Rents in Scotland have risen by more than England despite a high-profile 3% cap on increases imposed by the Scottish government earlier this year.
Negotiations to agree a new tenancy with a lesser rent rise failed and Catherine says she is now having to leave the property, with nowhere else to go that she can afford."We've been fighting this since February, and we're all just completely exhausted by the whole situation and we don't think there's anything else we can do."
Despite the emergency legislation capping rent rises at 3%, private rents across Scotland have increased by 6% in the past year, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.The statistics show annual private rental costs increased by 5.5% across the UK as a whole, with England at 5.4% and Wales at 6.5%.In Scotland, as the impact of cost of living rises such as energy prices began to bite last year, the Scottish government announced a temporary freeze on rent rises.
"We were shocked to find that the rent had increased by £500, which means that our rent individually each was up by £125," she told the BBC. "I am genuinely afraid of moving out of this property and spending much more money on rent and actually being homeless," she said.Landlords are also being hit by cost of living pressures with mortgage rates rising rapidly along with the cost of complying with regulations.