A man against whom an Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction (ASBI) was made, banning him from entering the village where he had lived and from harassing the residents, recently failed in his attempt to have the ASBI overturned.
The man was evicted from his village home in 2006 as a result of his anti-social behaviour. In 2007, he returned to the village and caused damage, as a result of which he was given an eight-week prison sentence and a second ASBI.
He returned again in 2008 and caused further damage. This led to his arrest and the issuing of a third ASBI.
He contested the ASBI, claiming that Swindon Council had no right to apply for it, because it was not ‘housing related’.
The Court of Appeal gave that argument short shrift, finding that the local authority had the right, under its housing management functions, to protect its existing tenants from the man’s ‘continuing campaign of intimidation’.
In the view of Lord Neuberger, it would be ‘wrong to interpret such legislation in a way which is artificially restrictive or which discourages or disempowers responsible and considerate landlords from taking proportionate steps in appropriate cases to protect their tenants…’.
This decision will come as a relief to social landlords seeking to protect their tenants from anti-social behaviour by former tenants or others.
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