Neighbourhood Nuisance and ASB Leaflet .pdf - Durham County ...

Neighbour Nuisance &
Anti-Social Behaviour
Durham City Homes Tenants
TE NA N T
A P P R O V E D

Durham City Homes – Our Promise to You
“To provide affordable, modern housing and excellent housing services in
neighbourhoods that are clean, green and safe and that people want to
live in.”
We aim to deliver:
4 Excellent Services
4 Modern Homes
4 Communities and Places that People are Proud of.
Our Values:
Pride in where we live and work
Respect for each other, our differences and what we all contribute
Investing in homes, communities and people
Valuing our customers, our staff and our partners
Inclusion of customers, staff and partners in what we do and how we do it
Listening and learning from customers, each other and from excellence
elsewhere
Equality of access and reflecting diversity in what we deliver
Green, energy efficient and sustainable
Efficient, value for money service delivery.
We believe it’s a PRIVILEGE to work with and for tenants in Durham City.
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Neighbour Nuisance & Anti-Social Behaviour

Everyone is entitled to enjoy their own lifestyle, as long as this
doesn’t affect other people’s quality of life.
Unfortunately, there are a minority of people in our communities whose
behaviour can have a detrimental effect on the lives of others. This
leaflet tells you what to do if your neighbour is a Durham City Homes
tenant, and their behaviour (or the behaviour of their family, visitors or
animals) is affecting your enjoyment of your home and your community.
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What is anti-social behaviour?
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that causes, or is likely to cause,
nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not
of the same household.
Neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour cover a wide range of
issues, including:
4 Noise
4 Loud music
4 Drunken, rowdy behaviour
4 Verbal abuse
4 Criminal activity (e.g. using or dealing illegal substances)
4 Vandalism
4 Graffiti
4 Threatening behaviour
4 Physical violence
4 Domestic Violence
4 Hate crime
4 Fly tipping
4 Dogs barking or fouling
4 Damage to, or neglect of, properties and gardens.
It is important to remember that behaviour which causes a nuisance or
annoyance to one person, may not do so to another. For example, if you
live on an estate where there are lots of families, general household noise
(e.g. a baby crying or children playing) is to be expected and would not be
considered as anti-social behaviour.
Our communities are very diverse, and it is important to be tolerant of
differences in the lifestyles and cultures of others.
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Neighbour Nuisance & Anti-Social Behaviour

How to report anti-social behaviour
If you want to report nuisance or anti-social behaviour by a Durham
City Homes tenant, you can contact us in the following ways:
4 Telephoning us on freephone 0800 068 0013 (from a landline) or
0191 3018470 between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Thursday, and
8.30am to 4.30pm on a Friday.
4 In person at Durham County Council Customer Access Point:
l Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA.
4 In person or writing to Durham City Homes – For Durham City
council housing related matters only:
l Durham City Homes
Lumley House
Whitfield Court
St John’s Road
Meadowfield Industrial Estate
Durham
DH7 8XL
4 E-mail us on durhamcityhomesasb@durham.gov.uk
A member of staff will contact you within:
4 24 hours for high priority cases e.g. hate crime or domestic violence
4 3 working days for all other cases.
If you want to make a report and you are unsure whether your
neighbour is a Durham City Homes tenant, a tenant of another
landlord, or an owner occupier, please contact us for further advice and
assistance or refer to the ‘Useful Contacts’ at the end of this leaflet.
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Is there anything that I can do?
If you are having a neighbour dispute, you may want to try and speak to
your neighbour and discuss matters with them. They may not realise that
their behaviour is causing a problem to you, and talking to them may be
enough to sort things out.
Do not try to speak to someone if you think you might be putting yourself
at risk, or you feel intimidated or frightened by them.
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Neighbour Nuisance & Anti-Social Behaviour

How will my report be dealt with?
Firstly, we will take the full details of your complaint. This can be done
over the telephone, in a private interview room at one of our customer
access points, or alternatively we will arrange to visit you at a time and
place of your convenience.
The questions we need to ask you will include:
4 What is the problem?
4 Who is being affected by it?
4 How often does it happen?
4 Have you spoken to the person that you are complaining about and,
if so, what happened?
4 Have you reported the problem to anyone else (e.g. the Police)?
In most cases, we will ask you to complete diary sheets. This involves
writing down the dates and times of any incidents, along with the
details of what happened, and who was involved.
These diary sheets are very important, as they help us to build up a
pattern of exactly what is happening, how often and who the main
perpetrators are (the people who are causing the problem). The person
who is dealing with your case will speak to you in more detail about
this, and explain the reasons why this evidence is so important. You
will also be given guidance notes on how to complete the diaries.
During this initial conversation, we will also ask you what you would
like us to do, and agree an action plan of how your complaint is going
to be dealt with.
All complaints will be treated seriously and fully investigated.
If, after initial investigations, we are satisfied that your complaint is
justified, we will take the most appropriate form of action to try and
solve the problem as quickly as possible.
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What action can the council take?
In all cases where we are satisfied that a complaint is justified, we will
work with the perpetrators to encourage them to change their behaviour
at an early stage, before it becomes more serious.
We will use a range of methods, including:
4 Mediation
4 Written and verbal warnings
4 Joint visits with other agencies, such as the Police
4 Acceptable Behaviour Contracts
4 Referrals to independent advice and support agencies.
In addition to asking you to keep a diary of any incidents that you have
witnessed, we will also talk to our partners in other agencies to try and
gather more evidence about a case. These agencies can include the
Police, Fire Service, Social Services, or other council departments.
If the problem continues after we have tried the methods above, we can
then take further action which includes:
4 Extending introductory tenancies
4 Possession order
4 Demotion order
4 Injunction
4 Referral to agencies who offer intensive support, such as Family
Intervention Projects
4 Anti-social behaviour order
4 Eviction.
It is important to note that eviction is only taken as a last resort in the
most serious of circumstances, and will not be appropriate in every case.
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Neighbour Nuisance & Anti-Social Behaviour

Confidentiality
Our staff understand that people can often be very reluctant to report
anti-social behaviour.
Every complaint that is made to Durham City Homes will be treated in
the strictest of confidence.
In most cases, we will be able to investigate your complaint without
your identity being disclosed. Even in the most serious cases, where
legal action is necessary, we are often able to keep the identity of any
witnesses secret.
If you are reporting a neighbour dispute, however, it can sometimes be
more difficult to keep your identity a secret. For example, if you and
your neighbour are having problems over a shared driveway, or a
boundary, it is reasonable to expect that your neighbour will know
where the complaint has come from as you will be the only two parties
involved in the dispute.
Anonymous complaints
We will accept anonymous complaints, but the action that we can take
will often be very limited, as we will not be able to contact you to gather
further information about the problems you are experiencing.
We will also be unable to contact you to tell you what we have done to
try and resolve your complaint.
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Supporting you throughout your complaint
We will keep you fully informed at every stage of our investigation, and
you will be given the details of a named officer who will be responsible for
looking after your case.
In the most serious of cases, where legal action is necessary, we have to
go to County Court and present all of our evidence to a judge. In most
cases, we can give evidence at court on your behalf if necessary, if you
decide that you do not want to attend court in person. Witness
statements can also be made anonymously, so that your details are not
made known to the perpetrator.
However, if possible we will encourage you to attend court and give
evidence in person. If you decide that you are willing to attend, a member
of staff will accompany you throughout the process.
We will also put you in touch with the Witness Service, who will provide
additional support to you during the proceedings.
Improving the service we provide
We are continually striving to improve the service that we provide to our
customers, and your feedback is very important to us.
When your case is closed, we will write to you and send you a customer
satisfaction survey.
Every comment we receive will be taken on board and used to help us to
shape the future of our service.
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Neighbour Nuisance & Anti-Social Behaviour

Useful contacts
If you are suffering from nuisance or anti-social behaviour, and the
perpetrator is a private tenant or an owner occupier, there are specific
sections and officers within the Council to deal with these matters. If
you need advice and assistance, you can contact Durham City Homes
for further information, or contact the appropriate section directly on:
0800 0680013 or 0191 3018470
4 Noise, condition of property and/or garden
l Environmental Health
4 Other anti-social or nuisance behaviour (including complaints about
groups of unidentified persons causing problems in a particular area)
l Anti-Social Behaviour Officer
4 Environmental crime i.e. fly tipping, dog fouling, littering etc.
l Neighbourhood Wardens
4 Durham County Council website
www.durham.gov.uk
4 Durham Constabulary – 101 non emergency number, in an
emergency dial 999
www.durham.police.uk
4 Social Care Direct – 0845 850 50 10
www.durham.gov.uk
4 Victim Support – 0845 30 30 900
www.victimsupport.org.uk
4 Citizens Advice Bureau Durham – Advice Line 0191 384 2638
Appointment Line 0191 383 2885
www.citizensadvice.org.uk
4 National Domestic Violence Helpline – 0808 2000 247
www.womensaid.org.uk
19491 DCH Neighbourhood_nusiance_&_ASB_Leaflet
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Information produced by
Durham City Homes, Lumley House, Whitfield Court,
St John’s Road, Meadowfield Industrial Estate,
Durham, DH7 8XL
Housing Services: 0191 301 8470
durhamcityhomesadmin@durham.gov.uk
Durham County Council, Design and Print. Tel: 03000 261414
September 2012