Renting in Fife: this is what flats and houses cost each month and why rent has gone up
Rent in Fife rose 8% in the past year, new figures show.
It comes as campaign group Generation Rent said renters across Britain are being exploited by an "out of control market" and a lack of protections.
Provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics show the average private rent in the Fife broad rental market area reached £804 per month in the year to September – up 8% from £745 a year prior. It was also up 37% from an estimated £588 a month five years ago.
Scotland's rent data is collected by Rent Service Scotland, and is predominantly for advertised new lets, with only a small proportion based on existing tenancies, so, price changes for existing tenancies are largely estimated.
The figures also show the different costs for various homese, from £530 for a one-bed property to £1,558 for a home with four or more bedrooms in September.
Among the property types in the area a detached housed cost £1,200 to rent per month; a semi-detached £902; a terraced house £820; and a flat or maisonette was £659.
Across Scotland, the average rent was £973 – up 7% from the year before. Lothian had the highest rental cost in the country at £1,376 per month, while the lowest was in Dumfries and Galloway at £484.
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: "Our biggest monthly expense is going up far faster than inflation or our wages. Renters are being exploited by an out of control market, and the lack of protections that allow unscrupulous landlords to maximise the rent at every opportunity.
"As a result, renters are unable to save for the future, and many are still making painful decisions about whether to turn the heating on or skip a meal."
He urged the Government to included protections from unaffordable rent rises in the Renters Rights Bill which returned to parliament for a second reading earlier this month.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: "I am determined to get this Bill in to law as soon as possible. The thousands of children and families living in unsafe housing or under the cruel threat of a Section 21 eviction notice have been waiting far too long already.