Three Capital residents a day are threatened with eviction

MORE than three Edinburgh residents a day are being threatened with eviction from their council or housing association home, new figures have revealed.

A study by charity Shelter found that a total of 930 court actions had been raised in Edinburgh in the past year, with 526 being granted, mostly because of rent arrears. Fewer than 50 council residents ultimately lost their homes, although the figure for housing association tenants is unknown.

Shelter used the report to demand social landlords "root out" avoidable evictions.

It also highlighted Midlothian, where the number of people who were either evicted or abandoned their home was almost triple the Scottish average – 22.1 per cent of all social lettings, compared to the country's 7.8 per cent.

Statistics for West Lothian and Edinburgh of 12.8 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively were also above the average, with East Lothian falling below at 3.3 per cent.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said the report made "sobering reading" and called for an end to "Dickensian measures" of dealing with rent arrears.

However, councillor Paul Edie, housing leader for Edinburgh council, hit back at the charity.

He said: "The vast majority of Edinburgh properties referred to in this report are abandoned. Evictions have occurred to less than half a per cent of all our tenants in the last year.

"The council's approach is to use eviction action as a last resort. We have been working hard to reduce tenant rent arrears in Edinburgh, which are now down by 50 per cent on five years ago."

He said that from April 1 last year to March this year, there were only 46 evictions from Edinburgh council houses. There were 77 in West Lothian, 60 in Midlothian and 15 in East Lothian.

The research also found that housing associations evicted 1484 residents in Scotland over the same period. However, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) disputed the charity's findings, stressing that the total number of actual evictions by housing associations – as opposed to tenant abandonment – was only 931.

Andrew Field, deputy chief executive of SFHA, said: "Eviction is only ever a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted."

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
• 930 court actions were raised in Edinburgh from April 2007 to March 2008 – 526 of these were granted.

• There were ultimately 46 council evictions in Edinburgh, 77 in West Lothian, 60 in Midlothian, and 15 in East Lothian.

• 931 residents across Scotland were evicted by a housing association over the same period while Scotland's local authorities evicted 2089.