Màiri McAllan MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Housing
St Andrew’s House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
24th March 2026
Dear Màiri,
New Consumer Scotland research: Life in Scotland’s social rented sector
When we met last year you were interested in the research Consumer Scotland was undertaking into consumer experience in the social rented sector. I am therefore pleased to share with you a copy of Consumer Scotland’s new report A Fairer Rental Market: Life in Scotland’s social rented sector. The report presents the findings from our comprehensive survey of more than 1,400 social renters in Scotland and contains a number of
recommendations for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Housing Regulator.
Key findings in our report are:
Most social renters in Scotland’s social housing sector are generally satisfied, but nearly half had experienced an issue during the past 6 months
Over 1 in 4 social renters had carried out or funded repairs they felt were their landlord’s responsibility
Energy efficiency and/or heating costs are a key property concern for social renters
Satisfaction is lower among key groups, including disabled renters, those in older, unrenovated homes, and those who do not know if they have a housing officer or how to contact them
There is dissatisfaction with landlord responsiveness to issues when these are reported as well as with complaints handling.
There is a lack of awareness amongst social renters around how to escalate issues, with lower awareness of how to escalate complaints than in the private rented sector
Responding to these findings , our recommendations include the following proposals:
- The Scottish Government and the Scottish Housing Regulator should work closely with disabled people’s organisations, tenant advisers and representative bodies to ensure the needs of disabled social renters are fully reflected in the Scottish Social Housing Charter’s Equalities Outcome, during its 2026 review
- The Scottish Housing Regulator should introduce specific indicators for landlords submitting their Annual Return of the Charter (ARC indicators), measuring landlord performance against the needs of disabled social renters
- The Scottish Housing Regulator should consider new guidance for social landlords to ensure all tenants can easily access a housing officer or named point of contact
- The Scottish Housing Regulator should monitor landlord performance and undertake further work to improve outcomes for social renters, with a particular focus on complaints handling and responsiveness
- Alongside the implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, the Scottish Government should commission a public awareness campaign to ensure private and social renters are aware of their tenancy rights and they know where to seek support on these issues
- The Scottish Housing Regulator should work with landlords and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to assess the adequacy of current signposting by landlords to the ombudsman and keep this area under active review
We have valued the engagement with Scottish Government officials as we have undertaken this work, and more widely on housing policy issues over recent months. We look forward to continuing this engagement in the future, to help secure improved outcomes for tenants in Scotland.
Please do not hesitate to contact our Head of Consumer Markets, Tracey Reilly, at tracey.reilly@consumer.scot if you should you wish to discuss any of this further.
Yours sincerely,
Sam Ghibaldan
Chief Executive