Anti-Social Behaviour, nuisance and harassment

This summaries our policies and procedures for dealing with Anti social behaviour, nuisance and harassment. (for more information please refer to our full policies and procedures, available on our website (or a copy can be seen at the management Centre)

Bushbury Hill Estate Management Board - have a zero tolerance policy towards Anti-social behaviour, nuisance and harassment.

Our aims for dealing with Anti-social behaviour complaints are to:

Treat all complaints seriously and to investigate them in a full and appropriate manner
Provide a swift response to serious complaints
Take appropriate and corrective action using the full range of options at our disposal
Work in partnership with other agencies
Monitor the effectiveness of our Policies

Make Bushbury Hill a better environment for all our residents

What is anti-social behaviour?
Our Policy
Tenancy Agreement Conditions
Our Procedures

What is anti-social behaviour?

Anti-social behaviour is defined as “Conduct including speech, which has caused or is likely to cause alarm, distress to one or more individuals who do not reside in the same household as the offender” (Crime and disorder Act 1988) and “conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person” (anti-social behaviour Act 2003)

Anti-social Behaviour can include:

Using homes for illegal activity eg. To sell drugs
Physical assault
Intimidation and Harassment
Exploitation of Vulnerable people
Noise nuisance
Vandalism and Graffiti
Aggressive & threatening language or behaviour
Fouling public areas or litter in gardens etc.
Domestic violence

Our Policy

Bushbury Hill’s tenant board and staff members recognize that they have a duty to our tenants and other residents in the locality to deal with anti-social behaviour. Failure to act impacts not only on our residents’ lives but also on the quality of the housing and environment here in Bushbury Hill.

We are responsible for ensuring that we enforce our own standards and comply with our legal obligations through the implementation of our anti-social behaviour policies.

As an employer, we also have a duty to protect and support staff. Dealing with Anti-social behaviour can be difficult for staff as well as for the residents who are experiencing it. Our staff and contractors have the right to undertake their duties without fear or threats or intimidation. We will therefore take action, including using legal remedies, to enforce our duty of care.

Your tenant Board and staff team here at The Management Centre, make it clear that we will not tolerate anti-social behaviour or harassment in any form. We do this when granting new tenancies by explaining to the tenant what is expected of them in terms of behaviour and by stressing what the consequences can be for them if they breach the tenancy agreement.

We will work in partnership with other agencies, where appropriate, such as the police, wardens and other support agencies to address anti-social behaviour issues.

We are committed to providing a high standard of service to our customers. Included in this is our commitment to manage and effectively tackle incidents of nuisance, harassment and anti-social behaviour. We recognize that anti-social behaviour is a complex matter but it is of the highest priority that we deal with it to ensure our homes here in Bushbury Hill remain well managed and a pleasant place to live.

Tenancy Agreement Conditions

(see Section C of your tenancy agreement) Extract - Section C Tenancy Agreement (15)

The tenant, members of the tenants household (including children, lodgers and VISITORS) must not.

Cause or allow to be caused nuisance or annoyance (including noise nuisance, en example of which is amplified music) to neighbours, other tenants or persons lawfully using or visiting Council property
Commit illegal acts
Use, or allow to be used, the premises for illegal or immoral purposes (including prostitution)
Cause criminal damage to the property
In particular the tenant must not cause or allow to be caused any harassment of an individual group

Our Procedures : Your questions answered

Q How do I report an anti-social behaviour incident.

You should report incidents of anti-social behaviour to your housing officer in person, via the telephone, letter or email. At this point you will be issued with a reference number which will allow us to record your report and access information regarding the report quickly and easily.

Q What happens when I report and anti-social behaviour incident

Your housing officer will probably need to interview you - they should arrange to do this within 7 working days.

The purpose of the interview is to try and establish the facts with you, explain what can be done and agree an action plan.

If necessary at the end of the interview an Incident Diary booklet will be given to you to help build a picture of evidence about the Anti-social behaviour.

If appropriate your housing officer will aim to interview the alleged perpetrator of the anti-social behaviour within 7 working days.

What the next steps are depends on the outcome of the interview.

We will record information about allegations of anti-social behaviour on our computer system (using your reference number) to help us monitor and progress our work in this area..

Q What can Bushbury Hill do about the problem?

Usually a case will be resolved by a combination of actions. Our procedures emphasize the need for good communications, multi agency working, record keeping and effective monitoring of cases.

There are a number of non legal and legal remedies available to us, including

NON LEGAL REMEDIES

Letters
Interviews
Formal warnings
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts
Mediation

LEGAL REMEDIES

Possession proceedings
Demotion of Tenancies
Housing Injunctions
Anti social behaviour order

Your housing officer can tell you more about these things

Q Will you tell my neighbour that I have complained about them?

We will respect your wishes for confidentiality. If you wish to remain anonymous your Housing officer will explain to you how this will affect the investigation.

Q I don’t know who is causing the nuisance or I am fearful to come forward what can you do?

If the identity is unknown or witnesses are too frightened to come forward we will work to gather evidence and establish the identity of the perpetrators. This will involve working with the police, contacting other residents, using other local agencies or support services or CCTV cameras

Q How do you decide when to close my complaint of Anti-social behaviour?

We monitor the progress of all anti-social behaviour investigations on our computer database. We will close a case if it has been satisfactorily resolved.

We will also consider closing a case if there have been no incidents reported for 10 weeks. If we think it is appropriate to close the case we will send you a letter advising you of our intention to close the case within seven days. If you then report that incidents are still occurring the case will remain open.

Q What happens when you close my complaint of Anti-social behaviour?

On closing the case we will send you a letter advising you of this. A satisfaction survey for will be enclosed for you to complete and return to help us monitor our performance.