A call to suspend evictions over winter months has been rejected by the Housing Minister.

A Glasgow City Council official wrote to Kevin Stewart asking him to consider ways to reduce evictions and specifically his view of the call by housing campaigners Living Rent on a winter break.

A similar policy exists in France where no evictions are permitted over winter from December to March.

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Mr Stewart however said there were already enough protections in Scotland against unnecessary evictions.

In a response to the council he said: “I appreciate the concerns of those campaigning for a “Winter Break”. However, in view of the actions that the Scottish Government has taken in recent years, I believe that Scotland already has a proactive approach to prevent people getting into difficulties with their rent and also very effective laws in place to ensure that tenants are protected from unnecessary eviction.”

He said the Private Housing act of 2016 provides tenants with “improved security” and that a landlord can no longer ask a tenant to leave without good reason and must use one of 18 grounds for eviction if they want to regain the property.

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He said notice could be as much as 84 days to give tenants enough time to find somewhere else to live and if they need to contact the local council to warn they could be homeless.

He said in the social housing sector there are safeguards that mean eviction action will only be taken as a last resort and tenants have the opportunity to resolve any issues with their landlord before a case goes to court.

Mr Stewart also said that landlords need to have the power of eviction in “carefully defined circumstances” to “manage their housing stock effectively”.

He said if that power was removed then it could lead to problems trying to remove an anti-social tenant or dealing with mounting rent arrears.

Green councillor, Tanya Wisely, brought the motion to Glasgow City Council calling for support for the winter break.

Jon Molyneux, Green councillor, said: “This is a very disappointing response from the Minister, ignoring a unanimous call from Glasgow councillors, including his own SNP colleagues, to do more to tackle winter evictions.

“Mr Stewart says he wants to step-up efforts to prevent homelessness but in the next breath, he rules out any further action on evictions, despite loss of a tenancy remaining the main route into homelessness.

“Eviction is a huge cause of anxiety, particularly in the winter months when there are additional risks of being made homeless. “