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Getting along (better) with the neighbours

20 October 2017 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7766 / Categories: Features , Local government , Public
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Evicting anti-social tenants: hope in Dante’s inferno? Nicholas Dobson

  • The general application of public law principles to decisions of a local authority landlord must not be allowed to undermine the legislative scheme of this mandatory ground for possession.

When I was struggling with algebra in my early days at ‘Big School’ I remember buying Teach Yourself Algebra to help get to grips with the subject (and to keep sadistic schoolmasters at bay).

But I doubt whether any social housing tenant needs a Teach Yourself book to recognise anti-social behaviour (ASB) in neighbours. For this will be all too painfully apparent. As the Housing Ombudsman Service points out, ASB includes a wide range of bad behaviour including: noise nuisance at high levels or at unreasonable hours, drug and alcohol-related nuisance, vandalism and graffiti and harassment (including verbal and physical abuse and threats). Certainly a new circle of Dante’s Inferno for those living with it.

To tackle this, the Government has introduced a new mandatory ground for possession, grafted into the Housing

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