In what is set to be a pretty full-on year for the Private Rented Sector (PRS), a gentle introduction to 2026 is provided by examining the most recent report on the work of the First-tier Tribunal: Housing and Property Chamber (the Tribunal) and what that may say about the broader PRS as a whole. The report just released covers the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 but represents the most recent information that is publicly available. The report itself can be found here
https://housingandpropertychamber.scot/news/summary-work-housing-property-chamber-2023-24
Previous blogs have looked at reports covering earlier periods and what we can see is a continuing trend for more and more cases to be referred to the Tribunal and an ever-increasing workload.
How many cases is the HPC dealing with?
There has been a further significant increase in the number of applications lodged with the Tribunal for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 Mach 2024. The number of applications increased by 10% on the previous year’s numbers to 5078.
Are there any reasons for this increase?
Eviction applications make up 53% of all applications made to the Tribunal and the total number of such applications is continuing to increase. There were 2687 applications for evictions, which is a 19% increase on the previous year’s number. Other categories of applications are also increasing, such as repairs cases but these are still at relatively small numbers overall. In terms of civil applications (e.g. for rent arrears) the numbers have actually dropped slightly from 1250 such applications in the previous year to 1199 for the period of this report.
Why are landlords seeking to evict tenants?
In previous blogs we explained that the Tribunal did not previously gather reasons for landlords seeking evictions. In this report, there has been an effort to gather that information for analysis. This has not always been straightforward, for example due to applications stating more than one ground for eviction, but what has been identified is that the landlords seeking possession because they want to sell the property is now almost as common as being due to rent arrears. Other grounds are becoming more common such as those that relate to the landlord either wanting to live in the property themselves or because it is needed for a family member. Around 70% of these eviction applications now relate to Private Residential Tenancies (PRTs) and extracting the reason for seeking possession is a bit easier for PRTs. When it comes to older short-assured tenancies, the reason for the application is more difficult to establish as there is no specific ground for possession on the basis that the landlord wants to sell. What is known is that around 20% of all applications for orders for possession relative to short-assured tenancies during this period were under section 33 (that the tenancy has reached its natural end) and in many of those cases, the evidence presented to the Tribunal was that the underlying reason was that the landlord wanted to sell. The idea that landlords are increasingly seeking to evict tenants based on reasons other than rent arrears is also borne out by the reducing number of claims seeking orders for payment of arrears.
What about other applications?
As mentioned already, the numbers of other types of applications are relatively low in terms of the overall applications received by the Tribunal. The number of claims made in relation to tenancy deposits (the third largest category) actually fell by 9% to 237 applications, which is a continuing trend for those types of applications. We do however see a 34% increase in repairs cases to a total of 297 (mostly down to third-party applications by local authorities). We also see a 12% increase in complaints under the letting agent code of practice although the total number is still very small at 75 of which only a very small number (28) end with a decision the letting agent failed to comply with the Code.
What does this all mean for the PRS?
The ever-increasing number of applications seems to mostly be fueled by applications seeking to evict tenants. Of these applications it appears (as had been hypothesised from earlier figures) that an increasing number are raised to allow landlords to sell their properties or otherwise take them out of the PRS. Whilst there are some increases in other types of applications, these are small increases in terms of actual numbers and civil claims for things like arrears along with tenancy deposit claims actually fell by higher numbers. The trend of ever-increasing eviction applications due to the landlord wanting to sell seems to be accelerating, but at some point has to slow down. When that may happen is unknown and why that may be the case is perhaps debatable, but some will no doubt point to the fact that this is happening on the back of previous rent controls (with more coming down the line) as well as ever-increasing legislative interference with the PRS as a whole.
If you require any further information or advice, please contact us or watch our blogs for further updates.
