The debate on whether Scotland should introduce a 'No evictions for bedroom tax' policy is gaining widespread public support, with many councillors, some councils, MSPs and MEPs now backing the principle of GLC's Scottish Parliamentary petition. GLC is aware, however, that some people and politicians remain undecided about the workability of not evicting tenants for bedroom tax arrears, and that a number of assumptions and assertions are circulating against the principle of the petition, which can be summarised as follows:
- Not evicting someone for bedroom tax arrears will mean many people who can pay won’t pay, which is unfair for those tenants who choose to pay, or are unable to do so.
- It would take several years to build up a sufficient level of arrears before a social landlord considered going for eviction, so what is all the fuss about?
- It would be unworkable for a social landlord to separate ‘bedroom tax arrears’ from other rent arrears, and therefore not evicting people for bedroom tax arrears cannot be practical.
- Not evicting tenants for the bedroom tax will damage the revenue streams of social landlords, make their business operations unsustainable, and ultimately damage the interests of other tenants who do pay.
