Anti-social behaviour (ASB)

What is anti-social behaviour and what we do about it?

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.

Is it ASB? Get information and advice with our online guide

Behaviour Guide

bpha and anti-social behaviour

It’s important to us that our residents live together in a community of respect and tolerance. Anyone who has signed a bpha tenancy or lease is responsible for their own behaviour and the behaviour of anyone living in or visiting their home, so we expect our residents and those in their home to be thoughtful and aware of their neighbours and the community they live in.

What can we do about anti-social behaviour?

We receive a lot of contact from residents wanting to report incidents of ASB. While all of these are noted on our residents’ files, we often receive reports about things that are not anti-social and more about a different style of living, which we cannot manage. We refer to these as unwelcome behaviour.

You can use our online Behaviour Guide for information on the different types of behaviours to find out how best to deal with it and who can support you.

Use our online ASB Guide for information on the different types of ASB and guidance on how best to deal with them.

Behaviour Guide

Community Trigger

The Community Trigger (also known as ASB Case Review) is a victim’s opportunity to be heard – a new tool to help victims who have reported anti-social behaviour to the relevant authorities but still suffer as agencies either fail to explain what they are doing to tackle the anti-social behaviour or are in fact doing nothing.

Find out more

Domestic Abuse

If you’re experiencing, or have witnessed domestic abuse, visit our support page for guidance and information. You are not alone.

Find support

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

We know anti-social and unwelcome 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.

Report a behaviour online