Glasgow renters scammed out of money and evicted as people share horror stories of renting flats
Over 50 people are enquiring about every single available rental property in Glasgow and locals in desperate search for a home tell Glasgow Live the situation is dire.
Renters tell us they have been evicted, scammed out of hundreds of pounds and faced huge rent prices for even a room in a shared house.
The average price of a rental in the city is now an eye watering £1078, according to new figures published by Rightmove and an average 52 people are registering interest in every property. Only Wrexham in Wales has worse conditions for renters, according to the data.
The large Glasgow student population coupled with many landlords selling up is being blamed on the rental crisis, something Eric Allan knows only too well.
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Eric, an engineer, moved to Glasgow from Aberdeen 18 months ago with his partner and have been served eviction notices three times in a year and a half through no fault of their own.
Eric said: "I was so excited to move to Glasgow and secured a job, but getting a flat was incredibly difficult. Every viewing had lots of people and we missed out on lots of good ones. We eventually got an OK place and was then given an eviction notice a few months later as the landlord was selling up.
"We got another place in Govanhill and the exact same thing happened. We had to search again and got somewhere in Pollokshields only to be once again told they were selling up and we had to go. Each time we had to scrape more money together for another deposit as the previous one takes a few weeks to be returned through the Safe Deposits Scotland scheme. And each time the rent was more expensive and the deposit more. It was so stressful to constantly be packing and starting the search all over again."
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Eric and his partner recently split up and now he is staying on a friend's sofa as he cannot afford the high rent and deposit for anywhere on his own and says room shares don't want him as he isn't a student.
"I am 35-years-old and an engineer so I should be able to have my own home but it is just so expensive. I don't see a way out."
Saffron Ig is an international student at Strathclyde University and she fell for a scam while property hunting.
She was desperate to find accommodation after getting her placement last minute and found a page on Facebook offering what appeared to be nice flats in the west end and south side so enquired about one.
She said: "It looked nice and the price was good so I jumped, but the person on Facebook said he had lots of interest and was taking deposits so only the genuinely interested could view.
"He said it was £400 but that would be removed from my first month's rent so I sent it over and then he blocked me. I contacted Police Scotland but they said it was most likely not even someone in Scotland I had sent money to. I was so embarrassed that I fell for it, that was a lot of money for me. I still see these scams now on Facebook, the pictures are always generic and the cost is too low. If it looks too good to be true it probably is."
Veronica Clare is a digital nomad from New York City, she moved to Glasgow three weeks ago and is currently living in a shared Air Bnb while she desperately looks for a rental.
She has also encountered scams as well as high prices and huge competition.
Veronica said: "On paper I should be a great renter - I have a good job, I'm quiet, clean, no pets. But I cannot get a flat at all. I've went to so many viewings and applied for the flats but they go to someone that lives here permanently.
"And it is so expensive, the prices aren't far from New York prices. It is £700-800 for a room in a shared flat with a shared bathroom and way over £1000 for a one bed.
"My current situation isn't good, I thought it was a shared room in a house but actually the landlord rents the rest of house out as an Air Bnb. So there are random people coming and going at all hours and it doesn't feel safe.
"The landlord never leaves and this morning I was woken by him blasting Queen when he knows I have to work all day. The situation is dire. There are just not enough flats and most of the ads I do see are clearly fakers trying to scam people."
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Bianca Lopez, chair of Living Rent Glasgow, a union fighting for affordable rents says action needs to be taken.
Bianca said: "Glasgow’s housing crisis is out of control. Time and time again we see landlords operating with little to no care for tenants wellbeing - be that, evicting them in order to increase the rent, or hiking up the rent beyond what anyone can afford.
"Sadly none of this is new. As rent in Glasgow has skyrocketed over the last decade, tenants have been left completely unsupported and forced to either pay increasingly extortionate prices or leave the city they call home. The dire lack of social housing and shortage of affordable private tenancies is allowing tenants to be exploited by landlords who are out to make a quick buck at the expense of tenants welfare.
"Glasgow City Council could help reduce the shortage of affordable housing by committing to the government’s national planning framework (NPF4), and ensuring that all new developments contain at least 25% affordable housing - but so far they refuse to do so.
"All the evidence points to the hardship that tenants are facing. Rent controls and greater protections for tenants are way overdue. Tenants need rent controls to bring down rents and we need Glasgow City Council to commit to delivering affordable housing."
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