Tenancies covered by the cap

The rent cap applies to most existing private tenancies.

This includes most existing:

• Private Residential Tenancies
• Assured tenancies
• Short assured tenancies

Tenancies which are not covered by the rent cap:

• some assured tenancies where rent increases are controlled by the contract – if your tenant has an assured tenancy where the way their rent will increase is set out in your contract and this provision on rent increase is still legally in force then their rent will be able to increase in the way agreed in the contract
• regulated tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 – these tenancies already have strong protections in place, and rents for these tenancies can only increase once every three years
• common law tenancies – this includes arrangements like agricultural tenancies and lodger agreements (where your tenant lives with you in your home), with the exception of student tenancy agreements.
• new tenancies – you can set the rent for any new tenancy and are allowed to put the rent up between one tenant moving out and the next tenant moving in. This may include some joint tenancies where some tenants are moving out and others are remaining in the property, but only where a new tenancy is being created.