Tribunal: Anti-social behaviour – tenancy terminated

A tenant who cut the Sky cable, removed fuses from the fuse box and put them back incorrectly, and tagged items on the premises has had his periodic tenancy terminated.

Monday, October 25th 2021, 6:02AM

The landlord asked the Tenancy Tribunal to end the tenancy because of the tenant’s anti-social behaviour.

Name suppression has been given to both the tenant and landlord by the tribunal. The landlord issued three written notices to the tenant within a 90 day period.

On the first occasion the tribunal heard the Sky cable was outside the tenant’s bedroom and was not accessible from the street.

The Sky cable was cut on or shortly after the tenant took the interior Sky cable from the back of the Sky box, after an argument with another tenant who owned the Sky box.

The other tenant called a Sky technician out who determined the cable had been deliberately cut.

On the second occasion the kitchen cupboards and the rubbish bins were tagged with the tenant’s “tag”.

There were also three occasions where there have been issues with fuses.

On one of these occasions the fuse boxes were missing and found in the tenant’s possession, the tribunal heard. The tenant was warned.

On the other two occasions the fuses were inserted incorrectly into the wrong fuse boxes, which could have resulted in a fire at the house.

Adjudicator T Prowse heard the situation had escalated.

Since filing the application the landlord had had to remove another tenant for his safety after there was an altercation and the police were called.

The tenant was also seen taking a TV owned by the landlord from the house.

Prowse said it would not be unfair to terminate the tenancy taking into account the circumstances in which the behaviour arose, and the notices that were given.

“I cannot see that the landlord has acted in any retaliatory way in bringing this application. I cannot consider the impact on the tenant.

“However, the landlord has told me that [they are] working with the tenant to find other suitable accommodation.”

Name suppression was given as the tenant suffers from a mental health condition.

“Whilst the public has an interest in knowing the circumstances of decisions made under this section of the RTA – particularly as it is quite new – this can still be achieved by the names of the parties remaining anonymous.”

Tags: anti-social behaviour landlords property management RTA Tenancy Tribunal tenants