Activists from a range of causes have signed an open letter telling a council to clamp down further on so-called rogue landlords.
The Living Rent activist group has coordinated the letter, collecting signatories from 20 organisations as a protest to Edinburgh council.
Part of the open letter reads: “Edinburgh’s landlords are benefitting from a lack of oversight from the council and the most vulnerable people in the city are being hit hard by the consequences.
“The council already has the power to hold to account landlords that violate the laws. Despite this, it routinely fails to impose meaningful consequences on even the worst offenders.
“As a result, many of our members have been left to defend themselves against disrepair, safety hazards, threats and illegal eviction, all while their rents continue to skyrocket.”
The demand comes despite landlords being more strictly regulated in Scotland than in England, before the Renters Rights Act measures come into effect in May.
In the open letter, Florence Oulds of the Scottish Trans organisation says: “Trans people are often excluded from renting or kicked out of our homes because of who we are. We need clear standards on things like proof of identity, and easier ways for housing discrimination to be dealt with.”
And Teresa Sutherland of the Community Help and Advice Initiative says: “We have come across many cases where private renters are forced to live with serious disrepair while landlords refuse to take responsibility and in some instances even harass or threaten their tenants. Everyone deserves a safe home.”
The activists are making a series of demands:
1. Funding and resourcing
“Properly resource the Private Rented Sector (PRS) enforcement team so that the council is able to clamp down on landlords who break the rules.”
2. Transparency and accountability
“Ensure transparency of the council’s PRS enforcement work, including capturing and reporting information on complaints, enforcement activity, and how they apply the ‘fit and proper person’ test to landlord registration.”
3. Proactive enforcement
“Use their existing powers, including those that are statutory duties, to support tenants and tackle rogue landlords. They must also strengthen the due diligence checks that they conduct for landlord registration and ensure tenants are able to access support.”
4. Don’t punish tenants for landlords’ failures “Ensure tenants are protected from retaliatory evictions or other adverse impacts in cases where enforcement action has been taken against their landlords, such as being struck off the register.”
5. Council procurement “The council should not be handing lucrative contracts for housing to landlords that have relevant criminal or tribunal convictions – due diligence must be applied transparently and rigorously.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today