Anti-social behaviour in council housing

The Council expects all Tenants to act in accordance with their conditions of tenancy as outlined in their Tenancy Agreement.  The types of behaviour that you must not engage in are set out in section 5 of your tenancy agreement. This includes:

• Causing an annoyance, disturbance or nuisance
• Damaging, misusing or dumping rubbish in your neighbourhood
• Harassing, abusing or threatening other people, this includes: -
• using abusive or insulting words or behaviour
• writing threatening, abusive or insulting graffiti
• damaging or threatening to damage to another person’s property or home
• any form of violence or threat of violence towards another person, including our employees, our agents or our contractors.
• Using the property for any criminal or illegal activity, this includes: - Possessing, cultivating or selling any illegal drugs, storing or handling stolen goods or prostitution.

Many things can cause problems between neighbours, from minor disagreements to more serious and complicated issues.  It is important that we work together to avoid problems and to sort out any difficulties before they get worse.

What should you do in the first instance?

If you are having problems with a neighbour and it is safe to do so, we suggest that you firstly talk to them politely to see if you can sort out the matter.  Calmly explain exactly what is causing you a problem and why.  They may not be aware that their behaviour is causing a nuisance.

If the situation continues or gets worse, you must report it to the Council.  You can speak with your Tenancy Services Officer for further advice about what to do next.

What we will do about Anti-Social Behaviour?

If a Tenant makes a complaint about Anti-Social Behaviour we will categorise the complaint.  The three categories we use are: -

ASB - Personal

This identifies Anti-Social Behaviour incidents that the caller, call-handler or anyone else perceives as either deliberately targeted at an individual or group or having an impact on an individual or group, rather than the community at large.

We will complete a risk assessment matrix with all those categorised under the “Personal” category.

We aim to contact those reporting “Personal” Anti-Social Behaviour within 1 working day

ASB – Nuisance

This includes incidents where an act or person causes trouble, annoyance, inconvenience, offence or suffering to the local community in general, rather than to individual victims.  Where behaviour goes beyond acceptability and interferes with public interests, including health & safety and quality of life.

Individuals and communities will have differing expectations and levels of tolerance of what goes beyond acceptable behaviour, which will be considered in each situation.

We aim to contact those reporting “Nuisance” Anti-Social Behaviour within 2 working days

ASB – Environmental

This includes incidents where individuals and groups have an impact on their surroundings, including natural, built and social environments.  This is about encouraging reasonable behaviour whilst managing and protecting the environment so that people can enjoy their own private space as well as shared or public spaces.

We aim to contact those reporting “Environmental” Anti-Social Behaviour within 3 working days.

We will thoroughly investigate all complaints of Anti-Social Behaviour and take all reports seriously.  The action we take will depend on what the issue is however, some of the actions include the following:

• We will talk with the complainant and any other person and / or and partner agency involved including the Police
• We will, with the complainant, devise an action plan.  This will involve the complaint doing “things” as well as The Council
• We may ask the complainant to fill in a “log” or a “diary” sheet as the ASB happens
• We will talk with the alleged perpetrator about their behaviour, the nuisance that it is causing and the potential consequences if they continue to cause problems
• We may organise mediation – a discussion in a safe environment with a mediator to resolve issues between the neighbours. Both parties have to agree to take part in this.
• We may discuss and implement an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement or a Good Neighbour Agreement, both of these are voluntary agreements but have been proven to change behaviour
• We may install noise monitoring equipment in the complainants home that will help to obtain evidence
• We may ask the complainant to make a statement and to act as a witness in any legal action we take against the perpetrator
• We may send surveys and questionnaires to residents in the surrounding area to obtain additional evidence
• Where appropriate we will take legal action against the alleged perpetrator.  This might include seeking an injunction which requires them to change their behaviour or, ultimately, seek possession of their home through the courts which could result in their eviction
• We will understand the issue and take the right action at the right time to find the right resolution.
• We will keep the complainant up to date about their case and notify them when the case is closed and the reasons why.

What to do if you experience Anti-Social Behaviour

If you are experiencing Anti-Social Behaviour from one of your neighbours, please tell us about it. You can do this by contacting one of our Tenancy Services Officers on 01827 715341.

If you experience a serious incident, for example, one involving violence or threats of violence, you should contact the Police by dialling 101 or in an emergency 999.