Fast-track move to evict bad neighbours with a track record of anti-social behaviour

Published 03rd Aug 2011

Neighbours from hell are to be turfed out of their homes using new powers for residents, landlords and councils, ministers will say today.

Currently, court proceedings to evict those responsible for campaigns of unpleasant or vicious behaviour can take a year or more.

But Housing Minister Grant Shapps will introduce a new mandatory ground for possession of a property when tenants have a track record of anti-social behaviour.

Ministers believe that a swifter process for evicting nuisance families will act as a deterrent for bad behaviour and encourage perpetrators to change their ways and act more responsibly.

Under the new system, previous convictions will be taken into account to shorten the lengthy and expensive process which often requires landlords to prove each new incident of anti-social behaviour.

Trigger offences are likely to include a conviction for violence against neighbours, drug dealing and criminal damage; a breach of an injunction for anti-social behaviour; or the use of a property for drug dealing.

Mr Shapps will say that too often the rights of victims have come second to those of the people making their lives a misery.

It is estimated that the courts make 3,000 eviction orders for anti-social behaviour against social tenants each year. Tens of thousands more cases are resolved using other measures such as mediation, acceptable behaviour agreements or injunctions.

But where landlords reach the last resort of eviction, research indicates that it takes seven months on average to get a possession order. And with any defendants failing to turn up to court or cases being adjourned for other reasons, it often takes much longer.

The costs of evicting a neighbour from hell can exceed £20,000 in complex cases.

'All too often, efforts to tackle neighbours from hell take far too long, and it seems the needs and right of the victims play second fiddle to those of the perpetrators,' Mr Shapps said.

'That's why I'm looking to speed up the process, so where a social housing tenant already has a conviction for anti-social behaviour and the situation has not improved this can be taken into account and landlords can act swiftly to bring to an end to the day-to-day misery that is inflicted for too long on those simply seeking to quietly enjoy their homes.

'Of course eviction is a drastic step and should be the last resort that landlords take to tackle this menace – but when all other options have failed to stop this yobbish behaviour, victims should not have to wait months or even years to see justice done.'

It is estimated that the courts make 3,000 eviction orders for anti-social behaviour against social tenants each year

Baroness Newlove, the widow of a man who was murdered by youths he challenged outside their Warrington home, who is now the Government's communities adviser, said: 'My postbag is filled with heartbreaking stories of law-abiding families whose lives are made a living hell by the actions of a few uncaring, selfish individuals whose thoughtlessness or ruthless criminal actions blight and intimidate whole neighbourhoods.

'These victims of anti-social behaviour live in abject misery begging in vain for help from one agency or another and spend sometimes years, powerless to do anything about it. If they are owner occupiers they cannot sell their homes and move, such is the trap they are in. This has got to stop.

'This action will go a long way to redress the balance in their favour. We must empower social landlords to back the quiet suffering majority and deal swiftly with the criminal minority.

'I shall ensure my work gives maximum exposure so any citizen finding themselves in the same situation living next door to the neighbour from hell will have the knowledge and tools to finally see swift redress, and perhaps the very real threat of losing their home may bring to heel those who deny the right of a peaceful life to others.'

Victims of neighbours from hell include Wendy Glover from Birmingham, whose neighbour William Flatt regularly made false complaints about her and her friends to local police, housing teams and the local press.

Events came to a head in 2006 when the perpetrator attacked her friend David Masters, throwing petrol over him and threatening to set him ablaze. Flatt received a criminal conviction and a two-year probation order for the incident.

Tina Tomlinson, from Sheffield, faced months of anti-social behaviour from her neighbour. Almost immediately after moving in August 2009, the neighbour regularly made threats to kill Tina, and attempted to force her way into Mrs Tomlinson's flat.

Sheffield Homes obtained an injunction, but this did not stop the abuse. Noise monitoring equipment installed in Mrs Tomlinson's flat recorded over 37 hours of threats.

Eventually, the neighbour was sentenced to 90 days in prison, during which Sheffield Homes obtained a possession order and she was finally evicted.

Source: ' ThisIsMoney '

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