Listening to Landlords: Scotland’s Voice of the Landlord Survey Returns

The SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust has launched its third Voice of the Landlord survey, building on previous years’ successes. This annual national survey aims to capture the views and experiences of landlords across Scotland’s private rented sector, generating valuable evidence to inform future policy, practice, and public debate.

Impact of 2025 survey

Over 1,000 landlords took part last year — helping ensure that real landlord experiences were heard in national policy discussions. Their insights informed conversations with Scottish Government officials about current and future policy changes. Here are a few examples of insights we shared from last year's survey:

• Communication: Only 21% of landlords feel that changes to the law are clearly communicated, whilst 44% believed this was not the case. We showed the Scottish Government that landlords are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with changes and that clear communication is essential.

• Energy efficiency: Overall 50% of landlords said high upfront costs were a barrier to making energy efficiency improvements. These were highlighted as important findings for the Scottish Government when considering the introduction of minimum energy efficiency standards, whilst illustrating the importance of ensuring adequate support is available.

• Positive relationships with tenants: 82% of landlords said they had a positive relationship with tenants (a similar proportion of tenants say the same thing in our tenant survey). We used this finding to stress that whilst the sector faces various challenges, much of it is also functioning well.  

• Ensuring landlord confidence: The findings show that 14% of landlords sold properties in the past year, whilst only 5% added to their portfolio. Most properties sold are moving to the owner-occupied market. These findings were used to illustrate to the Government the importance of retaining landlord confidence.

Major Changes Afoot in the Sector

Scotland’s private rented sector has seen sizeable changes over the past few decades, with more changes already underway. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent at the end of last year, is introducing various changes from possible restrictions on rent increases to new rental property rules on pets.  

The Power of Research to Shape Policy  

Asking to hear the perspectives of those most impacted by these changes is therefore hugely valuable. It shows how the sector is being affected, whether there are any unintended consequences, whether any changes have proved easier than anticipated, and which landlords are most impacted.  

Yet without real evidence, policymakers may be left guessing. Without accurate data, politicians might make assumptions. Who's to say how successful a certain policy is or isn't, if the groups most affected by it are never asked about the outcomes?

The yearly Voice of the Landlord survey is designed to help correct this. When policymaking is assisted by up-to-date evidence, it can be fairer and less biased. When landlords participate in research such as this, it ensures their perspectives are fairly recorded and represented.

Complete the survey here. 

This will only take around 10 minutes. All responses are securely collected and completely anonymised too, so you won't be identifiable from your answers. Plus, as a thank-you for taking part, we offer all respondents a prize draw entry to win one of five £100 vouchers.

Every response helps build a clearer picture of what is working, what is challenging, and where further support may be needed.