Throughout lockdown, River Clyde Homes said it has treated reports of anti-social behaviour extremely seriously. Whilst tenants are protected to some extent due to the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (an emergency law to protect renters in Scotland during coronavirus), tenants can still be issued with an ASBO by the Scottish courts.

And although the Act temporarily extends the amount of notice landlords must give before beginning the process of ending a tenancy (in most cases landlords will now need to give tenants six months notice) certain exemptions apply; such as when they are ending the tenancy due anti-social or criminal behaviour.

On Monday August 24, River Clyde Homes was granted two ASBOs at Greenock Sheriff Court due to persistent complaints of anti-social behaviour despite repeated warnings being issued. These are the first ASBOs to be granted to RCH.

Things moved quickly after that and one of the perpetrators was subsequently arrested for breach of his ASBO. He has now been prohibited from returning to Greenock and hence, the property.

Elaine Cannon, River Clyde Homes service improvement manager, said: “The recent situation has shown how effective partnership working can be to solve a problem that was affecting a number of people. We are aware of the impact antisocial behaviour can have on our tenants’ lives, particularly during this pandemic and we take a zero tolerance approach. An ASBO prevents a person behaving in certain ways or doing certain things and can prevent further distress and alarm caused by anti-social behaviour.

“As we saw in the case of one of the perpetrators, Police Scotland, Inverclyde Council and the Sheriff have acted quickly at the first sign of a breach.

“As a result of this excellent partnership working, including with local residents, we have seen swift action take place. River Clyde Homes will continue to support residents who report anti-social behaviour and will take action against the perpetrators which may include seeking an ASBO and recovering the tenancy.”

Andrew Durk, community policing inspector, added: “Police Scotland has been working together with River Clyde Homes and Inverclyde Council to tackle a number of properties regarding antisocial behaviour and flouting COVID regulations, by a small number of tenants. This kind of persistent anti-social behaviour remains a focus for the Area Commander and we will continue to target and pursue these individuals using the strongest possible legal action against them.

“Since the interim ASBOs were granted, a 35-year-old male was arrested for allegedly breaching the conditions and was held in custody to appear at court. This demonstrates how working in partnership can have a positive impact against individuals concerned in this kind of toxic behaviour.”

Councillor Jim Clocherty, Inverclyde Council’s convener of education and communities, said: “Nobody should have to put up with anti-social behaviour. We’re committed to tackling the problem in partnership with the police and other relevant organisations, in this case River Clyde Homes.

“Evidence supplied by the council’s community wardens and police helped officers and RCH to take action. The council’s partnership working was recently recognised with an award from the divisional commander and we’re pleased that our role here has had a positive outcome.”