I’m an organiser for a tenants union. Today we had a picket at a letting agent for two of our members, who are complaining to them about fire safety after their house burnt down due to faulty electrics. The property in question had no working fire alarms, and if our members were present inside when the fire started then they could very well have burnt to death.
You’d assume that under such circumstances the letting agents would be bending over backwards to accommodate the people left effectively homeless due to their failure to ensure their safety, but instead we see the same old greedy compulsion to protect their own bottom line instead. In response to our union’s demands for a full fire safety review, the letting agency responsible are now pursuing a no-fault eviction against our members.
They believe that they can make this issue go away by simply pushing away our members and burying their heads in the sand. We will not let this happen. We will picket them and make the public aware of their disgusting acts for as long as it takes for them to move on this issue. Either that, or we will grind their reputation into dust and see them close their doors for good.
I personally encountered the letting agents and their boss at the the picket in front of their office today. The boss was extremely indignant, outraged that we’d even dare to bring our complaints to his front door. He snarled that the house in question is his property and he’s free to do with it as he likes. He says that tenants get big ideas in their heads about what can or cannot be done with his property just because they live there. I told him that if treating his tenants like human beings causes him so much trouble then maybe he would be better off if he sold his property and got into a different line of business. This incensed him further; “How dare you tell me what to do with my property!” he cried. He went on in this way for some time, before slipping back to the safety of his office.
The electrician for this letting agent also felt the need to harass us at the picket, threatening to smash my colleague’s face in. His aggressiveness betrays how much we’ve managed to get under his skin. Perhaps he has a particular interest in ensuring that our demand of a full safety review of their other properties isn’t met.
What utter scum, I don’t know how you stay rational and civil in those situations so major respect.
Let us know an update when you get one. I want to see this landlord’s life in tatters after this. Have you contacted the local papers?
I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the case as it develops, btw. Hopefully I bring some good news in the days/weeks to come.
Fingers crossed 🤞
Its bad news I’m afraid. They were made homeless.
That’s beyond infuriating to hear 😞 thank you for trying though.
I have an amazing update on this case: We continued to agitate for compensation and have today won our member over £1000, as well as having their deposits returned in full and court proceedings against them stopped. It’s a total victory!
Awwwh that’s amazing!! Congrats that’s so cool!
Thank you for your service comrade 🫡
We have a contact with the local media, but I’m not sure if we’ve blown our load with that yet or if we’re holding onto it for escalation. The member defence leader for this case is running the show.
Yeah fair well good luck!! Rooting for you!
Wow, that landlord is a top-tier scumbag and you have incredible patience for not kicking him in the groin
Yeah we have a fine line to tread unfortunately. On the plus side these responses indicate that our pressure is having an effect. So long as we keep this up, we can win.
I wish you all the best
If you like, I can curse your landlord for you.
If by “curse” you mean posting some dogshit through their letterbox then please do.
I was thinking more along the lines of Voodoo, but your idea is also good.
Next time rather than picketing in front, y’all should bumrush the place and occupy it. Throwin hands if necessary; more landlords need a good A-town stomping.
We’re a legal organisation, so we can’t resort to violent tactics. We’ve done occupation actions in the past, but we haven’t done something like that in a long time. I suppose the regional organisers don’t want to test the new laws on this issue in case we inadvertently tip our hand to the letting agents.
Valid reason to not, if vaguely disappointing. Given the existence of new laws y’all be under, it makes more sense to play the wait-and-see
Typically speaking, in my experience the law is more of a formality most of the time anyway with these people. We’ve had all the paperwork on hand for illegal evictions in the past, just for the police to sweep it aside and facilitate the eviction all the same.
