(c) Getty
From Property Wire, yesterday:
‘The buy to let market in Scotland is seeing a surge in landlords from other parts of the UK, most notably England, investing in property, new research has found. Since 2012 the number of English landlords registering tenancy deposits on properties in Scotland has risen by over 430%, according to the research by SafeDeposits Scotland, which is warning landlords to make sure they comply with different deposit rules in Scotland. Six years ago, there were 260 landlords living in England registered deposits with them on rental properties in Scotland. That number surged to 1,388 new registrations in 2017 and data for 2018 shows that the trend continues as the number is up 226% on the same period in 2017.’
https://www.propertywire.com/news/uk/surge-english-landlords-operating-scotland-new-research-shows/
The article’s central concern was that many of these landlords might not be familiar with the deposit protection legislation in Scotland and may not be following it to properly protect their tenants’ deposits. I can’t find anything to suggest that the Scottish scheme is better or worse.
Property Wire go on to suggest reasons for this trend in: ‘variations in rates of stamp duty in England and Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, may make investing more attractive in the north.’ Lower prices than in England and tax relief on cheaper properties probably also make Scotland an attractive market where it’s easier for these landlords to make a profit.
Not surprisingly, I’d see it as another sign of health in the Scottish economy of the kind I often report here:
Scottish Government supports economy with new business rates unique in UK
More evidence of actual strength in Scottish economy ignored by Scottish mainstream media
Talking-up Scotland 
Sorry, really can’t see how this represents good news. Good news would be house prices falling and more people owning their own home.
I rely on this site to lift the dark clouds of BBC Scotland.
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I live in a residential part of Glasgow. When we first moved in, almost all residents were owner occupiers. Being close to the University, there was a number of houses of multiple occupancy which were let, mainly, to students or recent graduates. In the intervening period, the number of houses to let has increased quite markedly. Many of the landlords are either the former owner occupiers, who have moved elsewhere, or the children of those owners. In addition, a number of property companies have been acquiring properties to rent, with a couple of recently built blocks being entirely AirBnB type, with no residents staying longer than a few days. In addition to purpose built, private student halls of residence, there has been an increase in the number of applications to have licenses to convert the sizeable flats into houses of multiple occupancy.
As you say, many of the landlords and their tenants are unaware that there is a different legal system in Scotland and talk and behave as if the law of England applies. Many, for example explicitly refuse to comply with common duties, such as maintaining the common close, the tenement roofs and gables, the common back green, etc. This causes discord amongst residents. It also creates a substantial transient population of people who have no real stake in the ambience of the area.
Some will dismiss this as NIMBYism, but that is an ad hominem attack, which avoids confronting the real issue – these places are our HOMES, not property ASSETS.
While this interest in ownership might be evidence of robustness in the Scottish economy, it also has the potential of changing the culture of Scotland to a homogenised one, indistinguishable from those throughout much of the ‘English’ speaking world. Again, lest I be accused of narrow minded blood and soil nationalism, I point out that as a major seaport and industrial powerhouse, Glasgow has demonstrated the value of substantial immigration and the evolution of a distinctive, but evolving ethos.
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Sorry to go off-topic far too quickly – but I noticed a story that will get no coverage but is symptomatic of the activities of Col. ‘Harrison’s’ ghastly troopers.
Kudos to the Galloway Gazette for carrying it. Apparently there is some tory zoomer called Finlay Carson who (embarrassingly) is the MP for Galloway and West Dumfries. This slime-ball tried to make political hay out of the topic of child burial costs. He called for Dumfries and Galloway council (SNP/Labour coalition administration) to scrap these fees. He chuntered that: “Dumfries and Galloway Council have historically been a council that have charged in the past and it is a policy that should be scrapped immediately.”
The FACT of the matter is that D+G Council had ALREADY taken the very civilised step of abolishing these charges in a budget proposed by the previous minority Labour administration and PASSED with the necessary backing of the SNP Group at the time. (NOTE: This sort of previous civilised cooperation has allowed the current SNP/Labour coalition on D+G to continue working together well to try and further block the tory austerity barbarism madness).
One might have anticipated that Finlay Carson MP would have been aware of this abolition of fees for children and still-born burial charges – given that he was a tory councillor when this civilised bit of budgeting went through.
Perhaps he is suffering from a – rather convenient – memory lapse, as the tories were not always in favour of abolishing fees for children’s interments. This is a very recent conversion by Treeza – for which we must be grateful – although we can all draw our own conclusions about why she has just announced a special fund for this purpose (for England).
In REALITY – the tory group (of which Carson was a member) on D+G not only voted AGAINST the abolition but actually voted IN FAVOUR of a 5% INCREASE in these charges.
This little snippet tells us plenty about Ruth Davidson’s gruesome bunch of political harlots.
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Apologies – I don’t want to be accused of spreading Fake News. When typing my fingers managed to put MP instead of MSP. Finlay Carson is the MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries. It is entirely possible that his spiritual homeland is Westminster – but he ain’t there yet – and wee Fluffy Mundell will be struggling hard to make sure he remains the Westminster tory honcho in that neck of the woods.
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