An Amsterdam family, which became the first to be moved to a converted container home on waste ground out of the city under a clamp down on ‘neighbours from hell’, has packed up and left their new dwelling.

The family moved just hours before the bailiffs were due to move in and evict the family from their new home following a court order, the Parool says on Wednesday.

Housing corporation Rochdale, which has pioneered the exclusion policy for problem families in Amsterdam, went to court to have the Dimitrov family evicted for non-payment of rent and breaking other terms of their agreement. These included a ban on pets, even though the family now has a pitbull.

A court in Amsterdam ruled last month they could be evicted.

Rent

Rochdale is refusing the rehouse the family and they are now thought to be heading for Lelystad. Amsterdam’s mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, told the NRC nothing more could be done for them. ‘The same applies to other people who do not pay the rent,’ he said.

The Dimitrov family was the first to be forcibly moved following the adoption of new council policy in 2012. ‘The container homes will be used more often, and in different parts of the city. This is how we want to deal with the most extreme cases of problem families,’ the mayor said at the time.

Such moves to isolate ‘neighbours from hell’ are not new. In the 19th century, troublemakers were moved to special villages in Drenthe and Overijssel where they were to be re-educated and learn a trade.

Several other cities, including Arnhem and Tilburg, already use purpose-built containers to house problem tenants, mainly single people with a history of drink or drugs abuse.

These projects are based on a Danish method of dealing with difficult tenants known as Skaeve Huse.