Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014

Tenancy warning relating to anti-social behaviour, etc.

7. (1) In this section “specified term” means a term of a tenancy agreement that prohibits—

(a) anti-social behaviour,

(b) nuisance or conduct likely to cause annoyance or disturbance to neighbours, or

(c) the tenant from knowingly permitting a person, against whom an excluding order under section 3 of the Act of 1997 or an interim excluding order under section 4 of that Act is in force in respect of the dwelling concerned, to enter the dwelling in breach of the excluding order or interim excluding order, as the case may be.

(2) A housing authority may issue a tenancy warning under this section to a tenant where, in the opinion of the authority, the tenant or a member of his or her household has breached a specified term of the tenancy agreement.

(3) A tenancy warning issued under this section shall, subject to subsection (5), set out the basis for its issue and the reason for its issue and for those purposes shall—

(a) set out—

(i) the specified term or specified terms that has or have, in the housing authority’s opinion, been breached,

(ii) the nature of that breach, including the name of the household member (if that name is readily available to the housing authority) who caused that breach, the occasion of the breach and, where relevant, the significant or persistent detrimental effect of the breach on the quality of life of those in the locality of the dwelling to which the tenancy agreement relates,

(b) require the tenant to ensure that the household member who caused that breach—

(i) ceases or does not repeat specified actions, or

(ii) undertakes specified actions,

in order to prevent the detrimental effect of the breach from recurring or continuing,

(c) indicate that, if the breach continues during, or is repeated within, 12 months of the tenancy warning coming into effect, then the authority may either—

(i) apply under section 12 to recover possession of the dwelling, or

(ii) where appropriate, apply to the District Court (under section 3 of the Act of 1997) for an excluding order against the household member who caused that breach,

(d) indicate that the housing authority may, during the period of 3 years following a tenancy warning coming into effect, take the tenancy warning into account when considering whether—

(i) to consent, under subsection (12) of section 90 of the Principal Act, to a sale of a dwelling to the person identified in the tenancy warning as causing the breach of the specified term, where the grounds for refusal would be those set out in subparagraph (a)(ii) of that subsection,

(ii) to consent, under subsection (3) of section 48 of the Act of 2009, to a sale, during the charged period, of a dwelling to the person identified in the tenancy warning as causing the breach of the specified term, where the grounds for refusal would be those set out in paragraph (b) of that subsection,

(iii) to consent, under subsection (4) of section 76 of the Act of 2009, to a sale, during the charged period, of a dwelling to the person identified in the tenancy warning as causing the breach of the specified term or specified terms, where the grounds for refusal would be those set out in paragraph (b) of that subsection,

(iv) to consent, under subsection (3) of section 29, to a sale, during the charged period, of a house to the person identified in the tenancy warning as causing the breach of the specified term or specified terms, where the grounds for refusal would be those set out in paragraph (b) of that subsection,

(v) to refuse, under section 14(2) of the Act of 1997, to sell a dwelling to—

(I) the tenant (within the meaning of Part 4 of the Act of 2009 or to whom Part 3 applies) concerned,

(II) the eligible household (within the meaning of Part 3 or 5 of the Act of 2009) concerned, or

(III) the person concerned (in a case to which section 90 of the Principal Act relates),

or

(vi) to refuse, under section 14(1) of the Act of 1997, to allocate a dwelling, or to defer the allocation of it, to the tenant or to the household member identified in the tenancy warning as causing the breach of the specified term,

and

(e) set out the tenant’s right, under section 10 , to request a review of the tenancy warning.

(4) A tenancy warning shall be served on the tenant (either at the dwelling concerned or otherwise) or, in his or her absence from the dwelling, on such other person at the dwelling as may be prescribed or, if the housing authority has attempted to but has not been able to so serve, by so serving subsequently or by serving in such other manner as may be prescribed.

(5) In setting out the basis for a tenancy warning under this section, a housing authority shall have due regard to protecting the identity of persons informing it of the breach of the specified term in circumstances where, in the opinion of the authority, not to do so—

(a) could render those persons, or persons associated with them, liable to violence, threat or fear as a consequence of so informing, or

(b) might otherwise have prevented those persons from so informing because of such violence, threat or fear.