Housing advice service flooded by tenants’ calls
HOUSING campaigners have said they are struggling to keep up with Glasgow tenants’ calls for help.
With more than 500 tenants in the city having approached Living Rent in its first six months, the volume of cases they have heard has bolstered their the group’s belief a tenants union is needed now more than ever.
The official launch of Living Rent was held today with Craig Paterson, a member of the aspiring union saying: “At the moment we have spoken to more than 500 people.
“That’s from people who have approached us on the street or contacted us through social media.
“We have so much coming in we are almost can’t keep up with it.
“To us at Living Rent this shows the extreme need for a union that supports the rights of tenants who are subject to the wrong-doings of private and social landlords.
“With 54 per cent of the city’s population now renting I would challenge anyone to say they don’t know of someone who has not heard of someone who has had an issue with a landlord.”
The housing campaigners formed six months ago and launched their plans to become an official union supporting the rights of tenants two weeks after the Grenfell Tower disaster in London which claimed dozens of lives.
Recently the campaigners also made calls for the city’s 327,000 tenants to take a stand after it was revealed average rent prices reached an alltime high of £755 a month.
Craig added: “No one is there to call out a private landlord or housing association when and if they step out of line and we’re here to help ordinary people with cases that can be quite daunting.
“We urge anybody who has issues about their tenancy to come forward and speak to us – no matter how big or small the matter is.”