Hundreds of tenants evicted from Midland council homes

Hundreds of tenants living in Midland council homes have been evicted for owing rent in the past year, housing providers have revealed.

Rent arrears topped the list of reasons given by landlords in the Black Country and Staffordshire for booting out residents. Illegal drugs and noise complaints were also given as reasons.

All the housing services said decisions to evict were a last resort and efforts were made to offer debt advice and mediation to tackle complaints before legal action.

Wolverhampton Homes, which looks after 23,000 homes on behalf of the city council, evicted 140 people. Of those, 135 had fallen behind in rent payments while five were evicted for being a nuisance to neighbours.

An investigation by the Express & Star revealed a similar picture at neighbouring boroughs during the period April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010.

Sandwell Homes, which covers 29,000 properties, evicted 89 tenants. Of those, 81 were for rent arrears, six for drugs issues and two for noise nuisance and unacceptable behaviour.

Dudley Council made 86 evictions for rent arrears, breaches of tenancy and anti-social behaviour.

Walsall Housing Group made 68 evictions for rent arrears and 10 for bad behaviour. Stafford and Rural Homes, based in Stafford, made seven evictions for rent arrears.