LIVING Rent tenants’ union has revealed it has secured around £45,000 in rent reductions across the city after one of the most challenging years ever for the housing campaigners.

In March, the group made the decision to limit its face-to-face campaigning activities, which would have ordinarily included pickets, protests and street stalls to engage with members of the public.

One of Living Rent’s first actions throughout the pandemic was to call for a payment holiday for renters by starting a petition and calling on Housing Minister Kevin Stewart to implement a pause on all evictions throughout the pandemic and to grant renters who were affected by coronavirus a rent holiday and pause rent collections.

While there has not been a full eviction ban, Living Rent’s campaigning and advocacy helped lead to a decision by the Scottish Government to extend the period of time a tenant is allowed to be in arrears before a landlord could begin proceedings to evict them from three months to six months.

The campaign group has also advocated for payment reductions on behalf of individual tenants across the city, amounting to almost £45,000.

The Housing Tribunal, where landlords could apply to evict people, would also be closed until further notice.

While this was not the full eviction ban that Living Rent called for, it believes it was a step in the right ­direction.

In May, the campaigners wrote to Mr Stewart, urging him to introduce communal close cleaning rules following concerns that rigorous schedules were not being kept after providing a dossier of evidence.

Following mounting pressure to announce guidelines, the Scottish Government released “Coronavirus (Covid-19): cleaning and hygiene advice for multi-storeys and high-density flats” on May 26.

This set out the need for robust cleaning regimes and the critical importance of maintaining social distance.

As well as that, Living Rent has also stepped in to help tenants facing issues with their landlords.

In August, Dennistoun tenant Brendan Fitzpatrick won £3000 in compensation from his landlord after he had issues with hot water at his rented property in Dennistoun. Brendan discovered his hot water was being heated by a £200 heater that could be bought from Screw Fix and was not intended for use in kitchens or baths.

After contacting Living Rent, the issue was then solved through communication with his letting agent, Countrywide which acted on behalf of the landlord for the flat.

They agreed to install a boiler, but just weeks later, Brendan was served with a notice to quit.

Due to the disruption Brendan faced and with the assistance of Living Rent, they pushed for compensation of which he was ultimately awarded £3300.

Brendan’s landlord was approached for comment but she declined, however a spokeswoman from Countrywide Letting agents said: “Countrywide take instruction directly from the client (landlord).

“As an agent, we do not have the authority to serve any notice without the landlords express instruction.

“We take these matters very seriously and as such have instructed our team to fully investigate the points raised.”

Brendan said: “It was like a full time job, it was constantly back and forth with them trying to plead, argue and fight just to get hot water.”

A spokesperson for Living Rent said: Countrywide were stalling and stalling and would do anything not to have to pay for the repair.

“Eventually through persistence and threatening legal action they finally accepted the repair. It takes a certain level of cruelty to evict someone from their home during a pandemic.”

Campaigning by Living Rent also played a part in bringing about a winter eviction ban from December 11, 2020 to January 22, 2021. The Scottish Government Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “We took early action to, in effect, halt eviction action until March 2021 due to the pandemic.

“We have supported tenants throughout this difficult period through a number of actions including increasing our Discretionary Housing Fund from £11 million to £19m to provide additional housing support and shortly we will introduce our Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

“We are now taking this additional, temporary step after carefully assessing the unique housing situation created by the pandemic.

“A temporary ban on carrying out evictions will give additional peace of mind to tenants over Christmas and into the new year. It will also prevent additional burdens being placed on health and housing services, during a time where they are already working hard due to the impact of the pandemic.

“It will allow tenants who are facing eviction, and may decide to take the opportunity to form extended bubbles over the festive period in line with relaxed guidance, time to effectively self-isolate afterwards should they come into contact with a positive person.

“Where there is evidence of serious anti-social or criminal behaviour, including in cases of domestic abuse, evictions can still proceed as normal.”