How did well-intentioned housing policy make Scotland’s rental market tighter rather than fairer?In this episode of Hard Hat Talks, host Kenneth Martin sits down with Chris Cockburn, Business Development Manager at Let-It, to unpack one of the most misunderstood elements of Scotland’s housing discussion: how well-intentioned rent control policies can shrink the rental market rather than stabilise it.

Chris draws on decades of experience in the private rented sector to explain why the real driver of housing pain isn’t the cost of rent, but the lack of supply. Rather than simply debating rent levels, this episode reframes the conversation around the system design of housing - and how policy decisions shape long-term investment, landlord behaviour, and tenant access.

They explore how:

• Proposed and existing rent controls can make the rental market less investable, pushing small and long-term landlords out of the sector.
• A shrinking supply of rental homes increases competition and can paradoxically put upward pressure on rents.
• Regulation and professionalisation, while improving safety and standards, have also raised entry barriers for new landlords.
• Planning delays, regulatory uncertainty and taxation shifts influence market viability, investor confidence and the pace of delivery.
• The private rented sector (PRS) could be part of the solution - if treated as a stable, long-term housing resource rather than a risk-laden asset class.
• Far from a simple economic or political back-and-forth, this conversation highlights that the housing crisis is a supply problem shaped by regulation, investment decisions, planning systems, and market confidence.

Whether you’re an architect, developer, policy maker, landlord or someone passionate about housing outcomes, this episode gives you a grounded, pragmatic lens on why housing supply matters more than prices in the long run - and what could happen if that balance isn’t restored.

This is a conversation moves beyond headlines - and into the mechanics that really shape where people live and how communities thrive.

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