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From Socialist Worker, No. 100, 7 December 1968, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
LAST WEEK I talked with a fine militant.
Some readers will already know of Margaret Ryan, because she was featured on BBC 1’s Cause for Concern.
Has all this publicity helped her? It would seem not, for Margaret, a 65 year old pensioner, still lives in one grotty furnished room in Liverpool Road, Islington.
Her furniture consists of a bed and a mattress with holes, one chair and table, a sink that leaks. There is a wall cupboard for food, but Margaret keeps her food on the mantlepiece since neighbours found insects in their margarine.
The greasy, stained wallpaper becomes damp when it rains and the lino is rotten. The landlord removed her fireplace, and the gas was cut off when he emptied the prepaid meter.
Gas has since been restored to the house, but not to Margaret because the Gas Board condemned the cooker. I’m not surprised, for I’ve seen better on scrap heaps.
What is it like to have a Rachman-type landlord?
Margaret Ryan can tell you very clearly.
‘I was homeless and moved in here at the end of 1964. The rent was £3 5s and Mrs. de Lusignan, the landlady, gave me no rent book.
‘The rent was gradually reduced by the Rent Tribunal to 12s 6d because I had no gas or electricity or fire, although last week electricity was restored after months of candlelight existence.
‘There are rats and all last winter we had no back door or lock on the front door and people came and went at all hours. The one toilet seat was ripped off and there were no lights on any of the passages or stairs.
‘Worst of all though, is the constant harassment and worry.’
Mr.and Mrs.de Lusignan have separated and are disputing the ownership of their several properties. Various receivers have been appointed to manage the properties and receive the rents, but this has done little to improve the living conditions for any of the tenants.
Mr. Jones of Jones & Morgan 270 Haydons Road, Wimbledon SW19, is the present Receiver: His only response to the Cause for Concern programme was to issue Margaret with notice to quit, and he has written to her solicitor saying she is nothing but a troublemaker and that she must go. Margaret has indeed encouraged many tenants to go to the Rent Tribunal to get rent reductions.
What part are the council playing in all this? Margaret showed me a letter from the LCC Director of Housing acknowledging the receipt of the medical certificate that she had sent to be considered together with her application for housing.
The letter was dated 5 June 1956 – 12 years ago.
After complaining to the Public Health Department about the conditions, an inspector visited and made reports, but nothing was done until last week when a man came to put insecticide on the floors.
Margaret is a militant member of Islington Tenants’ Association. In 1966 it organised protests and letters asking Islington Council to take over control of the de Lusignan properties.
This could be done by using powers granted under the 1964 Housing Act whereby the council could issue control of management orders. Yet the council have refused to act and thus condemn Margaret Ryan and hundreds like her to live in disgraceful and degrading conditions.
London and many other cities have extremely acute housing problems. A capitalist society does not cater for needs, only for profit.
In this system councils do not build nearly enough houses, and the stock of rented accommodation is dwindling fast because it is more profitable to sell these houses to property developers or to owner occupiers.
This situation encourages exploitation. Pensioners, single people, immigrants, families with young children, in fact anyone who can’t afford to buy a house or who does not qualify for council housing, find themselves in the desperate situation
This is one of the richest countries in the world, yet only a socialist revolution will ensure that all people have a decent home to live in.
Margaret Ryan is an inspiring example of the determination of ordinary working people to defeat their oppressors.
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