, some spoke of an environment in which landlords are upping prices ‘while they can’.

Speaking about the rent cap, Edinburgh landlord Stuart Ferguson said that he never agreed with it. He added: “There is no justification for the rent cap. For most landlords, this is our pension. To put a cap on rent is to put a cap on pension. The majority of landlords in Scotland only have one property, and to put a cap is taking money from the self-employed and pensioners.

“For three years, the rent was capped while wages increased. The flat I rent out in Dalry is only £650-a-month, which I think is cheap for a one-bed city centre flat. But for two years during Covid, it was empty. I still had to pay money out for its upkeep, council tax, and I bought new furniture for it too. You see, there is a backlog after the pandemic that landlords have to make up for.

“The problem is, we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Will there be another cap? I hope not, but that’s why people will be asking to raise rents by the maximum now while they can."

The 59-year-old who owns four properties across the central belt added: “The rental market isn’t really for people who are on low incomes like 25-year-olds on a £25k salary.”

When asked where young people should go instead, he replied: “They can move back home, look at the council or move further outside of Edinburgh if it’s too expensive.”

But Stuart admitted: “More houses do need to be built, and if there’s more money put into development then that kicks off the construction industry too.”

Meanwhile, another Edinburgh landlord, who wishes to remain anonymous, has said he has has yet to raise the rent for most of his tenants. And if he does in the coming months, he assured ‘it won’t be anywhere near the 12 percent mark’ as they are long-term tenants and he wants them to stay.

With a portfolio of 20 properties, he felt the pressures of the rent cap and argues the emergency legislation forced prices up for new tenants while keeping them static for existing occupants.

The landlord, who owns a number of homes being used for social housing in partnership with Edinburgh Council, added: “There’s a lot of evidence that the rent cap that was in place has actually pushed prices up and it does have a knock of effect. We run a property business, and we have mortgages to service, but mortgage lenders are getting nervous, and that increases the cost of lending. So it does increase the cost of our business.

“In principle, I’m not against rent controls. Tenants have always had the right to appeal a rent increase, but it wasn’t advertised to them. If I have put rent up, I do always let my tenants know that they can go to a rental officer to appeal it. But some landlords won’t. That system should be more accessible and the Scottish Government should improve that system.

“I’ve seen some horrific things where people have said ‘my landlord’s given me a 50 percent increase or I’ll have to get out’, I’m sorry, but there are about three things there that you’re not allowed to do and it’s those cowboy landlords that bring the whole industry into disrepute.”

However, the 57-year-old went on to say: “We are running a business, this isn’t a ‘passive income’, have people to pay and we’re trying to make a living. So if we have the government saying, we’re going to fix all your prices, where is the compensation? We have costs that go out that have to be covered.

“But the argument that young people should just live at home, is discriminatory. I don’t agree with that. But living on the outskirts of Edinburgh is feasible and the transport into the city centre is great. I certainly can’t live in the city centre and have chosen to live on the outskirts to raise my family and it’s more affordable. But you can’t expect people just to move back home”

While acknowledging it is ‘easier said than done’, he also called for more housing. He added: “We desperately need more housing and more social, affordable housing. I know there are new developments but they are targeted to families. There’s a five-bed house for a £1million but that’s not accessible for young people.

“It’s fine if you’re rich or have rich parents but that’s not the majority. There needs to be more accessible housing that’s appropriate, that isn’t just student flats.”

The campaigners

Elise Corry, a spokesperson for Living Rent, spoke of a troubling outlook for the capital's renters. She said: “The situation after April 1 is really concerning and frightening. We’ve seen a tidal wave across Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland of rent increases.

“We’ve seen at branch meetings cases of 70 percent rent rises. That was for a block of flats and every single flat was facing that same rise, this is not an isolated case.

“The rent adjudication process allows for challenge but is not fit for purpose and unfairly puts the responsibility on tenants.

“We’ve seen support in parliament for rent controls since 2016, it's astounding that this legislation has not been introduced. As a union we’re urging people to challenge rent increases.”

The lawmakers

A Scottish Government spokesperson pointed to assistance available for anyone worried about a rent increase.

They said: “Our temporary changes to the way rents are decided if a tenant seeks a review are helping to protect people from very steep in-tenancy rises, and tenants’ rights in Scotland continue to be strongest in the UK.

“We are working hard to raise awareness of these rights, and we would encourage renters to check the rights that exist to protect them from unfair practices. Tenants who receive a rent increase that they are concerned about should apply to Rent Service Scotland for adjudication.

“The Housing Bill sets out our next steps on the path towards a fairer, well-regulated private rented sector. We will continue to engage with stakeholders from across the sector on delivering this commitment.”

Where to find help

As per the Scottish Government website, Renters can go to, Rent Service Scotland or the First-tier Tribunal will set rent based on the lowest of the following three figures:

• the open market rate

• the rent requested by the landlord

• and a comparator based on the difference between the market rate and current rent (taper formula)

The taper formula can be summarised as:

• if the gap between market rent and the current rent is less than 6 per cent, then the rent increase can go ahead without modification

• if the gap between market rent and the current rent is above 6 per cent the taper would apply, with an additional 0.3 per cent increase allowed for each percentage point between the current rent and market rent, up to a gap of 24 per cent

• If the gap between the market rent and current is 24 per cent or larger, the increase cannot exceed 12 per cent and this will apply in all cases.

This is also subject to the requirement that Rent Service Scotland and the First-tier Tribunal cannot set a higher rent than that requested by the landlord.

An illustrative rent increase calculator is available to help landlords and tenants understand what rent may be set at if a rent adjudication application is made.

A landlord can only end a private residential tenancy using one of 18 grounds for eviction. Tenants with a private residential tenancy that began on or after 1 December 2017, cannot be removed from the property simply because the landlord wishes to end the tenancy.

Got a story? Get in touch katie.williams@reachplc.com