{"id":12964,"date":"2017-08-08T17:31:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T16:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12964"},"modified":"2017-08-09T12:14:52","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T11:14:52","slug":"remove-pests-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12964","title":{"rendered":"Remove \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pests\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

An eviction company has been slammed by Unite after running an advert comparing domestic renters to vermin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Facebook advert for the Remove a Tenant firm, which provides eviction services on behalf of landlords and letting agents, features a block of cheese and reads: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAre your tenants household pests?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pests<\/p>\n

Offensive<\/em> – Image first appeared on Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\n

The Solihull-based firm operates nationwide and advertises its \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsignificant expertise\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 in evictions involving housing benefit claims.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The controversy came after it was revealed that more than 40,000 tenants were evicted by landlords in 2015 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an increase of a third since 2003 and the highest level ever recorded<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remove a Tenant general manager Mike Turner said<\/a> the outrage over the advert is \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba lot of fuss about nothing.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner disagreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Absolutely unacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bComparing tenants to rodents is absolutely unacceptable. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shocked that this advert was given the go ahead in the first place and I hope it has now been taken down.
\n <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFinding a decent home in the UK is bad enough already, with many people forced into paying extortionate rents and living under the threat of short-term tenancy agreements that could see them evicted at any time, but adverts like this just encourage the idea that renters are a nuisance to be endured and controlled.
\n <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnfortunately this is what happens when the issue of housing is turned solely into a vehicle for making money. Until there is a change of priorities, one that recognises that tenants have a right to be protected from untrammelled profiteering, damaging attitudes of this kind will continue.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for housing, Siobhan Endean, said the government could help fix the housing<\/a> market by investing in a large-scale council housing programme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Endean said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBuilding affordable homes that people can live in long-term would improve living standards and create decent jobs. We also need rent controls and regulations on private landlords.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTaken together these measures would ease the pressure on renters who are so often pushed into the exploitative one-way relationships with landlords \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the type of relationship the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhousehold pests\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 advert so clearly typifies.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An eviction company has been slammed by Unite after running an advert comparing domestic renters to vermin.   The Facebook advert for the Remove a Tenant firm, which provides eviction services on behalf of landlords and letting agents, features a block of cheese and reads: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAre your tenants household pests?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165   Offensive – Image first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[109,131,175],"wps_subtitle":"Eviction firm compares tenants to rodents","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12964"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12972,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12964\/revisions\/12972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}