A-Infos (en) Britain, Brighton Solidarity Federation extends its campaign against Youngs to Halls Estate Agency

Brighton Solidarity Federation has escalated its campaign against Youngs estate agency, 
after a landlord they represent refused to enter into negotiations regarding a revenge 
eviction of a tenant, Patrick, who requested repair works to his seriously dilapidated 
flat. ---- The campaign began in December 2017, when Brighton SolFed supported Patrick to 
write to Youngs to request that outstanding repair works on his flat were completed. In 
January 2018, Patrick received an eviction notice from the landlord. Following lively 
public opposition to this, Patrick and Brighton SolFed then attempted to open negotiations 
with the landlord and Youngs regarding both the eviction and the disrepair issues, though 
neither party has engaged productively in these. Consequently, we have escalated our 
campaign to include the landlord of Youngs' office, which is another estate agency in the 
city called Halls. We are demanding that Halls evict Youngs - who have attempted to incite 
public harassment of Patrick - from their office in Kemptown, and if they won't, we are 
demanding that they ensure that Youngs pay the £5,500 that Patrick is owed in compensation 
for uninhabitable accommodation and remuneration for work undertaken.

Following the refusal of Youngs and the landlord, Stephen Mitchell, to enter into 
negotiations regarding these problems, we wrote to Halls on 16th April, outlining the 
issues Patrick has faced. These include living without a bedroom for nine months because 
of damp and mould, three ceilings in his flat collapsing, renovating his bedroom at his 
own expense, ongoing compromised functionality in his kitchen and bathroom, and ongoing 
structural damp and dry rot. We presented evidence of the issues to both agencies, 
including pictures of the neglect, emails demonstrating that Patrick reported the issues 
two years ago, emails from Youngs acknowledging the existence of these issues, and emails 
from Youngs agreeing to pay Patrick for work he undertakes on the flat, which has not 
happened. Both agencies have chosen to ignore this significant evidence.

Since the start of Brighton SolFed's campaign in support of Patrick, the owner of Youngs, 
David Pay, has placed the phone number of both Patrick and his partner in the window of 
the agency and invited the public to make contact with them, in what amounts to a serious 
breach of the Data Protection Act and an incitement to harassment. However, tenants in 
Brighton and beyond are fighting back and won't be bullied. Instead, we're using 
solidarity, self-organisation, and direct action to support one another, to guard against 
attacks by agencies and landlords, and to improve our conditions. Our Housing Union has 
been campaigning against deposit theft and poor living conditions for the past ten months, 
recording numerous victories against agencies across the city that had deducted hundreds 
or thousands of pounds from tenants' deposits, as well as helping those tenants to gain 
compensation. Just as important as the money, though, is that tenants and those in other 
types of insecure housing have supported one another to do this, using the weapon of 
solidarity to fight the powerlessness imposed upon us by a housing system designed to make 
profit, rather than to give shelter.

Evict the evicters! An injury to one is an injury to all!

http://www.brightonsolfed.org.uk/brighton/brighton-solidarity-federation-extends-its-campaign-against-youngs-to-halls-estate-agency
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