ACORN Campaign

stgeorge&redfieldvoice January, 2019

ACORN concludes campaign

Tenant’s union ACORN has concluded its campaign against two property rental companies, having branded the exercise a success.

The group collected agreed and signed commitments from Liv N Let and Lets Rent after a period of positive negotiations with the companies.

The group is satisfied that the following demands have been met:

• Outstanding repairs to members’ properties have been completed or have commenced

• Inventories are being issued to new tenants managed by the companies as standard

• The timeframes for repairs laid out in the ‘West of England – Code of Good Management Practice’ are adhered to

• A commitment to said timeframes is advertised on the

companies’ websites and given to new tenants as part of their tenancy agreement pack

• Agreed to proportionately compensate ACORN members whose repairs have not been addressed within above specified timeframe.

As well as this, a new system for reporting and acting on repairs has also been implemented and the company director has discussed further changes being made to business practice to improve efficiency and the tenant experience.

“We welcome these developments and trust that such practice will continue,” said a representative of ACORN.

“Thanks to everybody who

contributed to the campaign, a successful start for the BS5 local group.”

ACORN has also been continuing its city-wide campaign revolving around the controversial Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory development. The site’s developers claim that they are unable to provide any affordable housing at the site – let alone reach the council’s target of 40% per development. The group held a ‘Carols for Affordable Housing’ event on the 19 December in which the Easton Choir sang and speeches were made in a bid to pressure the developers to include social and affordable housing at the site.

The group has also taken part

in a national day of action on 24 November against NatWest over a clause in the company’s buy-tolet mortgages which means it can deny mortgages to landlords who rent to tenants on social security benefits. The bank has said that it is currently reviewing its policy and is consulting organisations such as Shelter over it.

The BS5 group is now looking to run another local campaign in February and plan to go door knocking to gather information from residents about what it can tackle next.

If you are interested in finding out more about ACORN, then visit: www.acorntheunion.org. uk/join