Scottish First Minister John Swinney's programme speech this October confirmed the government's commitment to deliver 111,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70 per cent for social rent, and extended the First Homes Fund offering up to £10,000 to first-time buyers throughout the parliamentary term. What the speech did not address, according to Propertymark, was landlord taxation, tribunal resourcing or any measures to support the private rental sector, despite Scotland's declared housing emergency.
The criticism arrived as the Scottish government moves forward with a tenant right-of-first-refusal proposal, EPC C targets under the Heating and Energy Performance Bill (2028 for new tenancies, 2033 for existing tenancies), and two additional Council Tax bands targeting higher-value properties. For Scottish letting agents and portfolio landlords, the trajectory is a regulatory ratchet with no fiscal relief or operational infrastructure to match.
Policy pipeline without operational capacity
The Heating and Energy Performance Bill proposes EPC C standards for new tenancies from 2028 and existing tenancies by 2033. That gives landlords holding pre-2028 tenancies a maximum of seven years, but any new let or re-let from 2028 must meet the standard immediately. Retrofit costs vary widely by property type and age, but the lack of detail on government support schemes or rural exemptions leaves agents unable to model compliance paths for landlord clients.
Timothy Douglas, Propertymark's head of policy and campaigns, warned that a one-size-fits-all approach risked penalising rural and older properties where achieving EPC C may be technically difficult or prohibitively expensive. No alternative framework or exemption criteria has been published.
The Council Tax (Scotland) Bill introduces two additional bands for higher-value properties. Douglas said the measure targets a small minority but risks delays from valuation disputes and administrative friction. For agents managing higher-value portfolios, the concern is not only the tax itself but the time and cost of appeals, particularly if tribunal capacity remains constrained.
The tenant right-of-first-refusal proposal, outlined earlier this year, would grant sitting tenants an exclusivity period to purchase their rented property at "a fair market rate" when the landlord decides to sell. No definition of fair market rate, no valuation mechanism and no timeframe for the tenant's decision have been published. The proposal introduces uncertainty into portfolio exit planning and could delay or complicate sales, affecting agent commission timelines and landlord liquidity.
Tribunal backlog and enforcement risk
Propertymark's call for a better-resourced First Tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) reflects agent and landlord frustration with case backlogs and slow resolution. The tribunal handles rent disputes, repairing standard enforcement and statutory tenant applications. When cases take months to resolve, landlords face cash flow risk and agents lose time on unresolved tenancy issues.
Douglas noted that the government's proposed restructuring of local government risks pooling resources rather than expanding them, which could worsen rather than improve tribunal capacity. Without faster dispute resolution, new compliance obligations become harder to enforce consistently, and agents face greater exposure when landlords challenge decisions or tenants lodge claims.
Swinney's speech also announced a £50 million homelessness prevention fund, with first awards made in 2026, but did not link this to private rental sector policy or tribunal resourcing. The implication is that the government sees social housing delivery and homelessness prevention as its housing priorities, with the private rental sector expected to absorb regulatory costs without offsetting support.
Tax exposure and landlord exits
Douglas argued that lower property taxes would increase sales transactions and reduce costs passed to tenants via rent. He did not cite evidence, time period or jurisdiction for the transaction claim, and the pass-through assumption does not account for landlords who exit rather than raise rents when costs rise.
The commercial reality is that Scotland's Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and council tax levels, combined with compliance costs, are cited by landlord groups as reasons for portfolio sales. If tenant right-of-first-refusal rules add delay or valuation disputes to those sales, the effect may be to accelerate exits ahead of the 2028 EPC deadline rather than encourage retention and retrofit.
For agents, shrinking rental stock means fewer properties under management and reduced instruction flow. For landlords, the decision tree is retrofit cost versus sale proceeds, minus LBTT and any delay from tenant purchase rights, against projected rental yield under higher council tax and potential tribunal costs.