Crime and Disorder Act 1998

23 Anti-social behaviour as ground of eviction

(1) Schedule 3 to the [1987 c. 26.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (grounds of eviction in relation to secure tenancies) shall be amended in accordance with subsections (2) and (3) below.

(2) For paragraph 2 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“2(1) The tenant, a person residing or lodging in the house with the tenant or a person visiting the house has been convicted of—

(a) using or allowing the house to be used for immoral or illegal purposes; or

(b) an offence punishable by imprisonment committed in, or in the locality of, the house.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1) above “tenant” includes any one of joint tenants and any sub-tenant.”

(3) For paragraph 7 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“7(1) The tenant, a person residing or lodging in the house with the tenant or a person visiting the house has—

(a) acted in an anti-social manner in relation to a person residing, visiting or otherwise engaging in lawful activity in the locality; or

(b) pursued a course of anti-social conduct in relation to such a person as is mentioned in head (a) above,

and it is not reasonable in all the circumstances that the landlord should be required to make other accommodation available to him.

(2) In sub-paragraph (1) above—

• “anti-social”, in relation to an action or course of conduct, means causing or likely to cause alarm, distress, nuisance or annoyance;

• “conduct” includes speech and a course of conduct must involve conduct on at least two occasions; and

• “tenant” includes any one of joint tenants and any sub-tenant.”

(4) For Ground 15 in Schedule 5 to the [1988 c. 43.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 (eviction on ground of use of premises for immoral or illegal purposes etc.) there shall be substituted the following—

“Ground 15

The tenant, a person residing or lodging in the house with the tenant or a person visiting the house has—

(a) been convicted of—

(i) using or allowing the house to be used for immoral or illegal purposes; or

(ii) an offence punishable by imprisonment committed in, or in the locality of, the house; or

(b) acted in an anti-social manner in relation to a person residing, visiting or otherwise engaging in lawful activity in the locality; or

(c) pursued a course of anti-social conduct in relation to such a person as is mentioned in head (b) above.

In this Ground “anti-social”, in relation to an action or course of conduct, means causing or likely to cause alarm, distress, nuisance or annoyance, “conduct” includes speech and a course of conduct must involve conduct on at least two occasions and “tenant” includes any one of joint tenants.”

(5) No person shall be liable to eviction under paragraph 2 or 7 of Schedule 3 to the [1987 c. 26.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 or Ground 15 in Schedule 5 to the [1988 c. 43.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 as substituted respectively by subsection (2), (3) and (4) above in respect of any act or conduct before the commencement of this section unless he would have been liable to be evicted under those paragraphs or, as the case may be, that Ground as they had effect before that substitution.