The SNP has managed to retain control in Holyrood while Plaid Cymru looks set to be the biggest party in the Senedd, followed by Reform UK.

Labour lost out in the Welsh elections, with Plaid Cymru poised to take charge. It has plans to introduce new measures to better protect renters, and in its manifesto, the nationalist party promised to build more social homes, improve the quality and energy efficiency of Welsh housing, and establish a community right to buy.

It pledged to follow the UK government’s lead by pushing for an end to no-fault evictions, to give renters greater security of tenure, restrict rental bidding, and limit rent payable in advance. The party also wants to give renters a legal right to request a pet, clamp down on hazards and expand the regulatory role of Rent Smart Wales.

Reform UK said it wanted to speed up planning, intervene where councils fail to deliver homes and mandate local authorities to enforce a strict 10-year residency requirement for social housing “to put Welsh citizens at the front of the queue for social housing”.

Victory

In Scotland's elections, John Swinney, the Scottish National Party leader, declared victory after the first results confirmed Labour had been comprehensively beaten, giving his party a fifth successive victory. However, the SNP looks unlikely to get an overall majority, according to polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice; Reform UK could enter Holyrood as the second-largest political force, ahead of Labour and the Greens.

Swinney recently announced that private tenants in the country would get first refusal if a landlord puts their home up for sale; renters would be given a period of exclusivity to purchase it “at a fair market rate”.

Promised

The party has also promised to build more homes, create a new housing agency, provide up to £10,000 deposit support for First Time Buyers, unlock £20 billion of pension fund investment and create a new £50 million homelessness fund. It pledged to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, and to reform the Tenement (Scotland) Act 2004 and Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 by the end of the next parliament.

Meanwhile, Reform UK had pledged to phase out Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, introduce an innovative, long term funding model with UK pension funds will be developed by Reform UK to build a sustained supply of social housing owned by the local authorities.

Its manifesto adds: “Reform UK will repeal the SNP’s regulations for all new tenancies, while keeping the terms of existing tenancies unchanged, making homes both plentiful and more affordable for the Scots who need them most.”

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