A housing association is using the courts to crack down on anti-social behaviour on its estates.
Cartrefi Conwy, which owns and runs almost 4,000 former Conwy County Council homes, is getting tough with people who make their tenants lives a misery.
But instead of going down the ASBO – Anti-Social Behaviour Order – route, Cartrefi Conwy are instead applying for County Court injunctions and it’s proving quicker and more effective.
They currently have 15 injunctions ‘live’ dealing with serious cases of noise, nuisance and even criminal behaviour and they are the first social landlord in North Wales to be signed up as Working Towards the Welsh Assembly Government’s Standard for Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour.
Dave Wainwright, the manager of their Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, said: “We deal with all sorts of problems from noise and nuisance to untidy gardens but in serious cases when we have exhausted all other interventions we can apply for a court injunction.
“This is an Anti-Social Behaviour injunction and if it is breached it can carry a prison sentence of up to two years and judges don’t look very sympathetically on people who breach their orders.
“We believe it is a quicker and more effective route than an ASBO and one person was recently jailed for three months for breaching an injunction.
“We have spent £30 million on renovating our properties internally and we’re about to spend over £3 million on external improvements but we also believe our tenants deserve to be able to enjoy their homes free from nuisance and we won’t hesitate to make sure that is the case.”
Cartrefi Conwy employ a network of neighbourhood co-ordinators to oversee their properties throughout Conwy county: “They play a valuable role in supporting tenants and helping address bad behaviour on the estates,” said Dave.
“They can address the issues on site, speak to tenants and iron out problems early doors and it’s only if that doesn’t have the desired effect that the anti-social behaviour team are called in to provide a solution.
“That can range from ABC’s, acceptable behaviour contracts, to final warnings but what we want to do is to solve the problem.
“We can’t do it on our own but if we work with tenants, their neighbours and the police we can support each other and reach a solution.
“Jail is a last resort and so is repossession. We don’t want anyone to lose their home, we want them to be good tenants and neighbours and we try to help and support them as much as we can.”
The problems faced range from untidy gardens and noise and nuisance to cases of violence and intimidation and even use and abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Jan Jones is the Unit’s Case Officer and she said: “We won’t tolerate anti-social behaviour. We are talking about neighbourliness here, about people who pay their rent and have a right to live in peace and quiet.
“Why should some of the money they pay in rent be used to pay for someone else’s garden to be cleared or to deal with noise and nuisance problems.
“It’s all about helping to improve the quality of life for our tenants and if we can stop anti-social behaviour on an estate then everyone benefits.”
Dave Wainwright added: “Building communities to be proud of is our mission statement at Cartrefi Conwy and we are working with North Wales Police and other agencies to do that.”
