Landlords - anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is any behaviour which has a negative impact on residents' quality of life. It can be anything from low-level persistent nuisance to serious violence or other criminal behaviour. It can be caused by residents and non-residents and can affect both residents and non-residents.
Examples include:
- noise nuisance from music or parties
- shouting, swearing, screaming and banging
- noisy or unruly dogs
- aggressive and threatening language and behaviour
- actual violence against people and property
- hate behaviour
If you receive a complaint about your tenant's behaviour take it seriously. Bad tenants can make neighbours lives a misery and end up costing you money.
Prevention in the first place is the best tool to protect against anti-social tenants. Take out reference checks before you offer a tenancy and meet prospective tenants to get a sense of whether anti-social behaviour is likely to be an issue.
Make sure you have a section on anti-social behaviour in the tenancy agreement. If a problem occurs, you have certain obligations.
Keep a written record of any action you have taken to resolve any problems caused by your tenant. This could include:
- investigating complaints about your tenants' behaviour, speaking to neighbours and confirming the facts
- if the complaint is justified, speaking to your tenants about it, advising them of complaint and what they must do to correct the problem
- offering support to your tenant and providing contact details of others who may be able to help them
- writing to tenants whose behaviour persists, to explain that it is causing concern and asking them to modify it
- providing a warning that they are in breach of their tenancy agreement and explaining that they could be evicted if their behaviour continues
- getting help from our community safety team
- speaking to the police, especially if illegal behaviour or activity is taking place
- applying to the county court for an injunction to stop your tenant or their visitors from behaving in a certain way in your property
- using a mediation service such as Smile Mediation
If the problems persist then you might want to consider bringing eviction proceedings against your tenant.
Ground 14 of the Housing Act 1988 Section 8 gives you the right to apply for eviction of tenants who are behaving anti-socially.