Campaign group hands out ‘street justice’ to landlords
Activists in Edinburgh stage mock trials of landlords in bid to put pressure on council to crack down on rogue operators who they claim can act with impunity.
Campaigning group Living Rent has set up a mock ‘courtroom’ on a busy Edinburgh street to highlight the local council’s failure to take enforcement action against ‘cowboy’ landlords.
Some 20 members of the group took turns playing landlords, town sheriff and jury on Leith Walk as they read out findings from the Scottish Housing Tribunal against landlords who escaped punishment from the council.
Members of the public were also invited to share their own experiences, with one tenant describing how they had been left homeless after fleeing a property where her landlord repeatedly showed up unannounced, demanding rent increases.
Like the wild west
Georgia Dodsworth, Living Rent Leith chair, says: “These cowboy landlords have been allowed to get away with treating their tenants poorly for too long, and many people feel like it is the wild west with a lack of meaningful regulation and enforcement.”
The group claims Edinburgh Council has issued fewer than 50 rent penalty notices, despite thousands of ‘criminal landlords’ operating illegally in the city.
Living Rent also accuses the council of awarding an £8 million contract to a convicted landlord. It was given to William Lennie, despite him being convicted in 2010 of letting unregistered properties.
Edinburgh Council routinely fail to take action against rogue landlords who operate in this city.”
April Gillespie, a Living Rent member, told Deadline News: “Edinburgh Council routinely fail to take action against rogue landlords who operate in this city.”
Dodsworth adds that the “Council appears to lack either the resources or the enthusiasm to stand up to these rogue landlords and fulfil their duty to tens of thousands of tenants across the city.”
Edinburgh has one of the largest proportions of private rented homes in Scotland at 23% (avge. 13%) and was the first city to declare a housing emergency (2023).
In August, the council’s Regulatory Committee agreed to increase its scrutiny of enforcement activities against landlords who are operating illegally.
Pic: Living Rent
