Private tenants are powerless to control their living conditions, rents and repairs says new survey by Govan Law Centre

That is half as big again as the stock of Glasgow Housing Association, the old city housing department, which currently has 39,000.
The number of private lets has jumped 170 per cent since 2001, including a leap of 20 per cent between 2011 and 2013.
Across Scotland the number of privately rented homes has risen from six per cent of the total in 1999 to 14.6 per cent. 
Yet the sector accounts for 18 per cent of homelessness claims as tenants lose their homes and one in four properties deemed by law to be slums, to be “below tolerable standard”.
The problem, argues the GLC, is that these tens of thousands of people lack the full protection of the law from inexperienced landlords or cynical letting agents.
Mike Dailly, of the Law Centre, said: “Our report confirms that far too often tenants in Scotland’s private rented sector are getting very poor value for money. 
“In addition to rent paid privately, there is almost half a billion pounds in housing benefit going into the Scottish private rented sector.
“ And yet there is very little control of quality standards or indeed compliance with Scots housing law.
“The system is broken. It is inadequate and utterly unfit for a modern 21st century that talks about equality of opportunity for the many. 
“And the greatest irony is tenants often pay almost double the rents charged to social rented sector tenants who enjoy a regulatory regime. 
“The sector is riddled with bad and unlawful practice as this report evidences beyond any shadow of a doubt. 
“The relationship between private landlord and tenant is utterly unbalanced and unequal.”
The problem is not necessarily landlords are menacing, the report found, although many described their owner as distant unless the rent was due. 
The problem, it added, is that many of them do not know their responsibilities to tenants, with three quarters letting out only one property.
Twenty-nine per cent are accidental - feeling, for example, that they have to rent out a flat they have inherited or been left with after moving in with a new partner.
It has resulted in landlords who aren’t experienced at running a letting business. Some try themselves and make a mess of it. Others use letting agencies. 
The Govan Law centre interviewed scores of tenants. 
They found a two-tier system with high-end lets meeting a professional market and cheap homes rented out to benefits claimants.
Tenants complaints included repairs not being done, a sense of insecurity 
The Govan Law Centre, whose research was funded by the National Lottery and overseen by independent academics, made a series of recommendations to beef up tenants rights - way beyond new legislation unveiled by the SNP in Holyrood last week. 
One was for a Private Rented Sector Housing Inspectorate with powers similar to the Scottish Housing Regulator be set up. Effectively, this would have the legal “teeth” to make sure tenants’ rights are a reality. 
It should ensure thousands of millions of pounds of public money paid into the private rented sector was being well spent.

Case study:

Mother of three Audrey Attigan has been flitting from one home to another since she was a teenager.
The 47-year-old, who has two children with disabilities, lives in a two-bed private let in Shettleston, Glasgow. 
Its rent, paid for by benefits, is far higher than in social housing houses.
"I have just got the boiler fixed," she said:"For nearly a month I have been carrying pots of water up the stairs, just to get the kids clean. "I have had to put pounds and pounds on my heating and electricity card. I am not having anyone saying my kids are manky."
Ms Attigan, like tens of thousands of other private tenants, is effectively powerless, according to the report by Govan Law Centre.
But with privately rented properties in Glasgow alone now far outnumbering those of the old council department, the centre believes the time has come to beef up the rights of those renting from the new generation of buy-to-let and accidental landlords.
The Scottish Government last week revealed its plans for the sector in new draft legislation, the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill. The GLC's principal solicitor doesn't think it goes far enough. In particular, he is worried that proposed rent controls won't be made able to stick. 
John Blackwood, chief executive of The Scottish Association of Landlords, said: "We are concerned these measures could harm investor confidence and drive landlords out of the market, leaving a vacuum that could be filled with less than scrupulous landlords. 
"The way to reduce rent levels in a sustainable manner is to increase housing supply, not punishing landlords that are investing tens of thousands of pounds in their properties.” 
The law centre's research found that tenants did not feel they were in a position to negotiate rent, or, given many have their's paid by benefits, other terms such as repairs. 
The team recommended a minimum assured tenancy of three years - not the six months outlined in draft legislation. Tenants, they said, should get six months' notice.
They also called for councils to have tenancy standards officers who can provide a form of free alternative dispute resolution early on.
Ms Attigan's beef was with her letting agency taking an age to get things done. She had no regulator to fight her case.
"The owner is a lovely lady," she said. "She said I didn't need to pay a month's rent because of all the commotion. But you get some owners who are not that way. And the letting agencies....they just don't care."
Should whether a tenant is compensated for such problems really just be a matter for free-market negotiation with his or her landlord?