Anti-Social Behaviour
What is Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)?
Anti Social Behaviour is any type of behaviour which causes harassment, alarm or distress. It includes but is not limited to:
• Noise nuisance (such as loud music; loud noise from TV’s, radios, musical instruments or computers; loud arguing; shouting or door slamming)
• Abandoned vehicles
• Dog barking or fouling
• Intimidation
• Aggressive, abusive, insulting or threatening language or behaviour
• Violence or threats of violence
• Damage to another persons possessions or property
• Malicious complaints
• Graffiti
• Using housing accommodation to sell drugs, or for other unlawful purposes
• Racial Harassment
My neighbours constantly play loud music, often until the early hours of the morning, what can I do?
Where possible you should try to speak to the residents involved. Quite often talking to the person(s) involved and explaining the affect that it is having on you and the discomfort it is causing you can stop the situation from developing any further.
What should I do if the situation continues or gets worse?
If you have tried to talk to the person(s) involved and the situation has not improved then you should contact your Housing Officer to discuss how to deal with the situation.
You should also contact the Environmental Health Department at your local council. They may decide to contact the resident regarding the allegations and will monitor the problem if it persists as it may be that a statutory nuisance is being caused. If so, they have the power to serve an Abatement Notice to stop the nuisance. Breach of this is an offence, punishable by a hefty fine. Service of an Abatement Notice will also provide independent evidence which the Association could use in court should proceedings for breach of tenancy follow.
If both parties are willing, we will arrange in-house mediation so that mutually acceptable boundaries can be agreed and recorded.
We will ask you to keep a written diary detailing all the incidents of anti-social behaviour. This is important as we may need a written record of what is happening and when it is happening, in order to assess the effect it is having on your home and on the neighbourhood . We also need to gather and maintain comprehensive evidence of the alleged nuisance in order to present a case in court should we decide that legal action is appropriate. In order to present a case, we need to show that it is reasonable for a judge to make an Order for Possession or for Postponed Possession. We must be able to demonstrate therefore that the nuisance is real, persistent and ongoing and not the result of over-sensitivity. We must also show that informal attempts at resolution (i.e. letters, home visits, mediation where appropriate and written undertakings) have been attempted without success.