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Scotsman
6 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Investors need certainty to build the homes Scotland needs
We must unlock the investment that would deliver new housing, says Colin Brown Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In May 2024, the Scottish Parliament declared a national 'housing emergency' with some councils also declaring a housing emergency in their areas. The announcement of the emergency came two months after the Scottish Government laid the Housing (Scotland) Bill before the Scottish Parliament. The Bill continues to work its way through Holyrood and is expected to come into force later this year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Observers in the world of institutional investment and those working in the sector have been watching the progress of the Bill with interest. Of particular concern to investors are proposals around rent controls. Colin Brown is a Partner at TLT To give one example that has occurred recently – a London-based investment firm, was about to commit many millions of pounds to its first Scottish investment before discovering that a committee considering the Bill had voted to include purpose-built student accommodation as subject to statutory rent controls. All of the financial appraisals the firm had undertaken in making the decision to invest in Scotland were potentially being ripped up by MSPs and they had no power to do anything about this. In this situation, the Scottish Government moved quickly to make clear it would not support rent control for purpose-built student accommodation. Whilst the project is now starting to come out of the ground it remains to be seen whether they consider Scotland a safe haven for future investment. The rental income which institutional investors derive from their investments in bricks and mortar helps to fund many individuals' pensions. The investors need to understand that in exchange for making their money available they will get a return on their investment and this return has generally been left to market forces – the law of supply and demand. The housing emergency should make investment in new build housing in Scotland a win-win. The country gets much-needed new housing to alleviate the emergency, and the investment funds get to deploy their capital to deliver housing and make a return on their investment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the UK in the first quarter of this year £1.2 billion was invested in private rental accommodation with the potential for £6bn to be invested by the end of the year. 76 per cent of this investment is being directed outside London, with Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds leading the way. Every penny of this investment creates new housing and sustains and creates job opportunities. The fact that Scotland has not been able to open the investment tap when cities in England are seeing private rental accommodation expand, could be seen as a missed opportunity. In launching the latest consultation, the Social Justice Secretary acknowledges that rental properties are a crucial element of the efforts to tackle the housing emergency. Government policy has slowed investment into the sector in recent years and resulted in lower investor confidence in providing much-needed housing. Rent caps and controls are of course not universally despised and a balance must be struck between protecting tenants and unlocking the investment that delivers the new housing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The latest consultation on exemptions for certain types of properties from rent control closed earlier this month. There will be investors with capital looking for a home waiting to see if the legislative and political environment in Scotland means they should be deploying more of this in Scotland or continuing to explore opportunities which guarantee a better return elsewhere.
Scotsman
6 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Swinney: New work for bus maker Alexander Dennis being explored
The First Minister said details remain commercially sensitive Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Scottish Government is actively exploring a package which could deliver new work to the troubled Alexander Dennis bus maker, John Swinney has said. The First Minister said he could not provide further details due to 'commercial sensitivity'. He has asked the company to consider an extension to its consultation period while the package is developed. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad General view of the Alexander Dennis site at Camelon, near Falkirk | PA Last month, Alexander Dennis announced it was proposing to consolidate its UK operations at a single site in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The decision puts 400 jobs at risk at its facility in Falkirk in another blow to the Forth Valley, which has already seen more than 400 jobs go at the Grangemouth refinery this year. Mr Swinney said: 'Scottish ministers place the utmost importance on the presence of Alexander Dennis in Scotland and the retention of its highly skilled manufacturing workers. 'The Scottish Government has committed to exploring any and all viable options throughout the consultation period to allow the firm to retain its skilled employees and manufacturing and production facilities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'While I cannot provide details due to commercial sensitivity at this time, I hope this update provides the workforce and local community with further assurance that the Scottish Government remains wholly committed to supporting the future of bus manufacturing in Scotland. 'We will undertake this work in tandem with every other short, medium and long-term opportunity we continue to explore in close collaboration with the company, Unite, GMB, Scottish Enterprise, Transport Scotland and the UK Government.' Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will meet with the unions GMB and Unite today to update them on the proposal. Labour previously accused Holyrood ministers of overlooking Scottish industry in favour of ordering buses from China. Mr Swinney argued state aid regulations – in the form of the UK-wide Subsidy Control Act – prevent the Government from directly procuring from a single supplier like Alexander Dennis. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Speaking to The Scotsman last month, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: "They [the Scottish Government] have to look themselves in the mirror. But they should be leaving no stone unturned about how we can keep this bus company open."
BBC News
7 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ealing tenants experience steepest rise in London rent
Private tenants in Ealing have faced the largest rent increases in London over the past five years, new figures rental index report by HomeLet suggested rents in the borough rose by about 52.5% between December 2019 and December average rent in Ealing is now £2,089 per calendar month, according to the was just above the London average of £2,071, and significantly more than the UK average of £1,284. During 2024 alone, private rents in Ealing rose by 9.3%, the fourth-highest in London. The data also suggested Londoners spent the highest proportion of their income on rent of any region in the UK at 37.9%, with the average being 32.6% - indicating the higher wages paid in the capital did not counter the increase in response, Ealing Council said very few properties are affordable to residents, and warned that those on low-to-average incomes were being priced has 7,500 applications on its housing register, with 200 to 250 new applications each applicants have been placed hundreds of miles away from London by the council, with one family placed in Newcastle in March 2024. A spokesperson for Ealing Council attributed the steep increase to factors including a lack of supply as landlords leave the market."Ealing-specific factors" included an more new purpose-built private sector homes and improved transport Elizabeth line opened in 2022 with two stations serving Ealing, and is now the busiest railway service in the council said it cannot control private market rents, but uses regulatory powers to ensure good quality homes and tries to prevent the conversion of homes into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). The leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Ealing Council, Gary Malcolm, blamed the Labour-run administration for being "too soft on developers".He said the council "allowed developers to rule the roost" and that developers often build large buildings, with too few truly affordable homes.
