Government changes to help deal with ASB
The housing and crime prevention ministers have written to social landlords to emphasise the government's commitment to make it easier for them to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour.
On 11th January Housing Minister Grant Shapps announced a package of proposals and government cash towards tackling anti-social behaviour to give greater support to tenants and landlords. These include:
- a new additional mandatory ground for possession
- £300,000 of Government funding to a new central team
- clarifying the rules around the use of 'probationary and starter tenancies'
- transferring ownership of the Respect Standard to two housing section bodies (CIH and SLCNG) to review and update the standards
Proposal for new 'mandatory ground' for possession on ASB cases
Currently, it can take over a year to get an ASB possession order through the court.
Under these new proposals, landlords could have 'automatic' ground for eviction at county court if the tenant has previously been found guilty of housing related anti social behavior.
Ministers believe this will lead to a faster and fairer court process by removing the need to prove the incidents of anti-social behaviour for a second time. To further speed up the courts process, the ministers are also looking at ways to remove unnecessary obstacles to the swift resolution of ASB possession cases where serious harm is being caused to individuals and communities.
We will post more information on this site and keep you informed as more detail is made available on these changes.
Clarifying the rules around the use of 'probationary tenancies'
All new tenants are required to sign probationary tenancies which helps in ensuring new tenants adhere to their tenancy conditions and respect the rights of neigbhours. After a 12 month probationary period, the tenancy is transferred to a full assured tenancy if there has been no asb or breach of tenancy conditions.
The Housing Minister has written to all housing associations to reassure that housing associations have the same freedoms as council landlords to extend 'probationary' tenancies by up to six months, which strengthens our ability to deal with the small number of tenants who cause problems for neighbours or do not keep to their tenancy conditions within the initial period.
Transferring ownership of the Respect Standard to the housing sector
The 'RESPECT STANDARD for housing has played a key role in driving up landlords' performance on preventing and tackling anti-social behavior. This standard, which includes guidance and best practice expected from landlords in dealing with ASB will now be run by housing professionals rather than central government, in line with the move to devolve power to communities.
Following an announcement by Housing Minister, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) will take on and manage the new national Standard for preventing and tackling anti-social behaviour with the support of hundreds of signatories from within the social housing sector.
Working closely with the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group (SLCNG) and HouseMark, CIH will consult landlords to refresh and update the five year old Respect Standard to reflect developments on ASB over the last few years.
