Anti-Social Behaviour Policy & Procedure
5. Key information and definitions
5.1 The Crime and Police Act 2014 defines ASB as conduct that:
- Has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person
- Is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person's occupation of residential premises
- Or Is capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person
5.2 The Council also define ASB as 'Conduct which is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person and that directly or indirectly relates to or affects our housing management function as a relevant landlord.'
5.3 Those who may be affected by the conduct include, but are not limited to:
- Residents including tenants, leaseholders and licence holders
- Owner/Occupiers of properties in the same area as the Council's rented homes
- Any other person lawfully in the locality for example staff and contractors of the Council
5.4 The Council will categorise the following issues as anti-social behaviour (although this is not an exhaustive list)
- Violence against people and/or property
- Aggressive and/or threatening behaviour or language
- Any type of hate behaviour that targets members of identified groups because of their perceived differences
- Domestic violence or abuse
- Intimidation and/or harassment
- Alcohol and/or drug related ASB
- Using a property for illegal or unlawful purposes e.g. the production, storage and/or selling of illegal substances, the storage of stolen goods, prostitution
- Noise nuisance such as shouting, banging/slamming doors, loud music etc
- Problems caused by pets such as persistent dog barking, fouling etc
- Litter, graffiti or dumping of rubbish i.e. fly tipping
- Misuse of communal areas
- Nuisance from vehicles including abandoned vehicles
- Making false or malicious reports about another person
5.5 Not every allegation reported to the Council will be accepted as being ASB. Some types of allegations will be classified as differences in lifestyle. Whilst the Council will try to engage with all parties in such situations, formal action will not be instigated against any person whose behaviour is considered everyday living activity or a minor difference in lifestyles. Examples of such behaviour include:
- Mowing of lawns or other garden maintenance at reasonable times, e.g. between 09.00 and 21:00hrs
- Carrying out DIY repairs and car repairs at reasonable times, e.g. between 09.00 and 21:00hrs daily
- Noise generated by everyday living, for example walking across laminate flooring wearing shoes
- Noise from domestic appliances during reasonable times, e.g. between 07:00 and 3:00hrs daily
- Cooking smells
- People staring at or looking at someone in a way that make them feel uncomfortable
- Name calling and social media disputes unless deemed to be harassment or hate crime
- Children playing in the locality of their home or a designated playing area, as long as the 'playing' does not include behaviour which could be considered nuisance behaviour. Children playing ball games is not normally considered to be ASB
- Neighbour disputes relating to non-allocated parking spaces and shared drives
- Residents being unable to park outside their home
- Issues related to private sector housing (owner-occupied or privately rented) or private business will be referred to colleagues in Public Protection
- Young people gathering socially, unless they are intimidating individuals or communities
- Noise and generally acceptable behaviour arising from one-off social gatherings and parties in and around the home
5.6 This glossary defines key terms used throughout this policy:
- The ASB App : a mobile app which is activated for tenants reporting ASB to assist with engagement and ease of reporting
- iHousing: The Council online portal used by tenants of the Council to report, interact and engage with Housing Neighbourhood Services Staff and seek information
- RAM: Risk Assessment Matrix, a measurement tool for the grading of seriousness and risk of ASB to assist in robust management
- S.A.R.A Model: The S.A.R.A (Scan/Analyse/Respond/Assess) model is a widely used and effective method to help understand the underlying causes of problems, to identify solutions and to assess the effectiveness of response