The Respect Standard, which has played a key role in driving up landlords' performance on preventing and tackling antisocial behaviour, will now be run by housing professionals rather than central government, in line with the move to devolve power to communities.
Following an announcement by Housing Minister Grant Shapps, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) will take on and manage the new national Standard for preventing and tackling antisocial behaviour, with the support of hundreds of signatories from within the social housing sector.
Working closely with the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group (SLCNG) and performance improvement organisation HouseMark, CIH will refresh and update the five year old Respect Standard to reflect developments over the last few years.
Sarah Webb, CIH Chief Executive, said:
"The Respect Standard has played a key role in supporting landlords and tenants tackle the blight on families and communities that is antisocial behaviour.
"CIH has played a key role in driving this forward and we are delighted that we will be the new home of standards around antisocial behaviour.
"CIH is about sector-led improvement and we fully support the Government's plans to pass ownership of excellence in practice back to the front line professionals.
"After all, these are the people who are responsible for the development and delivery of innovation and improvement that makes a real difference on the ground".
Eamon Lynch, SLCNG Policy Advisor, said:
"This is good news. More than 93% of the landlords we surveyed were keen that the Standard should be retained and updated.
"From its inception, the Standard has been a dynamic tool driving up performance and we look forward to building on that momentum."
Deputy CEO for HouseMark Sam McGrady said:
"HouseMark has a strong track record in antisocial behaviour performance improvement, and successful working partnerships with both SLCNG and the CIH.
We are looking forward to working with them and the sector to develop a new approach to ASB."
Grant Shapps also confirmed funding for a second year for the ASB Action Team based within CIH.
The ASB Advisors offer advice and guidance on the best way to tackle wider antisocial behaviour issues in the community. They seek to share existing best practice, to help housing providers make the best use of existing resources and ultimately to help secure improvements in services delivered to tenants.
Funding from CLG has enabled this team to deliver their services to landlords without charge.
To visit the ASB Action Team website click here.
New Government proposals will mean neighbours from hell who cause misery and fear for their fellow tenants could face swifter eviction.
The proposals include a package of measures and Government cash towards tackling antisocial behaviour, giving greater support to tenants and landlords.
Currently it can take over a year to remove neighbours from hell, who during that time can cause absolute misery for local residents and bring down the wider neighbourhood.
The Government now plans to strengthen the hand of residents, councils and housing associations to act. It will introduce a new additional mandatory ground for possession, so those tenants with a track record of antisocial behaviour can be evicted from their council or housing association property much more quickly.
Ministers believe this will lead to a faster and fairer court process - being found guilty of housing related antisocial behaviour in one court will provide automatic grounds for eviction in the county court, removing the need to prove the incidents of antisocial behaviour for a second time.
To further speed up the courts process, the Justice Department will be consulted on whether there were any unnecessary obstacles to the swift resolution of ASB possession cases where serious harm is being caused to individuals and communities.
It was also announced that £300,000 of Government funding will be dedicated to a new central team to help tenants and landlords tackle the blight of neighbours from hell in their communities.
It was further announced that the Government will also clarify the rules around the use of 'probationary tenancies', which are normally offered to new tenants for up to a year.
It will look to reassure housing associations that they have the same freedoms as council landlords to provide longer 'probationary tenancies'. That will mean all social landlords can be confident that they can extend these less secure tenancies for new tenants by up to six months, giving them the extra time they may need to be certain that these new residents treat their home, and their neighbours, with respect.
The Government is also reviewing the antisocial behaviour tool and powers available to the police, councils and social landlords and will publish a consultation on proposed changes shortly.
Action already taken includes launching a new trial in eight police force areas for handling complaints of antisocial behaviour, which will help to quickly identify and protect the most vulnerable victims.
