Research by the National Residential Landlords Association reveals that of those private landlords who have served a repossession notice, half have done so because of a tenant’s anti-social or criminal behaviour.

The data shows that of this group of landlords no less than 84 per cent have not received any assistance in tackling such behaviour from their local authority. 

Some 75 per cent did not have any help from the police while 67 per cent had either always, or sometimes, faced problems gathering evidence or support from neighbours or fellow tenants to address the behaviour of anti-social tenants.

Outlining the typical problems they face, one landlord told the NRLA: “Sometimes (especially in a house of multiple occupancy) tenants fear to speak up about other tenants acting aggressively or drinking or on drugs, for fear of safety. My tenants have been assaulted by my other tenants and we can’t ask them to leave without evidence. Evidence takes time and, in our experience, all the other tenants moved out and we lost money waiting for the bad one to leave”.

The NRLA says concerns about the lack of action to tackle problem behaviour are shared among the public more broadly.  

According to polling for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, of those who experienced anti-social behaviour in the last year, just 26 per cent reported it to the police or local authorities, of which fewer than half (41 per cent) were satisfied with the response they received.

The NRLA is warning that efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour will be made harder when Section 21 repossessions are scrapped in the private rented sector. 

Under the Government’s plans, where tenants cause misery for fellow tenants and neighbours, landlords will only be able to repossess a property where the police or local authority have taken action against them.

The Government has agreed to the NRLA’s calls for a roundtable meeting to discuss how to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour in rented housing. Specifically, the NRLA is calling for a number of measures to ensure effective action against nightmare tenants. 

These include implementing in full the recommendations of the Victims Commissioner’s 2019 report on anti-social behaviour plus the prioritisation of anti-social behaviour hearings by the courts with possession orders enforced swiftly thereafter.

The association also says that where the police or local authorities take action in response to a tenant’s anti-social behaviour, it should be a legal requirement to inform the landlord.

NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “The vast majority of tenants and landlords have a good relationship. However, the minority of renters committing anti-social behaviour cause misery for their fellow tenants and communities more widely. They leave many living in fear of giving evidence against them.

“The police and councils are failing to provide the support landlords desperately need to take swift and effective action against nightmare tenants. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency before Section 21 repossessions are ended.”