Malmö landlord has no duty to take on drug pushers: tribunal
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Published: 26 Feb, 2019 CET.
Updated: Tue 26 Feb 2019 11:01 CET
Landlords in Malmö should not be required to stop drug pushers operating on the streets outside buildings they control, the city's rent tribunal has ruled.
A 69-year-old man from the Malmö district of Seved took the city's municipal property company MKB to the tribunal as part of a three-year struggle to end the drug sales underneath the window of his apartment.
"The rent tribunal considers that it is not MKB's personnel ... who should be obliged to confront sellers of narcotics to obstruct their business," the tribunal ruled as it dismissed the man's complaint.
It also argued that Malmö police had anyway pledged to install security cameras this February, meaning the man's key demand is likely soon to be met.
The 69-year-old took MKB to the tribunal after repeatedly trying to get them to act against the drug pushers, who he claimed caused a major disturbance in the neighbourhood, with loud music pumping out of the car windows, and drugs paraphernalia lying in the rubbish where children could find it.
During a hearing on February 5th, he complained that he had been threatened and even assaulted by the pushers, adding that he had become "an unwilling drugs scout".
He has submitted photographs of deals being done, and showing the pushers hiding their stashes in the building's bicycle shed.
He demanded that MKB's staff intervene to force the drugs pushers away, and that the company put up security cameras and supply security guards.
MKB lawyer Lars Gunnar Larsson acknowledged that the drugs pushers were a well-documented problem in the area, but said it was difficult, not to mention unsafe, for staff to act against them themselves.
At the same time, privacy laws made it near impossible for the company to put up its own cameras in public areas, limiting them to communal spaces such as laundry rooms and rubbish bin areas.
He stressed, however, that the company was more active than the 69-year-old claimed, with its local staff keeping up a constant dialogue with the police, often informing them about illegal activity.
While drugs continue to be sold in several places openly on the street, the district of Seved is generally put forward as a Malmö success story.
The area is now seen as having largely shaken off its former reputation as a lawless 'no-go zone'.
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A 69-year-old man from the Malmö district of Seved took the city's municipal property company MKB to the tribunal as part of a three-year struggle to end the drug sales underneath the window of his apartment.
"The rent tribunal considers that it is not MKB's personnel ... who should be obliged to confront sellers of narcotics to obstruct their business," the tribunal ruled as it dismissed the man's complaint.
It also argued that Malmö police had anyway pledged to install security cameras this February, meaning the man's key demand is likely soon to be met.
The 69-year-old took MKB to the tribunal after repeatedly trying to get them to act against the drug pushers, who he claimed caused a major disturbance in the neighbourhood, with loud music pumping out of the car windows, and drugs paraphernalia lying in the rubbish where children could find it.
During a hearing on February 5th, he complained that he had been threatened and even assaulted by the pushers, adding that he had become "an unwilling drugs scout".
He has submitted photographs of deals being done, and showing the pushers hiding their stashes in the building's bicycle shed.
He demanded that MKB's staff intervene to force the drugs pushers away, and that the company put up security cameras and supply security guards.
MKB lawyer Lars Gunnar Larsson acknowledged that the drugs pushers were a well-documented problem in the area, but said it was difficult, not to mention unsafe, for staff to act against them themselves.
At the same time, privacy laws made it near impossible for the company to put up its own cameras in public areas, limiting them to communal spaces such as laundry rooms and rubbish bin areas.
He stressed, however, that the company was more active than the 69-year-old claimed, with its local staff keeping up a constant dialogue with the police, often informing them about illegal activity.
While drugs continue to be sold in several places openly on the street, the district of Seved is generally put forward as a Malmö success story.
The area is now seen as having largely shaken off its former reputation as a lawless 'no-go zone'.
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