It shouldn’t surprise us that Reform aren’t concerned with renter’s rights, given that the party’s leader Farage opposed the Renters’ Rights Bill.
A Reform UK councillor has been criticised for the ‘heartless’ and ‘ruthless’ manner in which he evicted a mother and her sons from one of the properties he owned, after her mental health deteriorated and she fell into rent arrears.
David McLennan, who owned seventeen properties, was described as being only motivated by money when he took the decision to turf the family out of their home.
McLennan became Reform’s first elected councillor in Scotland after he won the Whitburn and Blackburn by-election last month. The Daily Record reports that he has spoken of the “fundamental right of the landlord” to “regain possession of his or her property”.
It adds: “In 2021, a housing tribunal granted an application he made for an eviction order against a mum after he wanted to sell the property in Armadale. Speaking to the Record, she said of the eviction: “I felt it was all about money. Things started to go wrong when I was signed off my work due to my mental health and I got into rent arrears. His attitude kind of changed.”
She said: “I just felt he was quite heartless and quite ruthless the way he went about it.” She said she was “gutted” to leave: “We had eight weeks to find somewhere else. It was really stressful. My mental health took a complete nosedive.”
The mum also accused McLennan of not being concerned by the damp affecting the property which was having an effect on the family, saying that all she was given was a ‘dehumidifier’.
It shouldn’t surprise us that Reform aren’t concerned with renter’s rights, given that the party’s leader Farage opposed the Renters’ Rights Bill.
McLennan has denied any wrongdoing saying that he served Notice on the tenant as he wanted to sell the house and claimed that she approached him and said that the only way she could get a Council house was if she were evicted.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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