Customer story: Eviction after ongoing ASB
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) can seriously affect neighbours and the local community. We recently faced a situation where a customer was causing problems due to drug use. He had visitors at all hours who were dealing drugs, making noise, and behaving badly.
Local residents told us they didn’t feel safe leaving their homes at night or allowing their children out on their own because of the ASB from this person and their connections.
When our ASB and Intervention Team took over, we worked closely with the police and the local authority to gather information. We held multi-agency meetings to share what we knew, which gave us the grounds to issue a Notice of Seeking Possession - the first legal step in taking back a property.
We recognised that the customer had vulnerabilities because of his drug use, so we worked with support agencies to offer help and try to keep him in his home. Unfortunately, this didn’t work.
Because of the impact his behaviour was having on the community, we had no choice but to go to court to take back the property. In court, the judge agreed that we had a good reason and gave us the right to recover the home.
On the day of eviction, several local residents approached us and thanked us for the work we’d done to evict the person.
One neighbour became emotional and said we had “made her Christmas.” Another said they were relieved the situation was finally over, adding that the area was lovely, and they could enjoy living there again.
Our ASB and Intervention Officer handling the case also received the following message:
“Happy New Year, I’d just like to say a massive thanks for the help with the eviction, it was a blessing. I had some time off over Christmas and can say I was able to have a lay in which was lovely”.
There’s always some concern from the community that if someone is evicted, another tenant with similar behaviour might move in. We reassured customers that the property would be let sensitively, meaning we would only offer it to someone with no history of ASB.
To find out more about our approach to ASB, visit the dedicated page on our website. You can report ASB through your online account, by email at antisocialbehaviour@chp.org.uk, or by phone on 0300 555 0500.