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james73 · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject:

New powers to crack down on slum landlords (Evening Times)

COUNCILS will get new powers to tackle slum landlords early next year
after ministers were moved by the desperate state of homes in Glasgow's
South Side.

Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell has decided to reinforce the abilities
of councils - including Glasgow - to take over slum properties run by rogue
landlords, allowing the regeneration of communities such as Govanhill.

Campaigners, including Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell,
welcomed the news.

It comes after the Evening Times exposed the appalling conditions of
properties in Govanhill and backed calls for new laws to rid the city of its
slums.

Mr Purcell, who visited the area last week, had warned delays in
introducing the new powers were allowing houses to deteriorate further.

Last month Mr Maxwell saw some of the horrific conditions faced by
families in tenement flats when he visited the area.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

escotregen · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:29 pm Post subject:

Scottish Government's announcement on this is at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/07/02102754

But it's worth noting that the Scottish Government's current consultation paper on homelessness is at the same time calling for private landlords to play a much larger role.

Meantime, I have 'become aware' of an ongoing investigation in Glasgow into one of the larger private landlord companies. I've been asked not to disclose any names or details as this could affect the investigation; but I am able to say that this company focuses almost entirely on asylum seekers and migrant workers.

Seems to be some big contradictions between proposed policy and actual real-life experience going on here?
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We're no supposed to talk about that.

james73 · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject:

Banned . . . Slum landlord put out of business (Evening Times)

A SLUM landlord exposed by the Evening Times has become one of the first
people in Scotland to be banned from renting out property.

Mohammed Aslam was the subject of a string of complaints over dozens of
rundown properties he rented, many in the Govanhill area in the South Side
of Glasgow.

And today locals were celebrating as the man with the reputation for being
among the worst owners in the area was told he was out of business.

Glasgow City Council is among the first to fully exploit powers under
anti-social behaviour legislation, barring an applicant from the Private
Landlords' Register.

Anyone who is not registered cannot legally operate as a commercial
landlord.

And that means, barring any appeal against the decision, Mr Aslam is no
longer able to rent out his dozens of properties for profit.

He now faces the choice of selling up or sitting on a property portfolio that
can't offer him an income.

The city council's homeless unit is prepared to support any family who
has difficulty finding another home. Many are large Roma families.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

james73 · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject:

Do gangmasters still operate on the streets of Govanhill? (Evening Times)

RESIDENTS in Govanhill want the Government to investigate after the Evening
Times exposed how immigrants are being exploited by gangmasters.

The gangmasters are linked to slum landlords and organised crime, it was
claimed today. Local people are also concerned about race relations because
of the large migrant population in the area.

A petition seeking urgent help has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament
and will be discussed by MSPs next month.

A source at HM Revenue and Customs told the Evening Times: "We can
confirm there are continuing investigations into gangmasters operating in
Glasgow." A university study also backed that up and another report said
the ringleaders were armed.

A separate source said: "You would have to be blind not to see migrants
regularly being picked up by them in vans at street corners"

However, police told the Evening Times they had "no intelligence" about
them.
__________________________________

City warned over slum landlords

MIKE DAILLY, of Govan Law Centre, is warning the type of slum landlord
operating in Govanhill could soon be active in other parts of the city.

He said they target vacant properties in areas going into decline and buy
them up.

"These unscrupulous figures are making millions out of exploiting vulnerable
people," he said.

"Unless strategic action is taken, they will create all sorts of problems.

"These people are not just preying on migrant workers, they're
destroying our communities."

Mr Dailly said a possible solution was for the city council, working with
housing associations, to buy vacant properties and take them into social
ownership.

"They can then be sold through the Government's shared equity scheme
to first-time buyers," he said.

Govanhill Housing Association say additional funding is necessary to
tackle the scale of the private housing stock problem "which is directly
responsible for public health and safety hazards, overcrowding and
worrying social and racial tensions".

Mr Dailly also suggested setting up an employment agency to help put
illegal gangmasters out of business.

"A not-for-profit agency would undercut others in that line of business and
put cash in the workers' pockets.

"We need the Government to acknowledge the problems we have in
Govanhill because there's no other place in Scotland which has them."

__________________________________

First to face letting ban

SLUM landlord Mohammed Aslam became one of the first people in
Scotland banned from renting out property after he was exposed by the
Evening Times.

There were a string of complaints about dozens of rundown properties he
rented, many of them in Govanhill.

One of the worst cases was a flat in Allison Street. The property, which
housed four adults and seven children, was infested with cockroaches and
there was a cooker next to the toilet.

Floors were riddled with holes and electrical junction boxes with exposed
wires dangled from the walls.

As well as the closure of the Allison Street slum, the dossier against Aslam
included two improvement notices and two prohibition orders served on
gas appliances in his flats, council tax debts, believed to run to tens of
thousands of pounds, and a criminal record.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

james73 · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:52 pm Post subject:

‘Govanhill’s a breeding ground for exploitation, crime, poor health ... and cockroaches’ (Evening Times)

SLUM housing in Govanhill has led to the area becoming a "breeding ground"
for crime, exploitation, poor health and education and cockroaches.

The shocking claim was made today as the local housing association
pleaded for Government help.

MSPs were told 750 houses in the area are "below tolerable standard".

A study commissioned by the association discovered 131 flats in the area
bounded by Westmoreland Street, Dixon Avenue, Langside Road and Allison
Street - dubbed Ground Zero' by residents - needed comprehensive
improvement.

Tenants in one tenement in Langside Road had to be evacuated from their
flats last week after parts of the ground floor started to collapse into the
basement.

The association, which was today giving its evidence to Holyrood's Public
Petitions Committee, claims many of the substandard properties are
owned by slum landlords.

Its report warns of an "underlying problem of severe overcrowding".

"It is this problem which creates the severe dangers to public health, fire
risks, anti-social behaviour and race relations conflicts," it says.

The association also warned MSPs that it is worried about exploitation by
rogue landlords linked to gangmasters.

As already reported in the Evening Times, HM Revenue and Customs
confirmed there are continuing investigations into gangmasters operating
in the city.

Mainly affected are around 2000 EU migrants, mostly Roma, from Eastern
Europe, and the association says there's a lack of Government support
for them.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

cybers · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:

From that photograph of the back courts...
Am i wrong in suggesting or thinking this is a council cleansing dept problem or whatever it is they are calling themselves these days...
Enviromental landscape services ?

Surely they still employ backcourt men.
Someone needs their erse booted. Whilst the residents are obviously the manky mob who need re-educated in their habits.

I was also wondering WTF happened to the bins...

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MY FLICKR

wee minx · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject:

I was there about three weeks ago taking photos....I used to live round that way in a bedsit, the place is a tip now..I was gob smacked. I took lots of photos..but decided not to post them...all a bit too political there just now...and BTW..what a culture shock

I was stopped 4 times and asked what I was doing.

...I wouldn't recommend it to any one...not quite the same as wandering around Glasgow city centre.
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Am a Wee Glasgow Bissom ye know! :)

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

cybers · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:52 pm Post subject:

I too had a bedsit round there many moons ago when i was but a poor student in Daisy Street (I Took Pelters for that)

I have to work round there frequently and its amazing the transformation in the place...
Ghetto-Fabulous...
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MY FLICKR

james73 · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject:

Govanhill flats 'are not fit for a dog' (Evening Times)

GOVANHILL is being turned into a ghetto with conditions in some flats "not fit
for a dog", MSPs were told.

The claims by the local housing association, shocked the Holyrood Petitions
Committee.

Association director Anne Lear told them: "We now have mass overcrowding
in the tenements and poverty we have not seen since the 1960s in the
Gorbals - and I am not exaggerating."

She said the local population had soared from 10,000 to as many as
16,000 people over the last three years because of immigration, mainly
of Slovakian Roma people.

The result, she said, was the creation of a ghetto in an area that already
had:

● The highest drug overdose presentation to local hospitals in south east
Glasgow.
● The highest level of wife-battering and the second highest number of
alcoholics in the south east area.
● The highest level of serious crime in the city.

Ms Lear said the addition of at least another 4000 migrants who had "their
own issues in terms of not being employable, not understanding their
rights, living in overcrowded conditions and being used by unscrupulous
landlords and gangmasters" caused problems for the entire community.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...

james73 · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:

Landlord's slum flats seized (Evening Times)

SLUM landlord Mohammed Aslam has had assets seized over a six-figure bill
from the council.

Earlier this year, the Evening Times exposed disgraceful conditions at
flats rented out by the businessman who owns dozens of properties in
Govanhill and across the city.

Now all of his flats have been sequestrated after Glasgow City Council
successfully sued him for council tax and other arrears totalling more
than £116,000.

He could even lose his own luxury home if he fails to pay.

Mr Aslam defended the action at Glasgow Sheriff Court saying he was not
liable for council tax payments.

But he also faced major bills for his share of emergency repair work at a
number of closes where he operated flats.

He owed business rates of more than £16,000 on properties including
office space, and a sheriff ruled he was in fact liable for the unpaid council
tax.

Mr Aslam's entire estate has been placed in trust under the control of
sequestrators Tenon Scotland, of Blythswood Square.

James H
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Happiness ain't at the end of the road - Happiness *IS* the road...