Anti Social Behaviour

We’re committed to tackling and reducing anti-social behaviour in our communities. We will take every opportunity to work in partnership with our tenants and other agencies to achieve this. Tackling anti-social behaviour is a balance between enforcement, prevention and rehabilitation.

Anti-Social Behaviour covers a wide range of types of behaviour. It may include, but is not limited to:

• Excessive noise nuisance
• Verbal abuse
• Damage to property, including graffiti and vandalism
• Nuisance from vehicles
• Nuisance from animals
• Littering, fly-tipping, rubbish dumping and misuse of communal areas
• Any drug-related offences from a property or within the locality
• Violence or threats of violence

We understand that sometimes everyday living noise can be annoying, but unless it is excessive or unreasonable we would not, under normal circumstances, consider it to be antisocial.

Some examples are:

• Mowing lawns
• Vacuuming and noise from domestic appliances such as washing machines
• Children playing

We know that you may have concerns about coming forward and reporting anti-social behaviour. We will do all that we can to support you and will tailor the support that we provide to fit your particular needs.

We know that you may have concerns about coming forward and reporting anti-social behaviour. We will do all that we can to support you and will tailor the support that we provide to fit your particular needs.

• We will give you information and advice on the types of action that can be taken to resolve the situation.
• We will discuss any specific needs that you may have e.g. those relating to language, literacy, hearing or sight impairments.
• We will tell you about the support services that we and other agencies, such as Victim Support, can provide and make referrals on your behalf if you would like us to.
• We will work in partnership with any other specialist organisations or agencies, as appropriate to your individual needs.
• We will ask you about the method by which you would like us to keep in contact with you and make sure that this is done.
• We will discuss and agree with you the ways in which evidence will be collected e.g. through Incident Log Sheets, Handheld voice recorders will be offered to those with writing difficulties, CCTV or Noise Monitoring Equipment.
• We will consider the security of you in your home and, where necessary, apply on your behalf for a Police Home Security Check.
• We will provide you with fortnightly updates on the progress of the case.
• Where we take court action:
  • We will provide transport to court, pay expenses for child care and any other reasonable costs.
  • We will arrange for you to be accompanied to the court prior to attendance if you would like us to so that you will know what the court environment is like and how things happen.

We will not move people as a means of resolving anti-social behaviour; we will deal with anti-social behaviour. The only exception to this is in very extreme situations where there are fears for safety. The recommendations of agencies such as the Police will be required in considering such a move.

In cases involving minor neighbour disputes we may, where appropriate, initially encourage you to speak to your neighbour about the problem. It may be that your neighbour is simply not aware that their behaviour is causing a nuisance to you.

Mediation helps people to come together to resolve their own disputes, rather than having solutions imposed upon them. It has the potential to provide a solution much more quickly than more formal action and can be used in a whole range of situations such as:

• behaviour of children and young people
• verbal abuse
• parking
• noise
• pets
• behaviour of visitors

We will, in appropriate circumstances, and with the agreement of the parties concerned, make a referral to a Mediation Practitioner and we will pay the cost of this service.

We will never offer mediation where there has been intimidation, harassment, violence or threats of violence.

• We work in partnership with others to engage young people in diversionary activities aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour.
• We ensure that, at sign-up, new tenants are made aware of the clauses in their Tenancy Agreement relating to nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
• We visit new tenants within 28 days of their tenancy starting so that we can respond quickly to any potential problems.
• We use Acceptable Behaviour Agreements to help people understand the effects their anti-social behaviour is having on others and as a means of stopping that behaviour.
• We have an Allocations Policy, which enables us to exclude those applicants who are responsible for serious antisocial behaviour.
• Sometimes the person causing the anti-social behaviour has vulnerabilities which contribute to the behaviour. In such cases, we will work with specialist support agencies to help the person to address this and stop the anti-social behaviour reoccurring.

• Be aware of, and keep to the conditions of your Tenancy Agreement.
• Do not cause or let your family or visitors cause anti-social behaviour.
• Report anti-social behaviour to us.
• Report crimes to the police or allow us to report them on your behalf.
• Take responsibility for minor disagreements with your neighbours by trying to sort out problems in a reasonable way.
• Respect other people’s right to their chosen lifestyle as long as this does not spoil the quality of life of others.
• Help us to gather evidence if we need to take formal action and act as a witness in court.

We will discuss issues of confidentiality with you when you report anti-social behaviour. If you do not want the alleged perpetrator to know who you are we will respect this. It is important that you know, however, that:

• This may limit the types of action that we are able to take to deal with anti-social behaviour. In particular, serious actions such as legal proceedings are unlikely to be possible without witness statements.
• If specific allegations are to be put to the alleged perpetrator the source may be identifiable.

Anonymous reports of Anti-Social Behaviour

We will do what we can to investigate anonymous reports of anti-social behaviour. However, unless a contact telephone number is provided we will be unable to keep you informed, tell you about what the alleged perpetrator has said, or ask you for further information. This will limit how we are able to act when attempting to resolve the situation.

Data Protection and Information Exchange

We will ensure that information is processed in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and our Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy and Procedure.