[2] That same month the Glasgow Women's Housing Association had its first meeting to resist rent increases.

[3][2] In Govan in March 1915, a landlord attempted to evict a woman in response to her rent debt of £1 (equivalent to £101 in 2023).

[3] In response, hundreds of angry neighbors led by John Wheatley, a socialist politician and member of the Independent Labor Party (ILP), blocked the way into her apartment, which prevented the evictors from carrying out the eviction.

The rent strikes formally began in September 1915 by the Glasgow Women's Housing Association.

[5][3] It froze rent increases at 1914 levels unless landlords could prove improvements were made to the property.