A petition calling for expedited court processes for landlord evictions has gathered more than 10,000 signatures in just over two weeks, triggering a mandatory government response.
The petition, posted on the Parliament website, was started by Craig Littlejohn, a landlord in Scotland who is currently owed more than £7,000 in unpaid rent and faces a 12-month wait for his eviction application to be processed by courts in Glasgow.
Petition demands
Littlejohn, who describes himself as an ‘accidental landlord’, rents out a single four-bedroom property in Fife after relocating to Oxfordshire for his work as an RAF serviceman several years ago.
The petition states: “We urgently need an expedited court process for mandatory grounds (ASB/arrears), a vetting database for repeat offenders, and a higher deposit cap to help sustain the rental market.”
Speaking about his motivation for the petition, Littlejohn said: “There are a lot of good landlords out there, and they are giving us no protection at all.” He added that “no-one talks about ‘rogue tenants'” and expressed concern that the Renters’ Rights Act, coming into force in May, is “giving tenants more and more rights”.
Parliamentary threshold
Under Parliament petition rules, any petition reaching 10,000 signatures requires a government response. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will trigger a parliamentary debate on the issue.
The petition highlights ongoing concerns within the buy-to-let sector regarding court processing times for eviction cases and the balance of protections between landlords and tenants in the rental market.
