eviction

A planned eviction of of tenants in East London was stopped by people from London Renters Union blocking the doorway for five hours. The landlord and estate agents repeatedly came to the house, and people several times linked arms and blocked the door. Finally the landlord agreed to some breathing space for the tenants, who had nowhere to go, to find a new place.

Most evictions are not resisted, often the landlord does not even get a court order, tenants simply leave. Is it really worth doing eviction resistance, when the tenants will have to move out eventually?

Patrick, a tenant we have been organising with for the past year, is facing homelessness after disgraceful treatment by Brighton Council, who have systematically failed to carry out their most basic duties, leaving Patrick with no protection against eviction by his landlord. For details of the history of this case see here: http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/the-arrogance-continues-and-so-does-our-fight-youngs-dispute-update-25112018

The landlord in our ongoing dispute in support of a tenant, Patrick, whose house was allowed to fall into a serious state of disrepair over a number of years, has served a fresh section 21 eviction notice, after the first one failed in court in early June. In the intervening period, Patrick and Brighton Solidarity Federation attempted again to open a dialogue with the landlord, providing considerable evidence in support of Patrick’s claim for compensation for poor living conditions and work he has undertaken, as well as the possibility of a grant to help fund the much-needed repair works. However, the landlord has been unwilling to enter into negotiations toward a solution, and has instead initiated a second eviction process.

The tenant from our dispute with Youngs estate agency, Patrick, provides an update on the campaign. Patrick began organising with Brighton SolFed in December 2017 for better living conditions and for compensation and reimbursement for work he has undertaken on his flat. Following this, he was served with an eviction notice in late January 2017, in what appears to be a clear example of a revenge eviction by a landlord unwilling to undertake necessary works to bring his property up to a liveable standard.

A 40-strong march to Youngs Estate Agents in Kemptown on Saturday 13th January demonstrated that tenants will not put up with their demands for repairs being ignored. Tenants demanding "Safe Conditions: No Evictions" showed they would continue to fight while the agency and landlord refuse to acknowledge the need for repairs and payment for works carried out.

For the past few weeks Brighton SolFed and friends have been supporting a tenant that got evicted with a week's notice!
The tenant, a Spanish immigrant that doesn't speak English at all, had been living in a sub-letted shared room with an other sub-lettee in deplorable conditions of mold. Solidarity Federation helped mediating with the live-in sub-letter, but they refused any facilitation of eviction and responded by violently scaring the tenant to leave the property. After a huge show of support in front of the landlord's flat - where almost 20 members and friends turned up to help -  temporary accommodation was found for the tenant.

The sub-letter still refuses to open communication with Brighton SolFed, even to retrieve the flat's keys. They haven't acknowledged the physical and psychological abuses. Abuse of poor and vulnerable tenants is not uncommon. We should organise to respond to those abuses!

A lot of housing in the private rented sector is in an appalling state, and it's pretty hard for isolated tenants to get their landlord to make improvements. Here we publish the story of a tenant from a nearby town who contacted us during one of our Brighton housing disputes. It's a horror story in which the lettings agency forces the tenants to pay 6 months rent upfront, dismissing their complaints about unsafe living conditions with mental health slurs before dragging them to court for eviction. The account was written in the hope that it will encourage more tenants to come together to support one another, so we will no longer be isolated in the face of landlords who usually can count to have lettings agencies, lawyers, courts and often even councils on their side.

A solfed member visited Corrala Utopia, a block of flats in Seville squatted by evicted families who have lost their jobs due to the crisis.

As the Spanish government announced a two year halt on evictions in “the most urgent cases” today, following two suicides by people evicted from their homes, more than a hundred people have demonstrated this evening outside the headquarters of the PP.  Rejecting a “whitewash” and calling for a stop on all evictions they occupied various banks, including the Banco de España. Inside the banks people shouted “how many more will you kill?” and “these are not suicides, they are murders”. The government made the announcement following mass anger when a woman in Barakaldo threw herself from her window just before eviction, and a man in Granada was found hanged in his flat when the police came to evict him.  Evictions are running at 500 a day in Spain. 

A woman committed suicide today in Spain when she was about to be evicted by La Caixa bank. The woman, in Barakaldo, near Bilbao, threw herself from the window just before the eviction. There were protests in many places including Barakaldo and Madrid, and banks across the country are tonight wearing slogans such as "murderers" and "guilty". This is the forth suicide linked to evictions in two weeks. 

There are more than 500 evictions a day in Spain and there is a growing anti eviction movement, which mobilises people to blockade houses and physically prevent the evictions from taking place.