Antisocial behaviour

Living in safe, secure communities

We work hard to make sure all our tenants feel part of welcoming, inclusive, tolerant communities that are well maintained and pleasant for everyone to live in. And so when you move into a Cairn home, you have to play your part too.

As part of your tenancy agreement, you have a responsibility for keeping gardens and common areas tidy and dealing with your rubbish properly.

You are also responsible for making sure that you, the people living with you, and any visitors to your home, don’t cause problems for your neighbours.

We take antisocial behaviour very seriously, and act quickly and decisively to sort out any issues.

These 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 clearly 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

Antisocial behaviour can be very stressful and frustrating for our tenants and won’t be tolerated. Remember that your housing officer is always here to help you and will offer help and guidance if you need it.

if you are experiencing problems with your neighbours, we will work with the local council, police and other agencies to resolve them.

Before we consider taking any legal action we will try:

• 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.

You can find out more information in our Antisocial Behaviour Leaflet.