Over 20 groups in Edinburgh have signed an open letter calling for the council to get tougher with rogue landlords.<\/p>\n
The letter was sent to the City of Edinburgh Council leader Jane Meagher by the Leith branch of Living Rent, a Scottish tenants\u2019 union that campaigns for tenant rights.<\/p>\n
Eleanor Sanders White, Living Rent Leith campaign officer, said: \u201cWe have heard so many heartbreaking stories from people across the city, barely able to keep their heads above water, and being forced to live in slum-like conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have found tenants facing illegal rent increases, living in states of chronic disrepair,\u00a0mould\u00a0and damp, threatened by their landlords, having their privacy invaded, and being illegally evicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone should have a safe, warm and affordable home, yet many do not, and the council is failing to do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
They claim that since 2017 the council has only referred two out of 3,600 complaints to the procurator fiscal, a public prosecutor in Scotland.<\/p>\n
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Unions that signed the letter include Unite, UCU, and EIS charities, including Shelter Scotland, Scottish Trans, and the Community One Stop Shop community groups, like the Leith Links and Southside Community Councils and St James\u2019 Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n
Eleanor Sanders White added: \u201cEdinburgh Council already has a range of enforcement powers that they could be using to crack down on landlords who break the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could be protecting\u00a0tenants, and\u00a0also generate money for the council to do more, yet this routinely\u00a0fails to\u00a0happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most vulnerable tenants are suffering due to this lack of enforcement and\u00a0regulation;\u00a0it is their health and wellbeing that is taking a beating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impacts of this are being seen across the third sector, which is why today so many different organisations have signed our open letter calling on the council to use their powers and act.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop letting rogue landlords off the hook.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 20 groups in Edinburgh have signed an open letter calling for the council to get tougher with rogue landlords. The letter was sent to the City of Edinburgh Council leader Jane Meagher by the Leith branch of Living Rent, a Scottish tenants\u2019 union that campaigns for tenant rights. Eleanor Sanders White, Living Rent Leith […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n