A SCOTTISH LibDem MSP has been branded “out of touch” after it emerged he owns a rental home in Montenegro.
Duncan Dunlop, the MSP for South Scotland region, lets out a semi-detached cottage in the Western Balkans, his register of interests revealed.
Dunlop joint-owns the property with his wife, and it has a market value between £100,001 and £150,000.
The LibDem MSP makes around £7150 (€8400) each year from renting out the property. The exact location of the cottage, or how long Dunlop has owned it for, was not disclosed.
According to Esales International, property prices in Montenegro have reached “historic highs”, driven partially by the country’s looming accession to the European Union.
Under “heritable property", Dunlop’s register states: “I own, jointly with my wife, a semi-detached cottage in Montenegro with a market value of between £100,001 and £150,000 with gross rental income of between £5001 and £7500 per annum (€8400 per annum).”
Ruth Gilbert, chair of tenants union Living Rent, said: "It is no wonder that people have lost faith in politicians, when time and time again they reveal themselves to be out of touch with the day-to-day reality of the very people who elected them.
"Being a landlord abroad when most are struggling to make rent every month erodes people’s trust that our elected reps are there to serve, rather than line their own pockets. Landlord MSPs continue to demonstrate that the cost of living crisis is far removed from their own experiences, while their tenants suffer.
"With our parliament riddled with landlords, how can tenants expect MSPs to genuinely fight for their interests, when so many are personally invested in extracting as much money as they can from tenants?
"We need to rid our parliament of landlords and candidates should be forced to declare their interests before they are voted in, not months later."
A spokesperson for the Scottish LibDems said: "All Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs declare their register of interests in line with the relevant parliamentary rules.
“While the SNP and Greens cut hundreds of millions from the affordable housing budget, we have consistently campaigned to tackle the chronic housing shortage by returning housebuilding to a level that gets 25,000 new homes built annually."
It comes after we revealed how a Scottish Labour MSP makes an estimated £60,000 a year from renting two private lets and two commercial properties in the region he represents.
Irshad Ahmed, regional MSP for Edinburgh and the Lothians East, owns two properties in the area he represents, which give him a potential rental income of £20,000 a year.
He also owns two commercial properties in the area, which give him an estimated income of around £40,000 a year.
And Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord’s multi-million-pound property empire was revealed after his register of interests was published.
Scottish Parliament records showed Offord owns homes in Cape Town and the Isle of Wight.
He previously boasted to voters in the run-up to the election that he owned six houses, five cars and six boats.
