Scottish landlords are more likely to have increased rents in 2024 and 2025 than those in England and Wales, despite rent controls introduced in 2022, according to research by Hamptons.
Hamptons, which analysed data from across the Connells group, said these findings suggested that setting rent controls across the rest of Great Britain could likely prove to be counterproductive in the long-term.
The research said so far this year, 67% of Scottish landlords raised the rent when they had the ability, the highest figure for any region and above the 58% who did so across Great Britain as a whole.
Previously, between September 2022 to April 2023, rent increases for existing tenants in Scotland were capped at 0%. And from April 2023 to April 2024, increases were capped at 3%.
Since April 2024, rent increases have been limited to the lowest of the open market rent, the rent proposed by the landlord, or the ‘permitted rent’ where the tenant is paying at least 6% below the market rate.
According to Hamptons, Scottish landlords are increasingly choosing to implement small rent increases annually to ensure that tenants remain as close as possible to market rates.
The size of the average increase was lower in Scotland (10.1%) compared to the Great Britain average (12.2%), however, Scotland's overall average rental growth is higher as a greater share of landlords in Scotland chose to increase rents over the last year.
Since June 2025, the pace of Scottish rental growth on new lets picked up in Scotland, while Scottish rents rose by 2.5% from the same time last year, one of only two regions in Great Britain where rents rose by more than 2% over the last year.
Since the 3% cap on rental increases in Scotland was loosened in April 2024, rents on new lets in Scotland have increased by over 7%, only surpassed by the North East of England.
Newly agreed rents in Scotland increased 36% over the last five years, higher than the 32% increase across Great Britain, while the average cost of renewed contracts rose 32% over the last five years in Scotland compared to 29% across Great Britain.
