PEOPLE who owe council house rent arrears or are troublemakers will have trouble getting another home.

Kirklees says it will get tough, with some people and their families being sent to the back of the council house queue.

The message comes after it was revealed that council house arrears in Kirklees amount to £1.5m.

Clr Khizar Iqbal, Kirklees Cabinet member for housing, said: "In updating our policy on allocating council houses I want to re-affirm that former tenants still in arrears will have a lower priority when it comes to being allocated a house.

"People who have previous arrears of £175 or below will have to make a commitment when applying to pay off their debts if they are offered a house.

"Applicants with arrears above that figure will get a lower priority until they reduce their debts to that figure.

"The only exceptions to the latter will be special circumstances, such as fleeing domestic violence or if we have to re-house them under homelessness laws.

"In those circumstances we would still require a commitment to pay off arrears."

Cllr Iqbal also stressed that former tenants and their families with recorded warnings or instances relating to anti- social behaviour would also have those issues taken into account when applying to become council tenants again.