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The Departments ASB policy and procedure is compatible with obligations imposed on us by existing legislation, including:
Additionally, this statement and summary have been assessed as compatible with the department’s Housing and Homelessness Strategies.
The Act brings in a number of new duties and powers for local authorities in their landlord capacity. These are:
Section 27 of the Children Act requires any authority that is asked to assist by another local authority to protect the interests of a child to comply with the request provided the request is compatible with their own statutory duties and obligations and does not unduly prejudice the discharge of any of their other functions.
This means that a local authority must take in to account, and comply with, any requests concerning the interests of a child from other authorities, such as Social Services or the Education Authority, before deciding on appropriate action to deal with anti-social behaviour.
The forthcoming Children’s Bill, which is expected to become law in the next few months, will introduce new measures to safeguard children and replace the existing child protection arrangements.
Section 22 (3) (c) of the Disability Discrimination Act states that it is unlawful for a person managing any premises to discriminate against a disabled person occupying those premises by evicting the disabled person, or subjecting him to any other detriment.
The definition of a disabled person includes those who have a mental health or learning disability, as well as those with physical disabilities.
In accordance with case law concerning this Act a landlord must take into account any disability before deciding what action to take. It would be discriminatory under the terms of the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995 to seek to evict a person for nuisance if that nuisance arose because of the disability unless the nuisance is extreme and the resultant effect on neighbours is deemed to greater than the effect of the loss of the disabled person’s home.
This is a developing area of law and it may be necessary to re-evaluate the situation in the light of emerging case law.
Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 gives local authorities the power to do anything which they consider is likely to achieve the promotion or improvement of the social well-being of their area and the promotion or improvement of the environmental well-being of their area.
This power may be exercised in relation to or for the benefit of all or any persons resident or present in the local authority’s area and extends to people living outside the area. It enables a local authority to:
The purpose of the Act is to enable local authorities to apply imaginative solutions to problems such as anti-social behaviour.
The Housing Act 1996 (Part VII) sets out the Council’s duties in respect of homelessness. That Act was amended by the Homelessness Act 2002, which required all local authorities to carry out reviews of homelessness in their areas and to develop a strategy for tackling it. Landlords, including the Council, are
expected to make every effort to resolve problems with anti-social and unlawful behaviour, and to explore all options for action, before taking steps to evict a tenant.
Another relevant provision of the Act is the duty placed on local authorities to assist persons where it is not reasonable for a person to continue to occupy accommodation because it is likely to result in violence. This is of particular relevance in considering requests for re-housing from the victims or witnesses of anti-social or criminal behaviour.
The 2002 Act also confirmed The Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002 which extended the categories of people whom the local authority has a duty to assist on grounds of vulnerability to include the following:
a) all 16/17 year olds not currently in Care or covered by the Children Leaving Care Act
b) a person who is aged 18,19,20 or 21 who is a care leaver
c) a person who is vulnerable as a result of having been in care (i.e. over 21)
d) a person who is vulnerable as a result of having been a member of the Armed Forces
e) a person who is vulnerable as a result of having served a custodial sentence or remanded in custody
f) a person who is vulnerable as a result of violence or threats of violence from another person (including domestic violence)
These provisions have particular implications when considering applications for housing from the perpetrators of anti-social behaviour or criminal activity. The Act also changed the way in which local authorities may allocate their properties. In particular the Act removed the power for local authorities to implement blanket exclusions of certain categories of applicant. In its place a power was introduced which allows local authorities to decide that individual applicants are unsuitable to be tenants as a result of serious unacceptable
behaviour.
Unacceptable behaviour is defined as:
“behaviour that would – if the applicant had been a secure tenant of the housing authority at that time – have entitled the authority to possession under section 84 of the Housing Act 1985 (other than ground 8)”.
This is a complex test but the Code of Guidance published in November 2002 states that, if authorities wish to treat applicants as ineligible on the basis of unacceptable behaviour, they must follow certain steps and satisfy themselves that: -
a) there must have been unacceptable behaviour AND that such behaviour would constitute reasonable grounds for granting a possession order;
b) that the behaviour is SERIOUS ENOUGH to make the applicant unsuitable to be a tenant of the housing authority; and
c) AT THE TIME the application is considered, it is appropriate to take that behaviour into account.
The Guidance makes it clear that it is not appropriate to take into account previous unacceptable behaviour if the behaviour can be shown to have improved.
These provisions are important as they mean that people who have been evicted for anti-social behaviour cannot automatically be excluded from the Housing Needs Register. Each case must be considered on its merits. If an existing applicant or tenant on the Housing Needs Register or Transfer Register is guilty of anti-social behaviour then the same test is applied and, provided the criteria are met, they will receive no preference and will lose all their points for housing until such time as the behaviour has improved or is no longer
relevant.
The Data Protection Act deals with the collection, storage and use of data. It is relevant because it places restrictions on the disclosure of data. The Act applies specifically to data that is of a personal nature. The data may be obtained and stored in a number of ways. For example data can be stored in a paper format (for example application forms and letters), on computer or on film or video (obtained for example through the use of CCTV).
is also relevant. This states:
Previous page: Annex Two - Examples of Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social Behaviour Strategy
Housing Services
E-mail:
housing.tenantparticipation @thanet.gov.uk
Tel: 01843 577221