New laws giving residents the right to vet new neighbours were put before in the House of Commons yesterday. The legislation would allow people who have been victimised by anti-social neighbours in the past to veto potential tenants, even if they were moving in to privately-owned properties. The proposals were presented by Steve McCabe, MP for Birmingham Hall Green, who said he had been prompted to act by the experiences of a number of his own constituents. His Tenant Obligations and Vetting Arrangements Bill received its first reading in the Commons yesterday. The Bill would also place a legal obligation on all landlords to check their tenants and refuse to house those with a history of anti-social behaviour. The aim was to stop people who had been evicted from simply moving into a new home - sometimes in the same street - and carrying on their activities, said Mr McCabe. The proposals were supported in the Commons by MPs including Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill), Andy King (Lab Rugby & Kenilworth), Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston) and John Taylor (Con Solihull). Mr McCabe said he had seen the damage caused by anti-social neighbours in his own constituency. He said: "People living on anti-depressants. "People who have lost jobs because they can't concentrate through lack of sleep. "People denied the pleasure of sitting in their own back garden for years. "Even people who have ended up with a criminal record because they've been driven to take the law into their own hands. "That's why my Bill also provides for those ... who have been the victims of abusive neighbours to be consulted as part of the vetting process before a new tenant is put in place. "We owe it to these people to make sure that their living nightmare never happens again to them or to anyone else." One family in Hall Green had suffered a "living nightmare" for more than four years, he said. Neighbours threw cigarette ends, chewing gum and rotting food into their garden. They regularly flooded the house and have destroyed a video recorder, televisions, and a camcorder, and threw pots, toys and soil into their neighbour's balcony. Mr McCabe said: "What's happened this family is like something from Kafka. It must stop and it must stop now." He added: "We need a minimum set of obligations imposed on all tenants by statute. These should include regular rent payments, maintenance of the property and any garden. "They should prohibit the dumping of rubbish, and should require tenants to refrain from damaging a neighbour's property or their right to enjoy their own home because of anti-social behaviour. "Too many landlords pay little or no attention to the misery bad tenants cause as long as Housing Benefit is paid over." | 
