A partnership approach makes the difference
We know anti-social behaviour and criminal activity have a negative impact on people and the wider community. When people report anti-social or criminal behaviour to us, we work in partnership to resolve it. Depending on the situation, we use different approaches to tackle issues – find out more in our anti-social behaviour directory launched earlier this year.
Tackling anti-social behaviour in Leeds
Recently, we’ve worked with two communities in Leeds to successfully resolve anti-social behaviour and reduce crime. In both communities, local people were fearful about drug use, drug dealing and gang-related crime. We spoke to residents about their experiences and gathered evidence about what was happening over a period of time. We also worked closely with the Police, Social Services, and Council and requested a closure order.
A closure order can either stop visitors from going to someone’s home or stop anyone going into that home (including the tenant). People can be arrested if they continue to visit homes that have a closure order in place. The council applies for a closure order which is then granted by the court if the anti-social or criminal behaviours are very serious and have a detrimental impact on residents and the local area.
In both of our recent cases, the court granted closure orders to stop anyone going into those homes. This provided relief for the neighbours who had been suffering from harassment and the negative impact of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.
- A closure order lasts for a certain time (usually 3 months). It doesn’t automatically end a tenancy and once it’s expired, we can choose to:
- allow people back into the home
- extend the closure order
- apply for the tenant to be evicted – this is called getting ‘full possession’ and is through a court process. The process can take a long time. Court cases also need strong evidence and witness statements from neighbours are usually needed.
Sometimes people choose not to return to their home when a closure order expires. This happened in both of our recent cases which meant we could end the tenancies quickly.
