In our Guide to Rent Adjudication in Scotland, we look at the process for increasing rent under a Private Residential Tenancy and what happens when a proposed increase is challenged.

In this article, we analyse the data recently published by the Scottish Government on all rent adjudications carried out by Rent Service Scotland (RSS). 

With this information, landlords and tenants can understand what happens in practice when RSS adjudicates a proposed rent — including how outcomes vary by level of proposed increase, the role of comparable properties, and how results differ across Scotland.

Rent adjudication figures

The published data covers 1,542 decisions between December 2017 and May 2026, including three datasets:

  • 186 decisions between December 2017 and September 2022 based on the standard adjudication process;
  • 964 decisions between April 2024 and March 2025, when cost of living measures were in force; and
  • 392 decisions between April 2025 and May 2026, again based on the standard process.

The records show the property addresses, the initial rent, the new rent proposed by the landlord, the rent fixed by the Rent Officer (the adjudicated rent), and the comparable properties used to reach that decision.

What do the figures show?

Substantial increases are being proposed

Across all 1,542 decisions, the average proposed rent increase was 19.4% above the rent the tenant was already paying. The median was 14.1%. This means that in a typical case, a tenant with rent of £800 per month was being asked to pay around £955.

The average proposed increase has been steadily increasing since 2017. Most proposals remain in the 10–20% range, but a growing number of landlords are proposing larger increases that pull the average upwards.

When all 1,542 decisions are considered together, adjudicators reduced the proposed rent in a clear majority of cases (bearing in mind that between April 2024 and March 2025 temporary measures prevented rents being determined at a figure higher than the proposed rent).

The table below shows how different levels of increases were treated:

Proposed Increase

Number of Cases

Average Change vs Proposed at Adjudication

Up to 10%

414

+0.2%

10% to 20%

595

-4.6%

20% to 30%

262

-9.8%

30% to 50%

211

-15.9%

Over 50%

60

-26.6%

Adjudication does not prevent rent increases

Adjudication is not a process that freezes rents or reverses increases. The Rent Officer's job is to determine the open market rent for the property — what a tenant would reasonably be expected to pay in the current rental market.

The data reflects this:

  • In 91% of all adjudicated cases, the rent fixed by the Rent Officer was higher than the rent the tenant had been paying;
  • On average, the adjudicated rent was 10.6% above the initial rent (median: 9.5%); and
  • In only 9% of cases (139 out of 1,542), the Rent Officer fixed the rent at or below the initial rent.

Open market rent usually acts as a ceiling, not a floor

Of the decisions between April 2024 and March 2025 when cost of living measures were in force (the only published dataset which records the open market rent separately from the fixed rent)- the rent was fixed at exactly the open market rent assessed by the Rent Officer in only 14.9% of cases, and above open market rent in 1% of cases. In 84.1% of cases the Rent Officer fixed the rent below their own assessment of the open market rate.

From 1 April 2027, the law will change to prohibit Rent Officers from setting a rent above the proposed figure.

The role of comparable properties

The Rent Officer will take account of comparable properties — other properties in the area of a similar type and size, and the rents being charged for them.

Across all 1,542 decisions, a total of 4,949 comparable property entries were used, an average of 3.2 per decision.

Interestingly, in 63.5% of all comparable property entries, the comparable rent was higher than the rent ultimately fixed by the Rent Officer.

The average comparable rent across all decisions was £973, while the average fixed rent was £926 — a gap of approximately £47 per month.

Rent Officers do not simply average the comparables and apply the result; they exercise judgment about what is appropriate given the specific property and its condition.

The quality and relevance of comparable evidence therefore matters, but it is not determinative.

Geographic patterns

Edinburgh and Glasgow account for the majority of adjudication cases in the data — 433 and 411 decisions respectively out of 1,542 in total.

The data shows that landlords outside Edinburgh and Glasgow are proposing proportionally larger rent increases: an average of 20.8% versus 17.5% in Edinburgh and 19.2% in Glasgow.

Despite those different starting points, the average adjudicated increase over the initial rent is very consistent across all three areas — around 10% in each case.

Rural and smaller towns

While most adjudication cases arise in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 475 decisions — around 31% of the total — involve properties in other locations. Several patterns emerge from this data.

Average initial rents across these decisions (£758 per month) are lower than in Edinburgh (£1,081) or Glasgow (£801), but the average proposed increase is slightly higher at 20.6%. The proportion of cases resulting in a reduction (79.6%) is also slightly above the overall average. 

Looking at specific locations, some patterns stand out:

  • Alloa and Bo'ness (5 cases each) saw 100% of proposed increases reduced, with average proposed increases of around 30% cut significantly.
  • St Andrews (6 cases) illustrates the particular dynamics of the student and tourism rental market: average initial rents of £2,253.83 per month — among the highest in the dataset outside Edinburgh — with an average proposed increase of 16.1% moderated to an adjudicated increase of 9.2% above the initial rent.
  • Crieff (4 cases) produced a marked counterpoint: 50% of cases resulted in the Rent Officer setting the rent above the proposed figure, with an average adjudicated figure 6.2% above what the landlord proposed. This suggests that in some rural areas, landlords may be proposing lower rents relative to the open market.
  • Kelso (3 cases) saw every proposed increase reduced, with an average proposed increase of 28.6% over relatively high initial rents (£1,075 per month), moderated to an adjudicated outcome of 10.3% above the initial rent.
  • Blairgowrie (4 cases, Perthshire) is the most striking rural outlier in terms of the scale of proposed increases. With one case proposing an increase of 100% (i.e. doubling the rent), the average proposed increase across the 4 cases was 46% above the initial rent, yet every case resulted in a reduction. The average adjudicated rent was 22.9% above the initial rent.
  • Galashiels (3 cases) had an average proposed increase of 31.4%, with two of the three cases reduced. The adjudicated outcome averaged 9.5% above the initial rent, broadly in line with the national picture.
  • The data also includes a small number of individual cases from some rural locations. For example, in Aviemore, one property was the subject of a proposed increase of 90% — from £500 to £950 per month. The Rent Officer fixed the rent at £560, an increase of just 12% above the initial rent. While a single case cannot support firm conclusions about the market in any location, it shows how significantly very large increases can be moderated. 

When all the figures are considered, the rural picture broadly mirrors the national one: proposed increases are generally moderated, the adjudicated outcome tends to land around 10% above the initial rent, and large proposed increases have been consistently and significantly reduced. 

Key takeaways for landlords

Well-evidenced, moderate increases aligned with open-market evidence are more likely to be upheld. Comparable evidence is important but not determinative. Rent Officers use comparables as a guide but regularly set rents below comparable levels.

Since April 2025, in around 19% of cases the Rent Officer has set the rent above the proposed figure where open market evidence supported it; but this power will be removed from 1 April 2027.

If you require further information or advice in connection with a rent increase or other residential tenancy matter, please get in touch with your usual Brodies contact or one of our real estate lawyers.

Contributor

Ros James

Associate