A brothel in Stamford Hill has been shut down by police, using a new piece of legislation for the first time, after neighbours repeatedly complained about prostitution, anti-social behaviour and “condoms littering the streets”.

Officers joined forces with the Shomrim, Hackney Council and Home Office staff to seek authority the borough’s Superintendent to close the premises, on Manor Road, down for 48 hours on April 29 while a closure notice could be obtained from court.

Stratford Magistrates Court prohibited entry to the building and ordered all activity to be stopped at the brothel for three months on May 1.

Immigration authorities are currently investigating the status of some of the 11 people that were in the building.

Sgt Dave Lamb said: “The team conducted a brothel visit with local authority partners and the immigration service to identify if there was an issue and as soon as we got in to the venue we realised there was.

“Using the new powers under the Crime and Policing Act 2014, we negotiated a 48 hour emergency closure and have now successfully obtained a three month closure.”

He added: “I think this sends a strong message to those that think this activity is acceptable. The area is ultimately very residential and the location itself is in a bit of a cul de sac so you can imagine how that was for neighbours and those overlooking the property, where they would be seeing people coming constantly day and night for the purpose of having sex, condoms littered outside the address, and cars parked up with music playing. We were able to quite quickly put an end to the issue.

“They key bit for me is, of course we always want to identify people responsible, but the bigger issue was to stop this problem for the residents and show a robust approach. It is far more important to ensure that people who live, work and visit Hackney don’t have to see this activity or be kept up all night.

“I want to give people confidence to let safer neighbourhood teams know about problems and we will act swiftly to remedy these issues.”

To find out your local safer neighbourhood team, visit: content.met.police.uk/Borough/Hackney. Or to report a crime, call 101.