10 April 2020 — London Renters Union
We’ve heard from thousands of renters over the last few weeks. While some people have managed to win a rent reduction or a complete rent suspension using our template letter, we’re also hearing that lots of landlords and estate agents are bullying tenants to pay rent in full.
We’re campaigning to pressure the government to suspend rent, waive rent debt and make the ban on evictions permanent. If you haven’t already, please sign our petition. More than 100 people came to our online members meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways we can escalate our campaign, including by withholding our rent. Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey in the last few days. The union’s coordinating group will be meeting soon to discuss next steps to propose to the wider membership.
We’re inspired by the number of our members who are getting involved, making phone calls to other members, reaching out to other renters and supporting other members with the housing issues they’re facing. Our union is growing in numbers and strength and together we can win greater protections for renters during the Coronavirus pandemic. There’s power in solidarity!
Get involved with phone banking this weekend
The main activity that we’re asking members to get involved with from home right now is to join our virtual phone banks, where we call other members of the union to find out what support they need and talk with them about collective action we can take together. This is really vital so we can build the power we need to force the government to suspend rent payments and waive all rent debt.
We’re running phone banking sessions almost every day at the moment. We’re also running trainings for people who haven’t done phone banking with the London Renters Union before at the following times:
Anyone with a mobile phone can take part. If money or credit on your phone is a worry, we can help with this. Don’t worry if you’ve never done anything like this before – we’ll provide lots of training and support. If you can help with phone-banking, please fill out this form.
In friendship and solidarity,
Michael and Amina
Copyright © 2020 London Renters Union, All rights reserved.
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