Dealing with anti-social behaviour

Introduction

Anti-social behaviour can come in many different forms including noise, threatening neighbours, damaging the property itself or neighbouring property or using the property as a brothel. It is one of the most common reasons that landlords serve notices seeking possession and one of the biggest causes of stress to landlords and the neighbours who have to live next to an anti-social tenant.

The purpose of this guide is to briefly outline what a landlord can do, if faced with a tenant who is engaging in anti-social behaviour. In it, we will provide you with the information you need on how to avoid anti-social behaviour, your liability in regards to anti-social behaviour, how to deal with it when it does occur and what support is available from the police or local authorities if you cannot resolve it yourself.

What is not considered anti-social behaviour?

In general, noise or behaviour that would be considered part of everyday life is not something that would be considered anti-social behaviour. Poor parking, children playing, groups of people on the street without causing a disturbance, DIY at reasonable hours, etc would not be considered anti-social behaviour. 

Nor are one-off events such as a loud party, as anti-social behaviour must be reoccurring rather than a singular event. 

When is the landlord responsible for the tenant's behaviour?

As a starting point, you are normally only responsible for addressing a tenant's behaviour if it takes place within the curtilage of the property or is associated with the tenant's occupation of the property. You are not responsible for handling a tenant's behaviour away from the property where it is not linked to the occupancy.

However, this means that you do have a responsibility to deal with it if it does occur inside your property. There may be other tenants or neighbours affected by this behaviour. You or your agents may also be the victim of anti-social behaviour when you visit the property.

You may also be responsible as a condition of your licence. In any licensed property, the licence holder is required to take reasonable steps to ensure that tenants are not causing problems within the boundaries of the property through anti-social behaviour.

There are certain steps that you can take to try to prevent anti-social behaviour before it starts. By checking your tenants ahead of time and ensuring they understand their responsibilities, you can limit the likelihood of anti-social behaviour in the first place.

Pre-tenancy checks

It is good practice to require written references from prospective tenants. In areas which are subject to selective licensing in order to combat anti-social behaviour, it is a requirement of holding a licence that the landlord must seek written references from tenants. 

A few local authorities run tenant accreditation schemes. These enable tenants whose behaviour meets certain standards to be recognised as good tenants. A landlord should ask the local authority whether they currently run a tenant accreditation scheme and if so, whether a prospective tenant is accredited with it. 

Include terms about anti-social behaviour in your agreements

You should ensure that you use a properly drafted tenancy agreement which includes specific clauses relating to anti-social behaviour. The most common issues which may give rise to problems and which can be addressed through terms of tenancy agreements are: 

• Sub-letting by the tenant 

• Anti-social or criminal activity which may become a nuisance or cause damage to the property or the neighbourhood or which may render the property insurance void 

• Noise pollution, especially late at night. This could be general noise associated with frequent entrants to the property or specific noise audible outside the property caused by musical instruments, television or radio or other equipment 

By ensuring the agreement has a suitable clause, you can ensure your tenant is aware of their responsibilities and rely on the clause later should you need to take action around the behaviour in question. 

Property improvements

Excessive noise is one of the most common causes of complaints from neighbours. You can help to prevent this by ensuring that there is adequate sound insulation in the property. This is particularly important in flats or HMOs where you have specific obligations to the freeholder or the other tenants within the building. 

Should you need to take action later this may also strengthen your case at court. One of the factors that the court will take into consideration is whether the property condition has contributed to the anti-social behaviour. 

Section 8 notices and anti-social behaviour

If you are seeking possession based on a Section 8 notice then you will need to include one of the anti-social behaviour possession grounds. 

Ground 7a

Ground 7a is a mandatory ground for possession. This means that the courts must grant a possession order if you can prove that it can be applied to your tenant. It can be used where -

• The tenant, or anyone else living or visiting the property, has been convicted of a serious crime (as defined by Schedule 2a of Housing Act 1985) since October 2014 in the locality, against a person who lives in the locality, or against the landlord or one of their representatives in connection with their property management work.
• The tenant, or anyone else living or visiting the property, has been found in breach of an injunction to prevent nuisance or annoyance (IPNA) in the locality, against a person who lives in the locality, or against the landlord or one of their representatives in connection with their property management work.
• The tenant, or anyone else living in or visiting the property, has been convicted of an offence for breaching an abatement notice or court order in relation to noise nuisance.
• A closure order of 48 hours or more has been placed on the property
• The tenant, or anyone living in or visiting the property, has been convicted of a breach of a criminal behaviour order that prohibits an activity in the locality, or an activity against the landlord or someone else who lives in the locality.

The limbs of Ground 7a will only be applicable where the conviction has not been successfully appealed. Similarly if an appeal is still pending it will not be possible to use this ground.

In practice, most PRS landlords will not be able to use Ground 7a without significant support from a local authority and/or the police.

Ground 14

Ground 14 is a discretionary ground available to landlords where the tenant, or someone else living in or visiting the property is -

• guilty of behaviour causing or likely to cause nuisance or annoyance to anyone living in, visiting or carrying out a lawful activity in the locality;
• guilty of behaviour causing or likely to cause nuisance or annoyance to the landlord or someone employed (whether or not by the landlord) in connection with the landlord's housing management functions;
• convicted for using the premises, or allowing them to be used, for illegal or immoral purposes
• convicted of an indictable offence committed in the locality. This means an offence that is not exclusively tried in the magistrate's court.

This ground is used more often than Ground 7a as it does not require a conviction, allowing neighbours and other tenants to provide supporting evidence for the harm that the tenant's behaviour has caused.