A points-based system of rent controls is being advocated by activists associated with a controversial pro-tenant group.
Living Rent, which is calling for the new system of rent controls, is affiliated to Acorn, a group which earlier this month was ordered to pay just under £100,000 in costs and damages to a landlord, to settle a legal case for harassment, defamation and breach of data rights.
Acorn - formally called the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now - waged what the landlord’s legal defence called “a campaign of harassment”
It reportedly included filming and confronting the landlord at her home, holding placards bearing defamatory statements, blogging and posting abusive statements on social media, threatening her using a loud hailer, approaching her in public, and holding a ‘public meeting’ about her outside Sheffield town hall.
Neighbours received leaflets calling the landlord “dodgy”.
Yet the dispute between the landlord and her tenant - said to be an Acorn member - was over just £300.
Now Living Rent, which call itself “Scotland's tenants' union, fighting for decent and affordable housing for all”, has made its call for a points-based system of rent controls in a consultation initiated by the Scottish Government on future changes to that country’s private rental sector.
The Edinburgh Live website cites Living Rent spokesperson Gloria Dawson as saying: “The [Scottish] government’s failure to address the need for affordable, quality, energy-efficient homes represents a huge missed opportunity to combat the cost-of-living crisis.”
Living Rent claims rents have increased by around 10 per cent in many areas of Scotland in the past year, while it also claims claims over 50 per cent of private rental properties are in need of significant repair.
The activists’ proposals would link rents to housing conditions and not market forces, allied with penalties for landlords who are deemed not to have undertaken adequate repairs or improved energy efficiency.
Edinburgh Live quotes Dawson as saying: “Every day, our members bear the brunt of the housing crisis. With rent continuing to skyrocket despite poor quality housing and stagnant wages, it is clear that our housing system is geared towards landlords, leaving many tenants in a dire financial state.
“This is why we’re asking for affordable, quality, secure homes built on a system of rent controls, and a society where tenants have a say and control over their homes.
“We know the landlord lobby is well funded. We’re sure that they will try hard to ensure that their interests are protected and that they will come out in force to say that the rental sector is well regulated and rather, ask for greater protections for landlords.”
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Deer Actifists
I doo simpathize wif yoor vues bit I hoop wee woont half too wurk four yoor points liake wot sum peeples w thunk wee shood doo four proper muney.
PS. Soary abut thi pure spelin bit I spent to mach efort demanndin thongs fur free instead of att skule.
Yes , ask the councils to provide this , it's one of their main jobs - supposedly
"We know the landlord lobby is well funded' - what LL lobby is this? I'm not aware of anyone lobbying on my behalf let alone achieving any of my aims!
I have just watched a story about young people being forced to move back in with their parents because they can't afford to rent. When will the Govt & Activists realise what they are doing between them? When they have destroyed the PRS where will all the renters live?
Which ever way you look at it, people are demanding that they are given things ! And using emotive and unsubstantiated allegations to enforce it
It's basic communism !
Over 50% of privately rented properties are in need of significant repair! Define "significant repair"
Where do they pluck these figures from?
Our "significantly funded" lobby should be taking these people to task and and asking them to substantiate their claims, quoting their sources of information to stop these wild figures being used as if they were facts.
Totally agree. They can't possibly have this information as there is no register of all rental properties. Nobody has ever checked any of mine (they happen to be all in good repair). I'm not saying there are no properties in need of repair, but Its just a wild guess.
What has ''stagnant'' wages got to do with landlords, we're not a charity
Their own worst enemy.
If it’s so easy to provide a 5 star service for 1 star money, then why aren’t these activists charities using some of the millions of pounds in donations to do just that?
Just about every sentence made by the activist above is either a made up statistic, or factually false. Ultimately, you can have all the bells and whistles you think you need, but they all cost money and will be reflected in rents.
Living Rent, which is calling for the new system of rent controls, is affiliated to Acorn, a group which earlier this month was ordered to pay just under £100,000 in costs and damages to a landlord, to settle a legal case for harassment, defamation and breach of data rights.
Sounds very trustworthy I don’t think , and all that over a 300 quid debt 🤦♀️
The poor and vulnerable should be in social housing and being looked after by the council. The PRS is for people who choose to rent, where they want, in the property of their choosing, paying the market rate of rent. The PRS is not a charity, it is a choice for renters. Like the NHS is for everyone, but private healthcare is a choice.
Agree with everyone above, especially as we all see where this is going. Due to the govt and local authorities NOT providing the social housing which is seriously needed, the poor and down trodden look for anyone to blame..... and who do you think any savvy minded politician is going to hold up as the person /group to blame... the PRS, those nasty, rich, rapacious tory voters whom want to keep their jack boot on your neck........ it is a classic deflection technique, but to be honest, it is serving them well, we are taking the flak for the total disaster that is the housing market. I don't see the housing ministers being hauled over the coals on a regular basis.
We will not win on this one, as LL's we just need to make decisions based on what is best for ourselves and our families, mine is to exit, it is a personal choice alone and others will no doubt stay and it will work out.
Look, I am a reasonable person. I am not a wealthy landlord. Beyond my own home, I have only six properties that I let out at just above the market rate and I'm kind to all my tenants, no matter their race . But with these activists, this has gone beyond madness. Who do these activists think they are?
I'm reminded of how the Irish invented the boycott. The local activists TARGETED the landlord Charles Boycott and refused to work for him and totally excluded him from the community, He was even forced to go back to Britain. If we don't fight back against these activist scroungers it will result in them taking our properties for nothing in addition to being paid paid for DOING nothing! Nothing but scroungers seeking a passive income.. WE refuse to be punctured by the pitchforks of the radical left!!
I agree with Edwin Morris above. It is not just basic communism. It is ADVANCED communism.
My full time job is renting out , and if they cannot understand that , then God Help Them. They are a bunch of free loader hippies who cannot be bothered to buy a house , why do they want my place for free? Jesus was not a socialist.
If these Renters decide to stop paying rent , they have only the affliction of Marx to blame ! Repent !
Completely agree with you all. These Marxist scum are the reason Rome fell. I've had tenants like them before, they banded together like rats and it took years to get them evicted. In the end I had to send in some private security as the courts were useless. They should be blooming well sterilized, and so should their children.
We need to take the fist out of actifist. Only then will we get our money.
Please login to comment