Tenants live in fear of rogue landlords

Jul 7 2011 by Jeff Holmes, Paisley Daily Express

PRIVATE tenants are scared to make a complaint against their landlords, a report has revealed.

A poll carried out on behalf of Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity, showed that two thirds of people in Renfrewshire want to see tenants receive greater protection from bad landlords.

The YouGov survey shows that over the last 10 years around 40,000 private renters in Scotland have experienced problems with landlords, with 16,000 people insisting that despite raising a problem with their landlord, nothing was done about it.

And around 3,000 said they were so afraid of the consequences of making a complaint against their landlord, they did nothing.

The chronic shortage of social housing and the effects of long-term increases in house prices have seen the private rented sector grow to more than 250,000 tenancies across Scotland.

Shelter Scotland insisted politicians must do more to make sure that existing laws contained in the Private Rented Sector Act are better enforced.

This, in turn, would benefit both tenants and responsible landlords while rooting out rogue landlords and bad practice.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland said: “People across Renfrewshire shouldn’t have to suffer from the bad practices of a few rogue landlords.

“Legislation exists that would help create a bond of trust between landlord and tenant, but it is not being enforced across Scotland.

“Instead, we still have an environment where rogue landlords thrive and vulnerable tenants are exploited.

“That two thirds of people in Scotland have called for better protection from bad landlords is a big wake-up call and politicians need to act urgently.”