Tenants and social landlords in Dundee want tougher rules to deal with anti-social behaviour.
They have called for quicker evictions and greater use of probationary tenancies to see if problem families can get along with their neighbours.
The Scottish Government has been consulting on plans to give councils and housing associations more freedom in how they allocate and manage their properties, and more tools to tackle difficulties in communities.
Housing minister Keith Brown said: ”These include the difficulties caused by the anti-social behaviour of some tenants. We remain committed to toughening the tenancy rules for tenants who behave anti-socially.”
Among the bodies to respond were Dundee City Council, Dundee Federation of Tenants’ Associations and Abertay Housing Association, which owns about 1,800 homes in the city.
All agreed that landlords should have more flexibility to consider previous anti-social behaviour by an applicant or members of their family in deciding who gets priority for affordable rented housing.
Abertay Housing Association said having the power to convert a secure tenancy to a short one would be a useful tool, providing a less final sanction than eviction.
”There is at present a lack of low level, proportionate, quick sanctions landlords can impose on antisocial tenants,” it said. ”The options too often come down to ‘do nothing’ versus ‘pursue court action for eviction’.
”The process must require less evidence and be quicker and cheaper than the present legal processes leading to eviction for antisocial behaviour or obtaining an Asbo, which must go through the court system.
”The landlord must be able to change the tenancy without going through the court system.”
Dundee City Council said it agreed that being able to take prior problems with prospective tenants into account in deciding on an application would contribute to creating stable, attractive neighbourhoods not blighted by anti-social behaviour.
But it cautioned: ”The appropriate indicators for the level of unacceptable behaviour would have to be defined and applied consistently. How would a previous Asbo measure against statutory homeless priority?”
The council added it wanted to see eviction actions made faster, with courts able to take into account any proven instances of anti-social or criminal behaviour in or around the home rather than spend time on a fresh hearing to establish what happened.
Dundee Federation of Tenants’ Associations said it was concerned about the length of time investigations into anti-social behaviour can take.
”So many people are victims to this type of behaviour and the process for dealing with this is open to abuse by the perpetrators,” it said.
”There are too many grey areas in how anti-social behaviour is identified and evidenced. This needs to be addressed in order that more clarity is there for landlords, victims and perpetrators.”
The Scottish Government is considering all the responses to its consultation before it decides what changes to make to the rules social landlords follow.