A house in central Middlesbrough is the latest to be “closed down” by Cleveland Police due to anti-social behaviour.
The force had applied for a closure order for the house on Falkland Street, in Gresham, Middlesbrough, after police and Middlesbrough Council received reports of noise nuisance, general anti-social behaviour and alleged drug dealing at the property.
Magistrates granted the order to stop anyone, including the two tenants who lived there, returning to the property until June 7.
But landlord Naveed Durani, who was granted special permission by the court to enter with tradesmen to renovate the house, said he believed the decision was “unfair”.
He said: “I was contacted by Middlesbrough Council in June last year, who said there had been reports of anti-social behaviour at the house.
“I asked for proof, but I went and spoke to the tenants who assured me it would not happen again. Then March this year is the next I hear about it. I get another call and these proceedings are brought against the property.
“It will mean that I cannot rent it out until June now. With the lost rent and fixing up the property, I will lose out on about £4,000.”
Mr Durani, who owns and works at the Morgan’s bakery on nearby Parliament Road which overlooks the property, as well as Khan’s Indian restaurant on Borough Road, said he was well-known in the area and had never been told by police, councillors or street wardens about any other anti-social behaviour.
“Everyone in that area knows me, and nobody ever came to me. I thought it was over after I had spoken to the tenants in June last year,” continued Mr Durani.
“I had already told the tenants to move out and they are gone, they are not coming back.
“That should have been enough, and it would have saved taxpayers’ money and the court’s time in granting this order.”
Falkland Street, Middlesbrough
Cleveland Police were the first force in the UK to successfully evict solely on the grounds of antisocial behaviour (ASB), when magistrates agreed to grant a closure order on a house in Steele Crescent in South Bank in February.
And on Friday, Teesside Magistrates Court heard that a number of residents of Falkland Street had made complaints anonymously against tenants living at number 20, as they were afraid of speaking out.
Asa Anderson, appearing on behalf of Cleveland Police at the hearing, said a closure order needed to be made as tenancy law would allow the previous tenants legal access to the property until June 6.
David Scourfield, appearing for Mr Durani, had said that the landlord would “give his word” that the tenants would not go back to the property and that Mr Durani could be “trusted” as a “well-known businessman in Middlesbrough”.
But Mr Anderson told magistrates that Mr Durani would be breaking the law himself if he tried to stop his tenants returning without a court order.
Julie Pearce, Middlesbrough Council’s neighbourhood safety officer for Gresham, said in court: “Residents in the street were too scared to give hard evidence, they would only give anonymous statements.
“There were complaints about a heavy volume of visitors, loud banging on the doors, noise nuisance and alleged drug dealing. On March 18 police found drugs at the property.”
Magistrates granted the closure order until 00.00 on June 7, but made an exception for Mr Durani and anyone working to repair the house to go inside as long as police were notified who would be entering.
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