Banishment for tenants from hell

Anti-social neighbours are to be banned from their town or city under new plans outlined by the Government today.

In the biggest shake-up of housing law for a generation, tenants who persistently abuse or terrorise their neighbours will be evicted more swiftly from their council homes and ordered not to enter specified areas.

Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers decided to act after studies showed so-called neighbours from hell were the main problem for millions of tenants across the country.

For years, a tiny minority of abusive families have wreaked havoc on council estates by playing loud music and abusing their neighbours physically and verbally. As well as making life a misery for fellow residents, they are often involved in petty crime, street robbery and truancy, taking up hours of police and council time.

To evict such tenants through the courts takes months and often years and witnesses are often too afraid to give evidence to secure a prosecution.

The new proposals drawn up by Mr Byers will enable councils to use their own evidence to find tenants guilty instead of having to go through the courts as at present. Witnesses will be guaranteed anonymity and no appeal will be allowed in a process that could take days or weeks to complete.

Once a council has found someone guilty its case will be presented to a court and reviewed without rehearing all the evidence before an eviction order is served.

For the first time public sector landlords will be allowed to change an occupier's tenancy agreement to make it less secure and more liable to eviction if they believe that they are causing problems for their neighbours.

Powers do already exist for councils to obtain injunctions against anti-social tenants with the threat of eviction if they are breached. The new plans, however, will extend this so that court orders can be served to ban a person or family from living in a specified area.

These "exclusion zones" would represent an important departure in tackling nuisance neighbours and would compulsorily transfer them from their locality.

The consultation paper, also drawn up by Housing Minister Lord Falconer of Thoroton, includes measures to tackle the problem from an earlier stage with greater education and social support for families most at risk of causing disorder.