Council tenants may soon be evicted if they are convicted of serious crimes around their homes.
The town hall wants to bring in “absolute ground for possession”, which removes any discretionary power from a judge and allows them to take back a property on a conviction alone.
A report going before Hackney’s cabinet members tonight states: “The intention of the anti-social behaviour service is to only use this power in cases where very serious intentional criminal activity leading to ASB has been perpetrated. We anticipate this power would be used less than half a dozen times during any one year.
“The Hackney Housing ASB Service has encountered several scenarios where this power could have been used.”
Examples of when the measures could be used include stopping drug dealing on an estate and hate crime, as well as when closure orders haven’t worked. Brent, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Newham are already using the tool.
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