Policies
You can find out about how we tackle anti-social behaviour by reading the information on this page and the associated links.
What is anti-social behaviour?
Anti-social behaviour and neighbour nuisance are general terms used to describe a whole range of behaviours that upset residents. Most people agree on what criminal behaviour means. Other anti-social behaviour is behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to others in the estate or local community.
Examples include, loud music, abusive, threatening, intimidating or violent behaviour, racial harassment, selling drugs, vandalism or graffiti, and dumping rubbish.
Your tenancy agreement
The tenant is responsible for not only their own behaviour, but for the actions and behaviour of anyone living with them or visiting them including children. The anti-social behaviour can be to any resident within the home, street or estate.
The agreement says a tenant “must not do anything which causes or is likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance..”. What we’ll do?
Anti Social Behaviour Statement
You can view our Anti-Social Behaviour Statement which sets out our policies and procedures for tackling anti-social behaviour in more detail.
Our Procedures
We will contact you within 3 working days to confirm that we’re looking into your case.
We can’t respond to anonymous complaints.
We will need to determine the urgency of the incident. More serious problems – where you or others are at risk- need to be dealt with more quickly. Your local housing office will discuss your problem with you and agree a plan of action on how best to deal with it.
We can sort some problems out fairly easily. For example, we would talk to a tenant about an overgrown garden, tell them to clean and tidy it up. If they don’t we would take action against them for breaking their tenancy agreement.
In a lot of cases, the anti-social behaviour isn’t so obvious and we’ll need to talk to you before we start to investigate. We can do this by telephone or by meeting you.
We can arrange to meet you somewhere that is convenient - at your home or in the local housing office.
In serious cases we’ll meet you within 24 hours, otherwise within 3 working days.
We will ask you:
- Who is affected
- How they’re affected
- What, where and when it happens
- Who you believe is causing it
We will talk to others that have been affected. This will allows us to determine the best course of action and to assess the seriousness of the case.
What can I do?
If the incident doesn’t involve serious anti-social behaviour such as threats, violence or harassment, it may be best to talk the problem through with the other person first.
A neighbour may not realise they are causing a problem and by reminding them that their behaviour or actions are upsetting you is often enough to sort the problem out.
Remember:
- Try to stay calm
- Think through what you want to say first
- Explain why the behaviour is upsetting you
- Listen to what they have to say and think about it – they may have a point!
- Don’t lose your temper, this will only make things worse
- Don’t get involved in any arguments – walk away
What if I’m not happy with this approach?
We can help you by talking through the problem together with your neighbour or by getting you help through mediation. BLISS is a mediation service, independent of the council, that has expert, and independent and impartial advisers who can help solve your dispute in confidence. We can contact BLISS on your behalf.
If things don’t improve, get in touch with your local housing office.
Gathering evidence
We can’t take action against a person without evidence. We need your help to gather evidence.
You need to start to collect evidence of the problem. You’ll need evidence whether you want us to take action or you decide to take action yourself or you ask another organisation to act on your behalf.
We’ll give you a special Incident Report to record incidents of anti-social behaviour, giving details of dates, times and what happened. If other neighbours are affected, ask them to keep records or contact us.
You should only write down incidents that you see or hear and that are unreasonable – this is what the judge will take into account if we go to court. Don’t record normal, everyday disturbance or noise or incidents. For example, in flats you would expect some noise to travel. Don’t record incidents someone has told you about – we can’t use this if we go to court.
Other evidence, like photographs, video or tape recordings, may be needed. We can sometimes do this for you but you can do it yourself, especially where the incident happens suddenly.
We may have to talk to other people who have witnessed the problem. We may obtain information from the Police or other agencies, especially where the person has special needs or circumstances.
It could be difficult to take further action without evidence from other witnesses.
Taking action
If the evidence gathered confirms that anti-social behaviour or nuisance has taken place we will take action.
Where the anti-social behaviour is very serious – putting you or another person at risk – we will take legal action straight away.
In most cases, we take a step-by-step approach to try to get them to change their behaviour or stop the offending actions.
We will interview the perpetrator and tell them about their behaviour, why it’s causing a nuisance or annoyance, which tenancy condition they’re breaking and tell them to change it or risk legal action being 
taken against them. Sometimes we will do this jointly with the police.
We will visit or write to the offending tenant and send them a warning letter, within a week, confirming the action they need to take.
We will keep your identity confidential, although if it goes to court these details may have to be disclosed.
You can ask us not to visit them, but it could then be difficult to take the case any further if you do.
Preventing incidents
We will do all we can to prevent further incidents happening.
We may take out an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement with the tenant or members of their household. These are voluntary agreements between parents, the police, the Council and the person themselves setting down a list of behaviours that it is agreed will not happen again. A breach can lead to legal action being taken
Keeping you informed
We will let you know the actions we’ve taken and keep you informed of progress on at least a monthly basis.
Taking legal action
If there is no improvement and anti-social behaviour continues after a final warning – or if you or another person is at risk – we will take legal action.
The types of legal action we can take include:
An injunction – an order by the court to stop the person acting anti-socially or to make them do something.
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order – an order, taken out in cooperation with the Police, to stop the person acting anti-socially and can even ban them from coming to specific areas.
Eviction – obtaining a court order for to evict the responsible tenant
All these legal orders are at the discretion of the judge. An order will not be given unless there is good supporting evidence.
Leaflets
We have a range of information leaflets available which may help
-
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour - You can read a summary of our policies and procedures for tackling anti-social behaviour in this leaflet.
-
Domestic Violence - If you are suffering from Domestic Vioilence this guide will give you some useful information on the help that is available.
-
"Constant Barking Can be Avoided". This gives advice to owners on how to prevent a dog from creating a nuisance by barking constantly.
- Secure Tenancy Agreement. You can view a copy of the secure tenancy agreement here.
- Introductory Tenancy Agreement. You can view a copy of the Introductory Tenancy Agreement here.
Further Information
You can obtain further information from the following:
ASB Unit, Blyth Valley Housing, Dinsdale House, 75 Marine Terrace, Blyth NE24 2LN.
Telephone: ASB Unit Hotline 01670 542060
Typetalk service prefix number 18001
EMail: Anti-Social Behaviour Unit
75 Marine Terrace
Blyth
Northumberland
NE24 2BX
Phone: 01670 542542