Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions about antisocial behaviour that might help you if you're not sure.
What is antisocial behaviour?
ASB is short for Antisocial Behaviour. We define antisocial behaviour ‘as acting in a way that is capable of causing a nuisance, annoyance, harassment, alarm or distress to any other person’. We understand that having a dispute with your neighbours can be upsetting. However, it might not be classed as ASB if it's not persistent or if there is no risk of harm. You can find out more on our webpage and download our policy online to find out more.
What do I do if I’m experiencing antisocial behaviour?
If you think you’re experiencing antisocial behaviour the first thing you should do is talk to your neighbour. Talking to each other is a really important part of being a good neighbour and often a quick conversation when something first bothers you can stop a situation escalating. Very often the other party may not even know their behaviour is upsetting you.
If you’ve tried to speak with your neighbour and you’ve read our guidance and policy about ASB, call us and speak to the hub team on 0345 60 20 540. They will be able to provide some more information about what steps you can take to help resolve the issue.
How can you support me to manage ASB?
As a social housing landlord, we work with a very clear definition of what antisocial behaviour is and when we can get involved and offer you support. We can only get involved in cases where there is a risk of harm or behaviour poses a risk to another person’s tenancy. You can find out more about our role in supporting you with antisocial behaviour here.
What is restorative justice?
Restorative Justice (RJ) brings the people who are affected by a dispute, conflict or a crime and those responsible for it together to talk. It gives everyone involved the opportunity to discuss the issues that they're having. This helps them to agree on a positive way to change behaviours and move forward. Find out more here.
How do I use the noise app?
We’ve created a handy guide to help you download and use the noise app if you’re experiencing some noise-related anti-social behaviour. You can find helpful hints and guidance online here.
Should I collect evidence of my situation and how do I submit it to you?
Collecting evidence is really important and it will help us to understand if what you’re experiencing is antisocial behaviour or not. Please keep a record of any incidents for us to review and if a case is opened your case officer will discuss how you can share it with us.
What type of evidence can I share with you?
If you’re asked for evidence of your situation one of our team will discuss the kinds of things that you might collect and send to us. It’s also really important that you collect any evidence safely.
Types of evidence you could send include:
- A log – times, frequencies, descriptions of actions
- Independent witnesses – names and addresses
- Information from other agencies – crime numbers, incident numbers, names and contact numbers
- Photo’s / videos / CCTV or ring doorbell footage
- Background information
What happens if I don’t send any evidence?
As your landlord there are limited steps that we can take to resolve antisocial behaviour issues in your neighbourhood. If we log your concerns or open a case and you’re asked to collect and share evidence with us but don’t do this we won’t be able to take any further action. If this happens your log or case will be closed.
Can my neighbour be evicted?
In very rare cases we’re able to evict the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour. As your landlord we’ll work with you to resolve any issues that you’re having. We’ll also work with other agencies who might be better placed to support you. Please make sure you read our ASB policy so that you understand how we can work together and what support our teams can offer.
What if someone has reported me for antisocial behaviour?
Work with us and your neighbour. We’ll always encourage you to speak to your neighbour and work things out together. We have lots of measures to help including Restorative Justice. If you’re concerned you can always give us a call and we can go through how to help, both you and your neighbour.
What happens if you open a case?
We’ll only open a case if your situation meets our criteria for an antisocial behaviour case. Once this happens you’ll be assigned a case officer who will work with you to come up with an action plan. We’ll both have actions that we’ll need complete and we’ll catch up every so often to understand what progress has been made against each of the action points.
As your case progresses we may agree new actions if we find there are other things you can do to improve your situation. We’ll work together until we find a satisfactory solution or we’ve exhausted all of the options available to us.
Why would you close my case?
Our ASB policy sets out five reasons why we would close a case, these are:
- The issues have been resolved to your satisfaction; or
- We’ve have taken all available action to resolve the matter; or
- The complainant fails to provide evidence and we cannot take any further action without their support; or
- When another agency is dealing with the case, and it no longer requires involvement from our officers.
- Following our investigation, no evidence exists to prove that incidents of anti-social behaviour have occurred.
What if the issue continues?
If you’ve had an open case which has been closed and the issue continues after this time you’ll need to contact us with your concerns again.
If you don’t feel that we’ve resolved your case or your unhappy with the way that it has been handled there are still options available to you.
There are other agencies which can also offer you support like the police or your local authority. The community trigger has been set up to help those who have experienced three incidents of antisocial behaviour in the past six months and may be able to offer you some further support.
If you’re not satisfied with the outcome you might want to consider using our complaints process to raise your concerns and have your case reviewed by one of our independent complaints officers. To do this you can simply complete the online form on our website Complaints - Midland Heart.
Where else can I get support?
Police and local authority environmental health teams have different powers to support with antisocial behaviour in your community. If the issue is affecting yours or your family’s mental health and wellbeing you should seek support from your GP, child and adult services or there are a number of charities who can help you.
The police and ambulance are able to provide safe and well checks – particularly where there are concerns over the wellbeing of a resident. The fire service can carry out building safety checks if you have safety concerns about yours or a neighbouring property or communal area.
