A man is facing eviction over rent arrears, despite making an offer to pay what he owes.

Paul Dodwell has been told by his housing association landlord that he has to pay the full amount next week or eviction will be enforced.

Mr Dodwell, who lives in Firhill, owes £3700 for six months of rent.

READ MORE: Glasgow needs new 'night time transport policy' says club boss

He said he got behind with his rent after a period of not working during the pandemic and once he was back at work, and not receiving housing benefit, he was struggling to clear debts he had run up.

He said: “I got a bit behind and it sort of snowballed for a while.

“I’m back working again and I can make payments to clear it.”

He said he can pay £2500 now and then £100 per month for a year on top of his rent to clear the debt so he can stay in the flat.

A friend has offered to pay £1500 directly to the association on condition he is allowed to stay and he said the association stopped taking payments from him in October meaning he has another £1000 saved towards the debt.

Mr Dodwell said: “When I was back working, I had other debts to pay off and had less money to live on.

“I can pay the money back but I’ve been told I need to pay it all.”

Glasgow Times:

READ MORE: Pothole damage compensation pay outs in Glasgow revealed

He said if his offer is turned down he will have nowhere to go and have to apply to the council as homeless for temporary accommodation.

The tenant, who has been with Queen’s Cross for more than 10 years, said he has had arrears in the past and has made payments to reduce them.

He has had periods of being in work followed by periods of being unemployed and receiving Universal Credit.

Currently, there are around 6500 people in temporary accommodation in Glasgow and more than 600 in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Even though there is an eviction ban in place from the Scottish Government, until March 31, the tenant can still be put out of the flat because he owes more than the upper limit, of £2250 for social housing tenants.

Other exemptions to the ban mean tenants can still be evicted.

A spokesperson for Queen’s Cross Housing Association said: “It is exceptional for the association to ask the court to enforce an eviction decree as our whole approach focuses on helping people sustain their tenancy, including those who get in to rent arrears.

“This is our first arrears eviction decree in five years. Eviction cases only come about after a long process of lengthy communication with the tenant that includes the offer of every type of support including reasonable payment options.

“There is, quite rightly, enhanced legislative protection for tenants but even that recognises that it is reasonable to evict where arrears are consistently high and all commitments to maintain regular payments have not been honoured.

“In these exceptional cases we need to balance the likelihood of arrears being recovered with fairness to all of our tenants who pay their rent and work with us if they are in rent arrears.”

READ MORE: Bid to demonise striking workers is not helping

Sean Clerkin, of the Scottish Tenants Organisation, is representing Mr Dodwell with the housing association.

He said: “I believe it is very unfair of Queen’s Cross Housing Association to be evicting this man.

“The loophole in the winter eviction ban means there will be many tenants being made homeless this winter which is grossly unfair.”