Two tenants have been evicted from council houses in East Renfrewshire.

The council has announced that a tenant in Barrhead and another in Newton Mearns have been evicted after owing combined rent arrears of nearly £5,000.

A female, aged 40, from Barrhead was evicted following non payment of rent going back to March 2010. At the time of eviction she owed the council £2,700 in rent.

A 20 year old male in Newton Mearns case was also evicted after running up rent arrears of £2,200 stretching back to August 2010.

The news comes just a month after the council announced (30 September 2011) they would be putting in place a stronger arrears policy for council house tenants in repeated arrears.

A council spokesman said: "In both of these cases the tenants had been given plenty of opportunities to pay. The last thing we want to be doing is evicting tenants and will give as much assistance as they need. That includes help from our own staff in making payments, or getting assistance from the citizen’s advice bureau and Shelter. But, if people refuse the help or refuse to pay we will evict."

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In September the council announced a new strengthened rent arrears policy.

The policy means tenants getting into arrears can expect more home visits instead of standard letters being posted out. Council officers will also be stricter at enforcing guidelines for any tenant who gets into arrears and refuses to engage with the council. And it also means court action.

When announcing the strengthened policy, East Renfrewshire Council leader, Councillor Jim Fletcher said: "Our housing and finance services have been working hard at driving tenant rent arrears down. For the majority of our tenants we can discuss early when arrears start and try to offer real and practical help to stop arrears getting out of control.

"For a small minority of tenants who get regularly into arrears and refuse to actively engage with us until legal action takes place, we will need to be tougher.

"During these difficult financial times many families are struggling and it is right that we offer as much help and support as we can. For those that refuse to get involved until it’s at a legal stage, we will need to ensure action is taken. Rent is a payment for the housing we provide but it is also an investment in the housing stock we have. Every pound of uncollected rent is a pound we can use to improve the housing in our area."

(GK)