Shelbyville organization works to defend renters’ rights

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Bedford Tenants’ Union is working to defend renters’ rights in Bedford County. The group held an awareness event to promote a four-part plan to help tenants.

The group has claimed that area landlords have not made repairs or provided safe living environments for their tenants, adding that some landlords have gone as far as evicting tenants for no reason.

“If you don’t have the money to move, then you feel like you’re stuck and you have to put up with things like not having heat,” Bedford Tenants Union member, Angelia Collier, said.

“I have been threatened with eviction by my landlord and it seemed that it came out of nowhere,” Collier added. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m a part of this or for other reasons.”

The union believes that landlords get away with more in rural areas because state law only puts tighter rules on landlords in counties with more than 75,000 people as of the 2010 U.S. Census.

That population requirement means that the Uniform Residential Landlord Act ( Landlord Tenant Act ) applies to counties like Davidson, Maury, Montgomery, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson — not Bedford.

Counties that are not affected by the law set their own rules. Renters in Shelbyville are organizing.

“We are here to unveil our renters platform. We are going to be asking all of the candidates that are running for city council this election to show up at our forum which is going to be on October 19th,” organizer Joanne Vasil said. “We are going to explain the platform to them and then ask them to personally endorse the platform in front of the community so that we can get them on record on where they stand for renters’ rights.”

Their plan has four parts:

• Create a landlord registry
• Level the playing field in court by raising money to have lawyers for tenants
• Protect against retaliation for tenants who report unsafe conditions
• Build affordable housing

It’s a commitment that the group hopes will lead to more respect to renters. If you would like to learn more, click here .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.