Scottish Government

7 ATTITUDES TO LETTING

7.1 Private landlords are no longer bound to the private rented sector by the strong security of tenure provisions of rent controlling legislation. As a result, whether they remain in the sector is likely to be affected more directly than was the case before 1989 (when rents were deregulated and security of tenure weakened) by their views about what it is like to let accommodation. The relative shortage of social rented housing and the difficulties for moderate income households in buying their own home mean that private renting has a more important role in the current market context than was perhaps true in the recent past. It is therefore important to ascertain how landlords generally view letting accommodation in Scotland today.

7.2 In order to assess how landlords in Scotland viewed the business of letting residential property and, in particular, whether they saw it in a positive or negative light, respondents were presented with a series of statements about what it is like to let accommodation today. They were asked to think about their own experience of letting and consider how strongly they agreed with each of the statements in Table 7.1. For ease of presentation, the 'agree' and 'strongly agree' responses are combined into a single category in this table, as are the 'disagree' and 'strongly disagree' responses.

7.3 It is clear from Table 7.1 that the majority of respondents had a broadly positive attitude to letting in Scotland today. For instance, seven out of ten agreed that 'Tenants generally look after accommodation'. Likewise, three-quarters agreed that 'Tenants are generally good at paying the rent on time' and also that 'The law allows landlords to charge a reasonable level of rent these days'. Moreover, seven out of ten respondents disagreed with the statement that 'Landlords find it difficult to fill their vacancies'. And only one in seven respondents agreed with the statements that 'Landlords have lots of disputes with tenants over the return of deposits' and that 'Many tenants behave in an antisocial way to other tenants and neighbours'.

7.4 However, some of the other statements produced more mixed responses from the respondents, which indicates that, while there is a generally positive perception of the business of letting, it is not a uniformly positive one. Thus, only two-fifths agreed that 'The law adequately balances the interests of landlords and tenants today' and a third disagreed. What is not clear from this response is whether respondents who disagreed felt that the law was more balanced towards the interests of tenants or of landlords. However, the fact that only one in five respondents agreed, while almost one half disagreed, with the statement that 'Landlords are adequately protected by the law against tenants refusing to leave' suggests they may think the law is balanced more in the interest of tenants than of landlords.

7.5 Two-fifths of respondents were not sure whether 'The requirements of the Repairing Standard are reasonable', perhaps because they did not know what it entailed or had not even heard of it. Although this statement elicited the highest proportion of 'Not sure' responses, relatively high proportions replied the same way to many of the other statements. Thus, a third of respondents said they were 'Not sure' when asked their views on the statements about the law protecting landlords against tenants refusing to leave and about disputes with tenants about the return of deposits. Likewise, between a fifth and a quarter of respondents were unsure about whether the law adequately balances the interests of landlords and tenants, whether it is hard for landlords to find out about the law, and whether many tenants are antisocial in their behaviour. And one in six respondents were not sure if the law allows landlords to charge a reasonable rent these days or if landlords find it difficult to fill their vacancies.

7.6 These results suggest that a small, but substantial, minority of private landlords are not well informed about the residential lettings market or about landlord-tenant law. This seems to be particularly true of landlords that are private individuals and couples, sideline non-investors and those with only one property to let. This is illustrated in Table 7.2, which shows the proportion of dwellings owned by these three types of landlord where the respondent reported that they were 'not sure' about each of the ten statements about letting in Scotland today.

7.7 As these results make clear, respondents' attitudes to letting varied by landlord type. Respondents for addresses owned by companies, business landlords and landlords with five or more properties in Scotland were less likely than other respondents to agree, and more likely to disagree, with the statement that 'The law adequately balances the interests of landlords and tenants today'. Respondents for addresses that were managed entirely by the landlord (41 percent) were more likely to disagree with this statement than those that were managed in whole or in part by an agent (29 percent). Finally, respondents for agent-managed addresses (25 per cent) were more likely than those for landlord-only managed ones (19 percent) to say they were 'not sure' about whether or not the law adequately balanced the interests of landlords and tenants.

7.8 Respondents at addresses let by sideline investor landlords were more likely than those at addresses let by business landlords or sideline non-investors to agree with the statement that 'Tenants generally look after accommodation'. Business landlords were more likely than either of the two types of sideline landlord to disagree with the statement. Meanwhile, sideline non-investors were more likely than sideline investors and business landlords to say they were 'not sure' when asked about this statement. The proportion of respondents who agreed that tenants generally look after the accommodation did not vary across the three portfolio size categories; for each type, seven out of ten said they agreed with this statement. However, respondents for addresses owned by landlords with just one property were less likely to disagree, and more likely to say they were 'not sure', about this statement than were landlords with two to four properties and those with five or more.

7.9 Respondents representing addresses owned by sideline investor landlords were also more positive in their responses than those representing sideline non-investors and business landlords to the statement that 'Tenants are generally good at paying the rent on time'. The proportions agreeing with this statement were 77 percent compared with 69 percent and 60 percent respectively. Business landlords were more likely than both types of sideline landlord to disagree with the statement. The proportion disagreeing with the view that 'tenants are generally good at paying the rent on time' increased by portfolio size; rising from 14 percent among respondents representing addresses where the landlord had only one property, to 18 percent where the landlord had between two and four properties, and 25 percent among those with five or more properties. Respondents for addresses that were entirely managed by the landlord were more likely to disagree with the statement than those that were managed in whole or in part by an agent.

7.10 Respondents at addresses owned by private individuals and couples (19 percent), landlords with only one letting (23 percent), sideline non-investors (27 percent), and those managed by agents (20 percent) were the most likely to report that they were unsure whether the law allows landlords to charge a reasonable rent. Respondents at addresses owned by companies (81 percent), sideline investors (78 percent), landlords with two or more properties (75 percent) and those entirely managed by the landlord (75 percent) were the most likely to agree that the law allows landlords to charge a reasonable rent these days.

7.11 Respondents representing dwellings owned by commercial and larger landlords were the most likely to disagree with the view that landlords are adequately protected by the law against tenants refusing to leave. Thus, at 63 percent of addresses owned by companies, 72 percent owned by business landlords, 66 percent owned by landlords with five or more properties and 52 percent that were entirely managed by the landlord, the respondent disagreed with the statement.

7.12 Similarly, respondents at addresses owned by companies (71 percent), business landlords (71 percent), and landlords with five or more properties (74 percent) were the most likely to disagree with the view that landlords have lots of disputes with tenants over the return of deposits. In general, these are the types of landlord that are arguably the most experienced and professional in the residential lettings market.

Table 7.1: Attitudes to letting

Base: all dwellings

Table 7.2: Attitudes to letting among selected landlord types: percentage who were 'not sure'

Note: Cell percentages for dwellings owned by the selected landlord types

Base: all dwellings