A single mum and her child could be made homeless just days before Christmas after being slapped with a £200 per month rent increase. Jemma Maclaren, 43, was told to move out of her Glasgow home of nine years by December 17, after challenging the rent hike imposed by landlord Kelvin Property.
The mum-of-one has been left "terrified" after learning her digs will be increasing from £695 to £895 per month - a surge of 29 per cent. It comes as thousands of Scots across the country continue to feel the squeeze of the cost of living crisis.
Jemma is desperate not to let the life-changing situation affect her 12-year-old daughter, who will have to move home and school. And she admitted that "Christmas is cancelled" for her family this year.
Jemma said: “I am terrified. This rent increase and eviction notice means I am not able to plan anything, and with the cost of living crisis, everything is hitting me at once.
"I am trying to keep it together for my daughter so she does not get anxious and worried about having to leave her school and her friends.
"Christmas is cancelled this year for us and I am dreading it. This is not what life in your forties is meant to be like.”
Jemma has lived in her Partick home with her daughter for almost a decade and over that time has paid landlords Kevin Properties £70,000 in rent. Her eviction date of December 17, is said to take into account time for periods for a notice to quit and an eviction notice.
Her plight was picked up by Living Rent, who staged a protest outside the landlords' Charing Cross office as they handed over the 'biggest rent hike of the month award' to the letting firm. The union has demanded the landlord to axe the rent increase and withdraw the notice to quit immediately.
Member defence representative, Lewis Kinney, said: “Jemma’s story shows exactly why we in Living Rent do what we do, callous landlords hiking up rents and threatening to put people on the street at Christmas. Similar situations are happening all over Scotland, and it is all the more shameful given the cost of living crisis and the fact that ordinary people are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes.
"We need to resist this appalling behaviour by standing together, and we urgently need the Scottish Government to do the responsible thing and freeze rents.”
In June, we told how tenants across Scotland were forced to move out of their homes after they were hit by soaring rent increases of up to 36 per cent. Those renting private property in Glasgow and Edinburgh told how they have had no choice but to pack up and leave as they could not keep up with the rocketing rates.
When contacted by Living Rent, a spokesperson for Kelvin Properties said: "Whilst [we] appreciate Jemma's circumstances and we have over the time of her tenancy agreed and negotiated the rent increase, as a landlord we now also find ourselves experiencing a sharp increase in costs. With a large hike in all management fees across the board including factoring, insurance, maintenance, materials etc. This increase is in no way meant to function as an 'eviction notice'; it simply functions to bring it in line with market rent value for this area.”
A spokesperson for Kelvin Properties said: "The rental increase simply brings Ms Maclaren’s rent in line with the open market rents for the location. Tenants have the opportunity to contact the Housing and Property Chamber and can apply to the tribunal for a determination of what the rent should be if they think their rent is too high.
"To work out the open market rental value we look at what rents comparable properties are being marketed at, and advice from local agents. Regrettably as a business we are not in a position to absorb the cost of the increase in management costs, factoring, insurance premiums and maintenance costs for this property without a rental increase being forthcoming.
"Ms Maclaren did not apply the Tribunal for a determination and advised she was unable to afford the increase and indicated that she was unhappy with her neighbours. We therefore have followed procedure and issued Ms Maclaren with Notice to bring her tenancy to an end."
A Scottish Government spokesperson added: "The Scottish Government recognises the enormous pressures that many households are facing right now and that includes instances where people are faced with big rises in rents. For tenants with a private residential tenancy, there are strict legal processes a private sector landlord must follow to increase rent, including only being able to raise once a year and providing three months’ notice, and tenants have rights to challenge any unfair rises.
"Many tenants have used those rights and we are committed to making sure that all tenants know how to use them. For evictions, landlords can only take action for specific reasons and following a specific process and we have recently strengthened the law to give tenants more protection against eviction.
“Just this week we published responses to our New Deal for Tenants proposals which show how much interest there is in delivering improvements for tenants including robust rent controls giving long-lasting benefit to tenants.”
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