Anti-social Behaviour
Our approach to Anti-social behaviour (ASB)
We want all our residents to be able to enjoy their homes in peace. We take all reports of neighbour dispute, illegal or anti-social behaviour seriously. We look into incidents thoroughly and take tough action to tackle the problems. We comply with the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 and have signed up to the government’s Respect charter.
What we mean by anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that causes serious nuisance to a person or household in and around their home, and where there is evidence to suggest that there has been a breach of tenancy.
If the problems you are experiencing are about clashes of lifestyle and differences of opinion, see the section on this page about neighbour disputes. See also, our page on hate incidents.
What you can expect form our service
We categorise reports of anti-social behaviour into three categories (see table below). This helps us to respond to the most serious cases first and as quickly as possible.
|
Category |
Examples |
Our commitment to you |
|
Category A
|
Threat to life. Actual or serious threat of violence. Hate crime (for example because of race or disability, or domestic violence). Selling drugs. Illegal use of premises. Offensive graffiti. Prostitution. |
We will speak with you within 24 hours.
|
|
Category B
|
Vandalism. Damage to property. Abusive behaviour. People in groups causing a nuisance.
|
We will speak with you within 3 working days. |
|
Category C
|
Pets causing a nuisance, abandoned cars, repeated and persistent unreasonable noise at a level which breaches noise nuisance legislation. Littering and fly-tipping |
We will speak with you within 5 working days.
|
For all report, we promise to keep in regular contact withyou to tell you what we are doing to tackle the problem and to get updates from you.
What will happen after you report anti-social behaviour to us
We will ask you to give us permission to discuss with all the people involved and any witnesses. We will try to establish all the facts of the case. We will treat everything you tell us confidentially.
We will agree a plan of action with you and give you an update at least once a fortnight. The ways we can help depend on the type of problem and how the person you are complaining about responds. Examples include:
- securing your home if it has been damaged
- mediation, if you and the other party agree to this
- involving other agencies who can help, for example the police or environmental health
- asking the person you’re complaining about to sign an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement
- giving a warning about breach of tenancy or lease
- taking legal action, such as applying for an injunction or anti-social behaviour order, which can lead to eviction.
We will only close the case when the anti-social behaviour has stopped or we cannot find sufficient evidence to take further action. We may also be able to meet with you to explain matters further before we close the case.
Support for victims and witnesses of anti-social behaviour
If you have been affected by anti-social behaviour, we can support you to cope with the situation. We will talk to you about your needs so that we can find a solution that works for you. Examples of support we may be able to offer include:
- fitting security measures at your home
- putting you in contact with our housing case worker
- referring you to a specialist organisation such as Victim Support
- supporting your application to be rehoused, if there is a serious threat.
We understand that the idea of giving evidence in court can be daunting. If the case goes to court, there are further ways in which we can support you. We can let you know what to expect and make sure you have moral support throughout the court case. We can also offer practical help with things like transport, childcare or carer costs and expenses.
Making sure we are succeeding
If you report anti-social behaviour or a neighbour dispute to us, we will ask for your feedback to find out if you are satisfied with our service and to find out what we can do to improve.
Where possible we want to make sure problems don’t occur in the first place. We do this by:
- informing new tenants about their rights and responsibilities, and what will happen if they breach their tenancy conditions
- issuing starter tenancies for an initial one year period to general needs tenants who have not held a social housing tenancy before
- publicising our strong approach to stopping anti-social behaviour and the cases where we have taken legal action
- organising projects for young people and other groups to encourage positive community involvement.
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives victims of Anti-Social Behaviour the right to request a Community Trigger, a review of their case which brings agencies together to find a solution. Victims can use the Community Trigger when there has been at least three complaints of Anti-Social Behaviour in a six month period and there has been no adequate response. Our partners in the local authority are the first point of contact for anyone who wants to use the Community Trigger. We will work with local authorities and other partner agencies, and we will be responsive to the findings of any review.
Anti-social behaviour is a community problem and we will always need the support of residents to tackle it. The majority of neighbour disputes can be resolved by discussion, agreement and compromise. Together we can stop nuisance problems and make a difference, creating communities that we all want to live and work in.