Haringey housing campaigners to stage inspection of local Letting Agents

We demand: Bring rents down – stop discrimination and fees – bring back security of tenure
We believe:  Everyone is entitled to a decent, secure, affordable, local home

Join us for a return of the Community Housing Inspectors

We will once again be taking to the streets of Haringey to inspect local Letting Agents as part of a Day of Action across London.

Saturday 27th April, assemble at 12 noon outside Turnpike Lane tube station

Six months ago, on 6th October 2012, local housing campaigners  became ‘Community Housing Inspectors’ to investigate our local letting agents and uncover the unwelcome practices they are engaged in. See video report: http://haringeyhousingaction.org.uk/community-housing-inspectors-demonstration-video/ Next Saturday we are carrying out further inspections to find out if any of our demands for changes have occurred.  Where they have not, we are providing a ‘Cease and Desist Order’* to those Letting Agents found to be engaging with such greedy and anti-social behaviour.  The ‘Cease and Desist Order’ will only be revoked if they put an end to such practices.

Some of the unwelcome practices include:

  • Discriminating against housing benefit claimants
  • Extortionate charges to prospective and existing tenants
  • Encouraging short term tenancies to maximise renewal fees
  • Inflating rents

It should be noted that until 1988 most private tenancies were secure / long term and rents were capped by law at affordable levels. Fees are categorised as extortion and outlawed in Scotland. Discrimination against benefit claimants should be illegal under Equalities legislation. If you’’ve had enough of such dodgy behaviour, come along.

Bring hi-vis vests, clipboards and pens if you want to take part in the inspection or just come along to support others and let everyone else know what we’re doing. We will have leaflets to hand out with demands (see below) on.

Over 20,000 households in Haringey rent their homes from private landlords, and about half of these are claiming housing benefit.  The greedy and discriminatory practices of letting agents are a huge problem for Haringey as well as London as a whole. Other actions are taking place on the same day in other parts of London including in Islington/Hackney, Brixton and Herne Hill, so if you are located closer to them you may want to check out their plans at www.letdownblog.wordpress.com

Our demands:

 

  • Bring rents down In a recent report, one in five landlords had increased their rents because their letting agent had encouraged them to.  This was five times as many who had done so because of increased mortgage costs.
  • No discrimination against people on housing benefit
  • Remove all fees for tenants Agency ‘fees’, reference ‘‘checks’, admin ‘‘fees’’, leaving ‘‘fees’’ are all costs that have been created over the past few years by and for Letting Agents, to increase their profits and exploit the basic need of tenants to find a home
  • Longer and more secure tenancies

Tweet your support!
@haringeyhousing
#letdownrenters

Organised by Haringey Community Housing Inspectors (members of Haringey Housing Action Group & Haringey Private Tenants)
haringeyprivatetenants@gmail.com
housingaction@haringey.org.uk
www.haringeyhousingaction.org.uk

* “A cease and desist order is an order or request to halt an activity (cease) and not to take it up again later (desist) or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organisation.” [Wikipedia]  

April 22, 2013  Tags: , ,   Posted in: HHAG ACTIONS, NEWS