Craig Littlejohn, who is leading a parliamentary petition calling for stronger protections for landlords, is urging the introduction of an “expedited court process” to speed up evictions which has of course been denied by the government along with other assistance to landlords even though there are 16,000 signatures.

Landlord Craig Littlejohn has told online media why he launched a petition demanding greater protections for landlords and a faster, more efficient court process for evictions.

Littlejohn describes himself as an “accidental landlord” and rents out just one property in his native Scotland. Despite the small scale of his portfolio, he says he has been hit hard by a tenant who has stopped paying rent, prompting him to push for reform.

He argues that his experience is far from unique and that many small landlords face similar challenges but lack the tools or legal support to deal with them quickly or fairly.

However if the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, it will automatically trigger a debate in Parliament.

He told the media: “There are a lot of good landlords out there,” he told The Neg, adding that “they are giving us no protection at all.” 

He argues that the Renters’ Rights Act, due to take effect in May, is “giving tenants more and more rights.”

“No-one talks about ‘rogue tenants’, and I’m just trying to protect the good landlords,” he said.

Littlejohn, an RAF serviceman, was reposted from Fife to Oxfordshire a few years ago, which led him to rent out his four-bedroom home. 

Since then, he says he has been left more than £7,000 out of pocket in unpaid rent and is now facing a 12-month wait for his eviction case to be processed by the Glasgow courts.

The petition includes: “We urgently need an expedited court process for mandatory grounds (ASB/arrears), a vetting database for repeat offenders, and a higher deposit cap to help sustain the rental market.”

If you wish to increase the signatures here