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Anti-social behaviour injunctions: how to get them done during the lockdown

Common practice for obtaining anti-social behaviour injunctions is challenged by the lockdown. Helen Tucker sets out the steps that could be taken

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@ACSLLP has helped @citizen_housing obtain two ASB injunctions, one involving spitting at staff and threatening to spit at police #ukhousing

Anti-social behaviour injunctions “should not be sought lightly in the current climate”, says Helen Tucker from @ACSLLP #ukhousing

As soon as the three-month pause on all possession proceedings came into force on 27 March 2020, landlords’ ability to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in their communities appeared to be significantly hampered. The stay was issued by the master of the rolls and lasts until 25 June 2020. There are no exceptions to the possession cases covered by the suspension.

Attention has therefore turned to the use of ASB injunctions. Injunctions have always been prepared on paper and heard in person to date (save for rare out-of-hours emergencies). There are also concerns over the ability to enforce an injunction with a power of arrest.

Will the police prioritise such an arrest? Even if they agree to do so, can a hearing to potentially commit somebody to prison be dealt with, within the 24-hour time limit in which the legislation requires a person to be produced to court after arrest? Many courts are currently closed to the public, so would an injunction just be a piece of paper of little value?


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Happily, the court service and the judiciary have made significant steps in a very short space of time to enable injunctions to be issued by email and heard remotely. This is despite reduced staffing at courts and housing staff and their lawyers facing the same challenges as everybody else with social isolation and working from home electronically.

We have now obtained two emergency injunctions for Citizen Housing in a West Midlands County Court, the first on 2 April and the second on 6 April. The ability to obtain injunctions when other means are currently unavailable is very important, particularly when people are spending prolonged periods of time in the confines of their homes and can do nothing to escape ASB.

“This tenant had had 2,000 visitors in the first three months of 2020 (identifiable because of the fobs used to access the building)”

The first case involved several incidents where the tenant had been abusive to Citizen’s response staff working at the tower block. It became more serious on 21 March, when the tenant spat at a Citizen staff member who patrols the building. When arrested, the tenant threatened to spit at police and was also found with drugs with a street value of £400.

This tenant had had 2,000 visitors in the first three months of 2020, which was identifiable because of the fobs used to access the building, and the number of visitors had not dropped in the three weeks since the coronavirus crisis began.

Finally, there was strong evidence to suggest that the tenant was using the property for the consumption and supply of drugs.

The second case involved a tenant having a high number of visitors to the same block, including drug users and prostitutes, and the front door lock being superglued open by the tenant’s visitors daily. There were a number of incidents where the tenant’s visitors had assaulted other residents, and despite separate injunction orders having been obtained against some of those individuals, the tenant continued to allow them in.

Again, there was evidence the tenant was using the property for the consumption and supply of drugs.

Citizen’s safer neighbourhood officers drafted excellent succinct statements with exhibits kept to a minimum so they could be emailed to court.

Practicalities

We emailed the papers to the court, having notified the office in advance that we had an emergency injunction to be dealt with. Normally we would attend at the court office and arrange for three hard copies of the papers to be issued over the counter (in some courts, a pre-appointment is required for this) and then wait until a district judge or circuit judge is free to hear us. Instead, this time we emailed the papers to court. The court office emailed back to confirm a judge would hear the matter by telephone hearing the next working day.

A telephone hearing requires the landlord’s lawyers to book a call via one of the approved telephone providers and provide them with all relevant phone numbers. These hearings are dealt with without notice on an emergency basis, so the tenant is not aware of the hearing.

The hearing proceeded in the usual way, just on the phone.

“The judge refused a coronavirus-specific ‘no visitors’ clause and said it did not mirror the tenancy agreement, but we will keep arguing that point as ASB injunctions do not need to match tenancy terms”

In summary, the court order prohibited the tenants from using or threatening violence, using abusive words or conduct towards any neighbour, visitor, Citizen employee or contractor or to “persons otherwise engaged in a lawful activity” in the block, eg the police.

They were also prohibited from possessing, growing, storing, consuming or supplying any illegal drug in any part of the block.

The judge refused a coronavirus-specific ‘no visitors’ clause and said it did not mirror the tenancy agreement, but we will keep arguing that point as ASB injunctions do not need to match tenancy terms.

In the second case, a long list of named visitors (non tenants) were excluded from the block, which served the same purpose.

Personal service is usually required before an injunction comes into force. In these circumstances the judge made a detailed order for alternative service by way of first-class post, and either a text or WhatsApp message with a clear photo of the order, or an email with the full order and supporting evidence.

Citizen had already been in discussion with its local neighbourhood police teams before applying for these injunctions, because the police were being called to the blocks repeatedly due to the damage to the doors.

The number of visitors were causing a high level of anxiety to other residents isolating at home and to Citizen staff. The police agreed that they would arrest under any power of arrest order if breaches occurred.

Injunctions should not be sought lightly in the current climate. Now is perhaps not the time to be tackling messy gardens, for example.

Emergency without notice injunctions should be reserved for serious anti-social behaviour and conduct that puts neighbours, staff and emergency services at risk of harm, which would include the risk of infection.

Helen Tucker, partner in the housing litigation team, Anthony Collins Solicitors

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