ACORN Bradford are celebrating three member defence wins in the space of seven days, thanks to the grit and determination of our members.
It started with Joe and Jessie, a married couple expecting a baby, who contacted ACORN after their estate agent put them in a house with a leaking roof and serious water damage after using aggressive tactics to get them to sign the lease. One letter from ACORN later, the deposit was returned, and they were let out of their deposit.
Penny (name changed to protect anonymity) moved into a property in Keighley with her two-year old after fleeing an abusive relationship. The council moved her into a property with what they said was a trusted landlord, but who refused to do basic repairs, leaving her in a flat with no hot water with a hard winter closing in. When we wrote to him, the landlord got nasty and aggressive, but changed his tune the next morning after he'd had a chance to look us up. He changed his tune almost immediately, apologising to Penny, fixing her boiler, and basically begging her not to stay involved with us.
Last but certainly not least, Mr and Mrs Black, two pensioners (a former soldier and NHS worker respectively) got in touch with us after they'd been left for three years in a house with rotted doors and windows. It massively jacked up their heating bills and left them exposed to slugs and cold, while the landlord and estate agent refused to replace them. We marched into the estate agents office and demanded repairs. The estate agent blustered, made excuses, and even threatened us with the police, but within a week they'd agreed to all of our demands, apologised profusely, and committed to £20000 worth of demands.
Direct action gets the goods. Join ACORN!