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Anti-social behaviour

What is anti-social behaviour (or ASB) and what we do about it?

As a landlord we are restricted and are not always able to intervene

We know anti-social behaviour can sometimes affect our residents, yet as a landlord we are not able to deal with all the behaviours that are reported to us.

We can’t control what people do and we can’t be responsible for the behaviour of our residents or anyone living in or visiting their home, they are responsible for their own behaviour.

We expect our residents to consider their neighbours and keep disturbance to a minimum. The information within our How to Minimise Disturbance document may help you with this and can be accessed here.

What should I do as a bpha resident?

If you are experiencing nuisance from your neighbour, you should try speaking to them, if you feel it is appropriate to do so. It’s likely that your neighbour would prefer that you speak to them first before contacting us as they may not be aware they are causing a problem to you. Our Good Neighbour Guide provides helpful information on speaking to your neighbour about concerns or issues.

We would like all of our residents to feel empowered and able to resolve disputes themselves and we will support you to do this, as well as guiding you to other agencies that can help.

Eviction is always the last resort

Everyone has a right to a roof over their head and as a landlord our priority is always to keep people in their homes.

As a landlord we are not able to ‘just evict’ residents for causing ASB. It is a long and complicated process and we must gather sufficient evidence before being able to apply to court for a judge to make the decision.

What is anti-social behaviour?

Anti-social behaviour is conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person; conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person (Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014).

It’s a term that is used in the media a lot and is used to describe a huge range of things from serious, criminal activity (such as selling drugs, domestic abuse or prostitution) through to issues such as loud music, dumping rubbish or animal nuisance.

Police support

The police are a key partner for social landlords and local authorities in tackling antisocial behaviour. They can act as a highly visible deterrent to perpetrators and their presence can also provide reassurance to affected communities. The police’s core responsibilities include protecting life and property, preserving order, preventing the committing of offences, and bringing offenders to justice. The police may need to work with social landlords and local authorities to:

arrest perpetrators
prevent and deter incidents from taking place support victims
protect people from the impact of anti-social behaviour

Other support

As well as contacting your us, your local authority or the police, you may prefer to contact an independent advice agency such as Citizens Advice and ASB Help. They offer free, independent, and impartial advice. With your permission, they can approach the agencies you have been dealing with as an advocate on your behalf. You may also contact a solicitor for legal advice, though you may have to pay for any advice and help that you are given.

How we can help

There are two approaches we can take to help:

Using non-legal solutions: advising people their behaviour is unacceptable and must stop, issuing direct warnings, acceptable behaviour agreements, referral to mediation or other support services
Using legal remedies such as: civil injunctions or possession proceedings.

Tenancy agreements set out expectations about the behaviour of tenants. We can take action against people who do not comply, and have the right to seek to evict a tenant in serious cases. If we decide to take legal action, you might be asked to help by providing evidence or to attend a court to give evidence in person and we will support you through this process. Alternatively, we may use a professional witness to provide evidence in court on your behalf. Civil injunctions, we can seek civil injunctions through the courts to stop people engaging in acts of anti-social behaviour in a specific location. Some injunctions can be given without notice, but they are only available if there has been a threat or use of violence. Possession proceedings In serious cases, we may be able to evict the perpetrator of anti-social behaviour through the courts, however, this action as a last resort only, where all other reasonable steps to stop the behaviour have failed.