Everyone has the right to live peacefully in their home and to be free from fear, harassment, intimidation, noise nuisance and any other form of behaviour that causes alarm or distress.

When signing our tenancy agreement, you agree to behave in a certain way in and around your home. This agreement also applies to other members of your household and visitors to your property.

What is anti-social behaviour?

Anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of activities and behaviours, ranging from those that cause minor nuisance or irritation, such as untidy gardens to major incidents of harassment, threats or acts of violence. Examples of anti-social behaviour include:

Nuisance – Noise, dogs barking continuously or fouling in public areas, graffiti, badly kept gardens or rubbish accumulation, nuisance behaviour by groups of youths.

Violence or threats of violence – including domestic violence.

Harassment – behaviour that causes offence, alarm or distress to another individual or household which may be based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age or religion.

Damage to property.

Substance related nuisance – drug or alcohol misuse or drug dealing.

Early Intervention
 

Family will seek to take action at the earliest opportunity to tackle instances of anti-social behaviour. This aims to help:-

· the individual to recognise the consequences of their behaviour

· ensure that they change their behaviour

· protect victims, witnesses and the community

What can we do about complaints of anti-social behaviour?

In most cases we will try to resolve the problem by non-legal measures such as:

· Visit the person you are complaining about.

· Give out a written warning.

· Provide mediation between you and your neighbour.

· Work with other agencies to resolve the problem, such as the Environmental Health Department or Police.

· Use Acceptable Behaviour Contracts.

If these methods fail, or the complaint is so serious as to warrant direct legal action, there are a number of legal measures we can take, such as:

· Injunction Orders.

· Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s).

· A demotion order on the tenancy.

· Possession proceedings through the County Court. This could result in the tenant being evicted.

If we take legal action we have to provide the Court with supporting evidence and you may be required to be a witness in Court. We will fully support you throughout this process. We work with the police to protect witnesses and in extreme cases arrange a permanent or temporary move.

Please note that taking legal action can take some time. On average it can take 4 to 5 months to take possession of a property.

Safer Communities leaflet - Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour and Neighbour Disputes