Agenda item

To consider a request by a tenant for a review of the decision to issue a Notice of Proceedings for Possession under the provisions of the Housing Act 1996 (Part V).

(This item contains personal information regarding the appellant which is exempt from publication by virtue of Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).

The Committee considered a request for an Introductory Tenancy Review from a tenant dissatisfied with a decision taken by the Council to issue a Notice of Proceedings for Possession.

Mr S Arnold, Housing Officer, Blackpool Coastal Housing and Ms S Hunter, Senior Legal Officer, Blackpool Council presented the case on behalf of the Authority.

Mrs White, Chief Corporate Solicitor was in attendance to advise the Committee on policy and procedure only and had taken no part in the original decision.

The appellant was not in attendance.

The Committee carefully considered the written representation provided by both parties, namely the Review report, Report of PCSO Jill Bond, the Notice to Terminate, including the appellant’s reasons for seeking the review.

The Committee considered that the Notice to Terminate had been correctly served and that, on balance, the reports of anti-social behaviour contained in the chronology had occurred.  The Committee noted that in the appellant’s request for a review, he had disputed only the allegations concerning the incident on 25 October 2015, but on balance, the Committee accepted that that incident occurred as alleged.

The appellant did not dispute the allegation of outstanding rent arrears. 

The Committee accepted that the appellant had not repaired windows that he or his visitors had damaged.  It also found that the appellant’s conduct and that of his visitor had, on every alleged occasion, been anti-social and unacceptable and caused nuisance, annoyance, disturbance, alarm or distress to residents and to others near the property.

In reaching its decision, the Committee noted the varied sources and the extent of complaints concerning the appellants’ behaviour and that of his visitor, for which he was responsible.  They noted also and accepted the confirmatory evidence from the police regarding the nature and wider prejudicial impact of the appellant’s behaviour on neighbours, including a vulnerable, terminally ill neighbour.  They noted the photographic evidence of the condition of the property.  The Committee had regard to the appellant’s allegation that his partner had medical issues that had influenced the situation, but were of the view, that even if substantiated, this did not outweigh the considerable and unacceptable detriment to which others in the vicinity had been subjected too.

The Committee noted that Blackpool Coastal Housing had attempted to engage with the appellant to ensure that he complied with the terms of the tenancy, sending three warning letters between October 2014 and November 2014 and in May 2015, extended the Introductory Tenancy to provide further opportunity for the appellant to improve his conduct.  The Committee was satisfied that notwithstanding those efforts the anti-social behaviour continued despite promises to change.

The Committee found on a fact, on the balance of probabilities, that all the allegations of breaches of Clauses Five (Rent), Seven (Repairs) and Eight (Anti-Social Behaviour) of the appellants tenancy agreement were made out.   In all the circumstances, the Committee was satisfied that the correct procedures had been followed and that the decision of the Council was entirely justified and proportionate and upheld the decision.

Resolved:

1.  That the case be heard in the appellant’s absence as it had been made clear to him that that would be the case.

2.  That, having considered all the information, the original decision to issue a Notice of Proceedings for Possession be upheld on the grounds that the terms of the Introductory Tenancy Agreement had been significantly breached and the unanimous decision of the Committee was to uphold the decision of the Council.

Background papers:  Exempt