When Rent Control Backfires: Why Supply, Not Price, Is the Real Crisis – Episode #17
No Fluff. Just Real Industry Conversations
How did well-intentioned housing policy make Scotland’s rental market tighter rather than fairer?
In this episode of The Hard Hat Talks, Kenneth Martin sits down with Chris Cockburn, Business Development Manager at Let-It, to unpack why focusing on price controls without protecting housing supply is having unintended consequences across the private rented sector.
Rather than blaming landlords or tenants, Chris offers a grounded look at how regulatory change, rent control proposals, and sector restructuring are reducing available homes and increasing competition for those that remain.
From the impact on small and long-term landlords to the ripple effects on planning, development, and investment; this conversation reframes the housing crisis as a supply problem shaped by policy – not a simple affordability debate.
What you’ll discover from the podcast
- Why rent controls can shrink, not stabilise, the rental market. How price regulation risks pushing landlords out of the sector and reducing available homes.
- How reduced supply, not rent levels, is driving competitive pressure. Why housing scarcity increases competition and paradoxically pushes prices up?
- The unintended consequences of well-intentioned policy. How legislative changes affect investment, viability, and landlord behaviour.
- Why the private rented sector is more critical than ever. How rental homes support mobility, workforce stability, and housing access.
- How planning and housing policy intersect with investment decisions. Why certainty, timelines, and risk shape whether homes get built or sold.
- Practical insight from someone working inside the sector. Chris shares frontline experience from operating within Scotland’s rental market.
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