If you’re a private renter in Scotland and your landlord wants to raise your rent, you can challenge it through Rent Service Scotland.
In April 2024, the Scottish Government placed an absolute cap on rent rises of 12%, tapering down depending on how much rents on new tenancies have increased in the local area. This has protected hundreds of renters from unaffordable rent increases, but the cap was temporary and ended on 31 March 2025.
If your landlord asks for a higher rent, it may be still worth challenging through RSS – but there is a risk that the landlord will be awarded a rent higher than what they originally proposed, meaning that challenging the rent could result in a worse outcome for you.
The good news is that RSS publishes details of all the cases it deals with – and we have mapped these so you can see where renters near you have challenged their rent and what RSS found.
How to understand Map 1:
- Zoom in to see cases on each street. The pin colours are based on the number of bedrooms, which should make it easier to compare your situation with that of other homes in your area. Click on a pin to find the details of the case.
- The most important figure for each case is the Open Market Rent, which appears by each pin. This will be the basis of decisions after March 31 2025. If your landlord’s proposed rent is higher than the Open Market Rent, then it may be worth applying to RSS. BUT!
- Pay attention to the date of the decision. A lot of cases were decided in May-July 2024, so since then the Open Market Rent may have risen even further. If you can’t find a recent case nearby, you can find the latest rate of rent inflation in Map 2 below, and on the ONS website here.
Map 1 – Rent adjudications
Bedrooms and pin colours:
- 1 Maroon
- 2 Light blue
- 3 Red
- 4 Orange
- 5 Green
- 6 Dark blue
Select annual change on the map below and zoom in to find your local rent inflation rate.
Map 2 – ONS rent inflation data
If the landlord is asking for more than the Open Market Rent even after applying the ONS rent inflation figure for your area on Map 2 to the Open Market Rent figure from Map 1, it might be worth applying to the RSS.
Here are two examples:
- You are renting a two-bed home in Glasgow, and your landlord has asked for £1000 per month. On Map 1, you find that the Open Market rent for a similar property determined back in June 2024 was £950. On Map 2, rent inflation for Greater Glasgow currently stands at 2.5% – which would raise rent by approximately £24 by June 2025. It would therefore be worth considering an application to RSS
- You are renting a two-bed home in Paisley, and your landlord has asked for £650 per month. On Map 1, you find that the Open Market rent for a similar property determined in June 2024 was £625. On Map 2, rent inflation for Inverclyde currently stands at 8.2% – which would raise rent by approximately £51, so it’s likely that the landlord is asking for less than what the Open Market rent will be in June 2025.
If it looks like the Open Market Rent is both higher than what your landlord is asking, and higher than you can afford, then the rent control powers being introduced through the Housing Bill may help you and renters in your area in future. Message us on the feedback button with how you get on.
Please note: data on this page was last updated in July 2025. The information on this page is indicative only and may not be an accurate guide to the rent Rent Service Scotland would determine for your home. Generation Rent is not responsible for any decisions made using information from this page.