Your responsibilities
We believe that all of our tenants have the right to enjoy living in a safe and secure environment. When you signed your tenancy agreement you agreed to play your part by cleaning common areas and keeping them tidy, keeping gardens tidy and dealing with your rubbish properly.
You are responsible for making sure that people living with you or visitors to your home do not cause any nuisance or harassment to neighbours. Some examples of this include:
- Violence or threats of violence
- Intimidation and harassment
- Damage to property
- Loud music
- Pets being allowed to cause a nuisance
- Misuse of communal areas
- Neighbour disputes
- Inconsiderate parking and abandoned vehicles
- Vandalism or graffiti
- Litter and rubbish dumping
Your legal obligations are set out in your tenancy agreement. This means that you can be held accountable in court for a breach of these obligations, which may lead to your eviction.
How to deal with antisocial behaviour
We take antisocial behaviour very seriously and are committed to helping you if you are experiencing problems with your neighbours. We will work in partnership with the council, the police and other agencies to resolve problems. We will try the following options before we consider taking any legal action.
- Mediation: we will offer this to you and your neighbours if you have a dispute with them.
- Warnings: we will usually use this in the initial stages of antisocial behaviour if it is not too serious.
- Acceptable behaviour contract: This is an agreement signed by the tenant causing the problem agreeing to keep to the terms of their tenancy agreement.
In most cases legal action is not appropriate and we will make every effort to sort out a dispute without going to court. However, in very serious cases we will consider applying for an Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) or eviction if we can’t resolve the problem in any other way.
Remember that serious antisocial behaviour or criminal behaviour, such as violence or drug-dealing, should always be reported to the police. We need an incident report number to progress all serious cases so it is really important that you report all serious cases to the police.
We understand that antisocial behaviour can be very stressful and frustrating for our tenants. Remember that your housing officer is always here to help you and will offer help and guidance if you need it.
You can find out more information in our Antisocial Behaviour Leaflet.
