Criminal not in the house? (5)
I believe the answer is:
villa
'the house?' is the definition.
(villa is a kind of house)
'criminal not in' is the wordplay.
'criminal' becomes 'villain' (both can mean a bad person).
'not' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'villain' with 'in' taken out is 'VILLA'.
(Other definitions for villa that I've seen before include "Ancient Roman country house" , "A place in the country" , "Roman or suburban house" , "Holiday residence" , "where 6 [VERDI] lived?" .)