"Ban rent arrears evictions under £1,000": Brown
18 Mar 08
Legal Services Agency lawyer highlights "massive social cost" of avoidable cases
A leading Glasgow housing lawyer is calling for an end to eviction cases for rent arrears unless these exceed £1,000.
Paul Brown, principal solicitor with Legal Services Agency, is to state his case at a conference of the Scottish Association of Law Centres in Glasgow tomorrow.
Mr Brown claims that most tenants who get into difficulties are honest people with a combination of problems, and are often ignorant of possible defences such as disrepair, or delay in obtaining housing benefit. Many fail to seek, or are unable to obtain, legal advice before their cases come to court.
He is also critical of the lack of information on the number of cases going through the courts, as the latest figures are some years out of date, and of landlords for resorting to eviction rather than communicating constructively with tenants to manage arrears.
Eviction decrees should only be granted if the court considers it "reasonable", but many cases go through in a couple of minutes.
The conference, at St Stephen's Church Centre, Renfield Street, will consider possible reforms to put before the current Civil Court Review under the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill.