Last week, an attempted eviction in Whalley Range, Manchester, was blocked by collective action. When bailiffs turned up to evict a tenant on Thursday 28th July, she immediately responded by contacting Greater Manchester Tenants Union, who were quickly able to mobilise around ten people to attend the scene. After a stand-off that continued for several hours, the bailiffs withdrew.

This week we raised the alert as one of our members was facing an attempted illegal break-in by bailiffs.

Within half an hour, more than 10 of us were there to support her. Within 3 hours the bailiffs had gone.

Join us today, & lets push back against the landlords together. ✊ pic.twitter.com/Dl6DRay1vM

— Greater Manchester Tenants Union (@gmtenantsunion) July 30, 2022

The successful direct action marks the second victory in two weeks for the union, as the previous week had seen a group of tenants assemble on July 19th, one of the hottest days of the year, to deliver a demand letter to a letting agent that had been charging unjustified fees. Within a few hours, the money had been refunded.

🎉Another day, another win

✊Today we took action in Hulme, after one of our members had their money taken as an illegal fee.

We had issued a letter to the letting agent, but having heard nothing, we made a visit in person. It wasn't long before the missing money was returned. pic.twitter.com/xG7Eu0xxdK

— Greater Manchester Tenants Union (@gmtenantsunion) July 19, 2022

~ Cautiously Pessimistic

Image: Greater Manchester Tenants Union