Nuisance tenant evicted for Anti-Social Behaviour

Ashfield District Council’s Community Safety Team have successfully evicted a former resident of Priestic Road, Sutton in Ashfield, for persistent anti-social behaviour offences and ordered to pay costs totalling £1038.69.

A Closure Order was initially granted at Mansfield Magistrates Court on 3 March 2023, for a period of 3 months to prevent incidents of drug activity, violence, and noise nuisance linked to the address. The order was granted under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which prohibited access to the property to all persons except Council representatives and the Emergency services.

The persistent anti-social behaviour from those visiting and living at the property was having a significant impact to local residents which resulted in the Councils Community Safety Team proceeding to evict the tenant and obtain possession of the property through legal proceedings.

A hearing for possession took place at Mansfield County Court on 29 June 2023, where the courts granted Ashfield District Council a possession order, meaning that the previous tenant had to surrender the property back to the Council under S84A(1) of the Housing Act 1985 as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, and ordered to pay costs of £1038.69 by July 2023.

The resident failed to hand back the keys to the property and remove possessions from the property by 13 July 2023, which resulted in the Council’s Community Safety and Legal Team submitting a court warrant instructing bailiffs to carry out the eviction which was executed on 20 September 2023.

Deputy Leader and Executive Lead for Community Safety and Crime Reduction, Cllr Helen-Ann Smith said:

“We can’t praise the community safety team enough for the hard work that goes in across Ashfield to improve the area and promote community safety.

We encourage and rely on residents reporting incidents such as this, so we can act accordingly and in the best interests of our communities. We are all in this together and only together can we forge a better future for Ashfield.”