South West London MPs Meet Social Housing Landlords to Discuss Anti Social Tenants

2.56.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st Feb 2005

The three South West London Liberal Democrat MPs (Vincent Cable, Jenny Tonge and Edward Davey plus Susan Kramer PPC for Richmond) met the heads of the main social housing associations (RHP, Thames Valley, Richmond Churches, Notting Hill, Hastoe, London and Quadrant, Threshold, Central and Cecil) on Friday and discussed, in detail, the problems being created on local estates by 'anti social tenants'.

Vincent Cable said: "There is a growing problem on some of the bigger estates in Hampton, Teddington and Heathfield which once had a real sense of pride and community. Disruptive tenants are blighting the lives of far too many people. In some cases the problems are caused by "vulnerable" people - particularly those with mental illness, drug and alcohol problems - being placed in a community setting without proper support. In others, there appears to be no sanctions on loud aggressive and inconsiderate behaviour".

"Most of the social landlords, to give them credit, have clear and strong policies for dealing with anti social tenants. But their one real sanction is eviction and the courts are very weak in backing them up. As a result other tenants are reluctant to act as witnesses since they fear reprisals after an eviction has failed".

"The answer in many cases must be to bring the so called 'vulnerable' tenants into a more protected environment, with wardens to support and supervise them, rather than scattering them around estates where they are resented and cause problems. It is deeply alarming to hear, therefore, that there was a 5% cut this year in the supporting year budget in Richmond".