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The
battle aginst the spread of these properties is spearheaded by Headingley
Against Landlords (HeAL).
Bill
Rollinson, chair of HeAL, says: "Our main aims are to re-create
a sustainable, balanced community in Headingley and surrounding
areas and to protect long-term residents from the ravages of uncontrolled
landlordism."
Responsibility
HeAL is calling for Leeds city council to introduce a shared housing
registration scheme to control the development of shared housing
and place the responsibility on the landlord for maintaining the
appearance of the property and meeting all safety standards.
They
are also calling for a complete ban on "To let" signs, new pubs/clubs
and for Leeds city council to refuse planning permission for any
new shared housing in Headingley.
HeAL
have drawn up a proposal to distribute students around Leeds. This
involves the universities, Unipol (a charity providing student housing),
students and landlords building a register of student houses and
universities only enrolling students who live at an address on the
unipol register.
Linkers
scheme
HeAL combats the isolation of many long-term
residents with the Linkers scheme. streets each have a permanent
resident (linker) who supports the other residents in the street.
The
linkers scheme is based on the belief: "that people value a
community more when it offers them personal support."
Alison
Ravetz from Little Woodhouse Community Association adds: "Landlords
just don’t look after property, particularly gardens. "
"Many
are absentee landlords who don’t take notice of long-term residents,
they just think that they can do what they like and make changes
to property.
"There
are probably good landlords but unfortunately it is only the bad
ones that you hear about."
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