Our Advice Centres:

Housing Advice Services

Over the past ten years the complement of housing cases has changed considerably. Ten years ago there were still a considerable number of damp houses in the areas where we worked. These have reduced considerably with the expenditure of public funds to improve the condition of the housing stock.

Housing Problems We Help With

We have therefore concentrated on different types of housing problems. These have included primarily problems of homelessness and rent and mortgage arrears, and problems of anti-social behaviour. Housing disrepair is still a substantial problem for many people and we do still take on a significant number of clients in this area. However the number of clients has reduced from around 20% of our caseload to around 10% or even less now.

Homelessness

The Law Centre is particularly active in addressing problems of homelessness. We have adopted a wide range of strategies in doing this. The number of cases of rent arrears we are dealing with has increased substantially.

Helping with Mortgage Arrears

Recently the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001 has been extremely helpful in providing a means of dissuading mortgage lenders from aggressively pursuing home owners in arrears with their mortgage. The number of cases we are dealing with in this area is increasing substantially and the Law Centre has a commitment to continuing to publicise the advice and representation it can give in these cases. The number of mortgage arrears cases being taken to court is likely to increase substantially over the coming months and we shall try to reach as many people as possible and provide them with representation to prevent lenders ejecting them from their property.

Uniquely Positioned

The Law Centre is in a unique position in South East Glasgow for providing free legal advice and representation to local people.