Blay Close-the ordeal continues
Residents face long wait after eviction notice is served on nightmare neighbours
An antisocial tenant in Blay Close who has subjected neighbours to constant late night noise, intimidation and unruly behaviour for over a year has been issued with an eviction notice following an IWCA-led campaign.
However, there is little cause for celebration just yet as it will still take at least two months before the nightmare household is forced to go.
And to add to residents’ woes there are now complaints about two more problem households in the close.
IWCA housing adviser Maurice Leen commented, ‘This case highlights the importance of prompt action by the council against antisocial behaviour.
If this doesn’t happen there is a danger that residents on the receiving end lose hope of ever arriving at a solution and things can easily get worse.
‘This is why the IWCA put a motion through the council to get procedures for dealing with antisocial behaviour tightened up. However, we would still advise people to come to us as soon as they feel there is a problem so we can ensure the proper procedure is followed.’
As reported in the last issue of the Leys Independent, Blay Close residents had been filling out incident diaries in order to build up evidence of disruptive behaviour for six months or more before being told their efforts had been in vain, simply because the council hadn’t taken the correct steps.
The IWCA made enquiries, after residents got in touch, and discovered
that the antisocial tenant’s landlord, Oxford Citizens Housing Association, wasn’t aware of the problem as it hadn’t received a complaint from the council.
As a result there had been no attempt to warn the tenant or start proceedings against them.
The long-suffering residents were understandably demoralised but persevered nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the housing association appeared to be in no hurry to take action against its tenant either.
IWCA councillor Lee Cole, who followed up the case, said, ‘For several weeks now I have had to ring Oxford Citizens Housing Association on an almost daily basis to ensure that an eviction notice was eventually served.
All this time residents have been at their wits end.’
‘When this problem is dealt with we should hopefully be in a better position to tackle the other antisocial elements in Blay Close so that residents there can eventually get back to normal.’
Tackling persistent antisocial behaviour in the future
The IWCA motion on antisocial behaviour was passed at the November council meeting.
As a result of the motion the council needs to ensure that it:
- reacts promptly to antisocial behaviour;
- keeps residents who are making a complaint fully informed about the progress of their case;
- offers advice on what will need to be done to resolve the problem;
- only gives out incident diaries to be filled in when all necessary steps have been taken to allow the recorded evidence to be used in court if necessary.
As a follow up to this the IWCA is currently looking at why the council continues to re-house tenants with a record of persistent disruptive behaviour, drug misuse and violence.
In some cases these antisocial elements have been moved between a series of addresses across Oxford, creating havoc and misery everywhere they go.
The IWCA aims to bring an end to this crazy policy.
Leys Independent, issue 31, February 2006
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