Hi, my name is Chidem Enkeshafi and I’ve just started my Community Internship at Shelter Scotland Glasgow Community Hub. I am happy for the opportunity given to me by Shelter Scotland.

According to Shelter Scotland there are 330,000 privately rented houses across Scotland, this means that many people are renting across the country.

I’ll be working on the private renting project to hear more about the most common private renting problems; including how easy it is to rent, any discrimination people might face, and what the condition of flats and houses are. Since starting this role, I’ve found out that people want to live in good conditions, warm homes, with no deposit or eviction problems.

I’ll be here for 6 months, where I will communicate with Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities about their experiences of renting, and what their relationships with their landlords, letting agents and neighbourhoods are like. I’m going to be asking tenants what they think about rents, landlords and letting agencies, deposits, repairs and eviction problems. I would like interview tenants from different/BME communities across Glasgow. I believe it would be beneficial to get many different tenants’ opinion on renting, and the good and bad situations that they have experienced.

Finding out about people’s experiences in this way will help to fix communication problems between landlords and tenants, and help us at Shelter Scotland to understand more about what renting is like for BME groups across Glasgow.

If you live in Glasgow, rent and are a member of a black or ethnic minority group and would like to talk about renting – get in touch! Email me on Chidem_Enkeshafi@shelter.org.uk