Building new homes for rent is a top priority

According to the latest RICS residential lettings survey, demand for rental property in Scotland continued to rise in the three months to October 2014.

The survey report indicated that the number of landlords placing their properties on the market dipped in Q3. Picture: Julie Bull

However, the survey report also indicated that the number of landlords placing their properties on the market dipped during Q3, with a net balance of 46 per cent more Scottish chartered surveyors reporting a decrease in new instructions.

Consequently, rent expectations remained generally firm, with respondents anticipating an increase of around 2.5 per cent over the next 12 months across the UK.

RICS has been heavily involved in working with the Scottish Government to try and address the lack of supply across all housing tenures. Looking specifically at the private rented sector, we are exploring new approaches that will encourage institutional investment and reduce barriers to new housing developments specifically for the rental market.

RICS is a member of the newly formed PRS (Private Rented Sector) Working Party which has been established to support the new PRS Champion funded by the Scottish Government.

The remit of this group is to build upon the Homes for Scotland research into the PRS, published last year, and investigate frequently cited barriers to investment. This will enable us to generate sector-wide confidence to deal with the lack of supply in key rental market areas like Edinburgh.

The initial meeting of the group took place last week and set out the terms of reference, with the next full meeting scheduled for January 2014.

As the sector continues to grow, and demand shows no sign of slowing down, it becomes increasingly important that the Scottish Government address these issues and focus on the details of regulation in the sector as stipulated in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

• Jonathan Gordon, managing director of Clan Gordon Limited and Chair of RICS Scotland’s PRS Forum, will represent RICS in this PRS working party. Clan Gordon are focused on delivering quality PRS homes and aim to drive up standards with new, purpose-built rental homes.