A man has been evicted from his council flat after letting someone else live there.

Stevenage Borough Council (SBC) worked with Herts Police to terminate Mark Simmonds’ tenancy at Lapwing Rise for anti-social behaviour.

Following complaints from neighbours who suspected drug dealing was taking place at at the address, the council’s housing team began investigating Simmonds. At the same time the council’s Income Team were also taking action against Simmonds for rent arrears.

While no evidence of drug dealing was found, the council’s investigations discovered that Simmonds was not living at the property and that he was allowing a friend to stay there. Whilst at court, Mr Simmonds agreed to terminate his tenancy and on April 28 council officers, along with the police, gained entry to the property and carried out a lock change.

SBC’s Strategic Director, Matt Partridge said “This investigation clearly shows we will not tolerate tenants committing anti-social behaviour at any of our properties.

“Our teams will always act promptly and will prosecute persistent anti-social behaviour offenders.”

Safer Neighbourhood Inspector Simon Tabert said “The Police and Stevenage Borough Council have a strong partnership and this is yet another example of how seriously we treat Anti-Social Behaviour and how committed we are to making Stevenage a safe place to live.”