Major Act amended

When originally published, the 2004 Housing Act had a requirement for landlords to be responsible for controlling the ASB of their tenants, and their tenants friends, within the vicinity of the rented property.

The Southern Landlords Association (SLA) (the pre-runner to iHowz – see our history here) regarded this as onerous, and supported the Landlord Association of Northern Ireland (LANI) to mount a Judicial Review of this requirement.

It was recognised that landlords had a duty to request any tenant displaying ASB to desist, but only way of ultimately controlling ASB was to issue an ASBO (Anti Social Behavior Order), and these can only be issued by the Police; Local Authorities and some Social Landlords.

The case was duly heard, and the Judge (GIRVAN J) was scathing of the Government, citing Human Rights.

As a consequence the Housing Act 2004 was amended to remove this requirement.