FOI/202500466600 · FOI · released
Private landlord data: FOI release
Information requested
1. The number of residential properties owned by private landlords.
2. The number of residential properties owned by private landlords in each of the last ten years.
3. Detailed landlord information, including
Landlord Name/ID Property postcode Annual rental yield per property (if available) Landlord's primary residence
Response
I enclose a copy of the information for point 1 in CSV format as requested.
The Landlord Registration system is an administrative system used primarily to manage the registration of landlords and rental properties, and has not been designed to produce robust statistical figures on the sector. Therefore it is not possible to extract an accurate time series of data from its database in order to answer point 2.
There have been requests in the past for numbers of properties owned by landlords. I provide links to these requests below:
May 2019: Landlords in Scotland: FOI release - gov.scot July 2023: Landlord Registration Scotland: FOI release - gov.scot June 2024: Landlords in Scotland statistics: FOI release - gov.scot (the request you referred to)
In addition I have been provided by colleagues with a snapshot taken in September 2022. I enclose this information in CSV format.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested in point 2, or any of the information requested in point 3.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because we are not the data controllers for the Scottish Landlord Register.
If you are interested in the information we were unable to provide you may wish to contact the data controllers for the information held on the database. Contact details for the 32 Local Authorities are available on the landlord registration website at https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/localauthority-contact.
Please note that the Scottish Landlord Register does not seek information from landlords about rental yield. Here is a link to what is requested from landlords: Information you will need - Scottish Landlord Register.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.