Richard Leonard will use his first party conference speech to outline a "Mary Barbour law"

AFTER a statue of Scot rent strike legend Mary Barbour was unveiled in Govan this week, Richard Leonard will use his keynote speech in Dundee to outline a law aiming to tackle the housing crisis named after the woman whose name is synonymous with housing justice. 

Rents risen by one-third in Glasgow and Edinburgh since 2010

The Common Weal think-tank has responded to new data showing private rent costs continuing to rise in Scotland by  calling for “serious action” from local authorities and the Scottish Government to make housing affordable and deal with "out of control" costs.

Scottish Government should reconsider value of the “uniquely insecure” private rented sector, argues new report

THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR (PRS) has tripled in size since the advent of devolution and its reversal is a goal that Holyrood should “triumph not fear”, argues a new report from think tank Common Weal.

Progress for tenants’ rights as council backs progress on rent controls 

THE MARCH TOWARDS establishing affordable rent-controlled housing across Scotland has taken another giant leap forward after Edinburgh City Council became the first area in the country to take forward new price-control powers. 

The Private Housing (Tenancies) Scotland Act 2016 included new, localised rent control powers for the first time in a generation - giving council the opportunity to apply to central government to place a cap on rent increases in ‘pressure zones’. 

CommonSpace columnist and Common Weal head of policy Ben Wray takes a look at what needs to be done to improve housing

AS poet Ben Okri has poignantly spelled out, Grenfell is about more than dodgy cladding. 

It’s about how housing is treated as a commodity rather than a social good essential to all of our lives. It’s about how the health of the poor comes well behind the profits of the rich in what our system values. But it’s also a call to action – to think big and bold about overturning a system which produces such injustice.

National Tenants Union back student action against Glasgow’s rogue landlords

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW students fed-up with high rents for rubbish flats and financial malpractice by rogue landlords are taking matters into their own hands by establishing a vetting service of local accommodation lets. 

Campaigners help mum in Glasgow housing fees and eviction scandal 

SCOTLAND’S TENANTS’ UNION has scored an early victory in a tenants dispute over “illegal fees” by helping an eviction-threatened tenant reclaim charges and move into a new property. 

Amanda Gallagher, a tenant under letting agency AVJ Homes, received a notice to quit after she challenged administration fees that were being paid on top of her lease agreement. 

Victory for left-wing and unity candidate Aamer Anwar in Glasgow uni election 

IT WAS THE MOST DIVERSE group of candidates you could ever imagine running in the one election. A top lawyer, a judge, an armed socialist, a knight of the realm, a right-wing Christian, and a far-right poster boy were all in the running for the position of rector at the University of Glasgow - a position that chairs the university’s court of management. 

Immediate victory for Living Rent: Santander admits error on high rent mortgage clause 

HOUSING JUSTICE CAMPAIGNERS have won an immediate victory by calling protests against corporate greed and high rents at Santander bank this weekend. (Saturday 18 February)

Activists from Living Rent in Scotland and Acorn in England planned simultaneous demos at Santander branches over a legal clause so landlords hiked “maximum” rents from cash strapped tenants. 

Broad Irish left coalition push for action on high rents and homelessness

IRISH CENTRE GROUP AND LEFT-WING politicians have called for action to tackle the nation’s rent and homelessness crisis. 

In a show of unity unprecedented since the island’s most recent election in February, six party groups joined with major trade unions to support a Secure Rent and Tenancies Bill to halt rent surges and provide basic security to tenants suffering in the rental market.