Anti-social behaviour and nuisance If you need help understanding the information in this document, please contact us on 0300 365 1111. 2 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE 01 Our service to you As our customer, you deserve an excellent service. Our service standards tell you what you can expect from us, our operatives and contractors. If your experience does not match the standards we have set, or you feel we could improve on the service we provide, please let us know by calling 0300 365 1111. We monitor our performance against these standards and publish the results in our Annual Report and on our website www.ovh.org.uk Every year, we will review the quality of our services with you and make any necessary changes. 3 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE This leaflet is intended to help with instances of anti-social behaviour which you may experience. It is not intended to replace contact with the police. If you need immediate assistance, are at risk of harm, or are witnessing a crime, please contact the police: 999 - Emergencies only / 101 - Non Emergencies 4 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE 02 ASB and nuisance One Vision Housing (OVH) This may include actions such as understands that it is arranging mediation for you and your neighbour or in serious cases where important for our customers you are at risk of harm, we may obtain to feel safe in their homes a civil injunction to prohibit your and neighbourhoods. neighbour from behaving in this way. Tackling anti-social behaviour Who can use OVH’s (ASB) is easiest when we work in partnership. We have published Community Safety Service? our ASB policy in line with the requirement of The Housing Act OVH’s Community Safety Service is 1996, as amended by Section 12 of supported by the rent payments that the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 we receive from tenants who live in our which requires all social landlords to social and affordable rent properties. publish a statement of their policy These tenants, and anyone named on and procedures. their tenancy agreement as a member of their household can use this service. What if the person I am Customers who live in our market rental complaining about is not or shared ownership properties are not an OVH Tenant? automatically entitled to access this service. We can however still provide If the person you are complaining advice and depending on the type of about is not a tenant of OVH, we may nuisance being reported, we may still still be able to help you to resolve the take action. issues you are experiencing. 5 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE Private tenants and owner-occupiers What is meant by ASB? are not automatically entitled to use this service, however, if the person The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime & being complained about is an OVH Policing Act 2014 defines ASB as: tenant then we will still offer advice. yy Conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or We will contact our tenant to try and distress to any person resolve the issue and in some cases where it is in our interests to do so, yyConduct capable of causing we may take legal action. nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to their occupation of residential premises, or yyConduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person. Examples of this may include: yyPlaying loud music yyViolent behaviour towards neighbours yyCriminal damage like graffiti or vandalism Note: Reports of drug use, cultivation or dealing will be passed to the police as ‘intelligence’. If a conviction is obtained, OVH will then consider legal action against the tenant. 6 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE Some types of behaviour are not When we contact you, we may need classed as ASB. These may be to ask you quite a few different things like: questions. This is so that we can fully understand what has happened, yyChildren playing and to identify any risks that we may need to help you manage. yyOne-off incidents of noise/music, such as a children’s party, or New This is particularly the case where Year celebration there has been domestic abuse, or yyGeneral disputes/disagreements hate-related harassment. yyHousehold noise Prevention yyComments or messages on social media - customers will be directed We aim to prevent ASB from to the complaints procedure of the happening in the social media provider first place. This starts by setting out to all new customers our How to contact OVH expectations in terms of considerate neighbourly behaviour. about ASB We work closely with the police to You can contact us by email, by letter, address potential issues, and we have telephone or in person at one of our improved many communities through offices. Our contact details can be additional security, environmental found on the back page of this leaflet. measures and CCTV. We aim to make contact with you within one working day following a If you want to discuss the safety and report of ASB. security of a particular area, please contact your Neighbourhood Housing Where appropriate, you will be Officer using the telephone number offered an appointment with your on the back page of this leaflet. Housing Officer or Community Safety Officer. 7 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE Performance Service Standards We publish performance figures We will: on our website. For the latest yyContact you within one working information go to www.ovh.org.uk day following a report of ASB. Summary of Policy yyOffer you a face-to-face appointment with your Housing Our aim is to help you resolve issues Officer or Community Safety of ASB which are affecting you Officer within five days. and which may make it difficult for you to live in your home, or your yyDevelop an ‘Action Plan’ with you setting out how we can help neighbourhood. you to resolve the issues you are experiencing. It isn’t our aim to ‘punish’ people but rather to change behaviour that yyAssess the risk to you by asking you may be having a negative impact on questions about what has happened other people. However, we do realise and how it has affected you. We that some types of ASB, or criminal will use this information to help you activity have such a serious impact on manage any risks. neighbours or the local community, that legal action is necessary to We promise to keep your details protect our customers. confidential where possible, although in some cases it may be Therefore the way in which we apparent to the alleged perpetrator respond to reports of anti-social of who has made the complaint. will differ depending on the specifics For example, if you are complaining of each case. of loud music and you live in the only adjoining property. 8 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE There are some things that we as a If legal action is necessary, you landlord have a duty to report, for would need to provide specific example where a child or vulnerable details and having these records person may require safeguarding. If will help you to remember. we have to disclose information to a third party, we will always attempt OVH can help you to keep these to tell you first. records as follows; yyYou can telephone us when an What should you do? incident of ASB is occurring and ask us to log the details. Our telephone You will need to decide if you want service operates 24 hours a day, the help of OVH to deal with the 365 days a year, and our staff are problem that is affecting you. trained to log these reports. Sometimes the best course of action yyYou can also email us on is to calmly discuss the issue with the [email protected] person causing the problem, to see if an agreement can be reached. We yySome customers find it easier to understand that sometimes this isn’t use a Dictaphone that they can possible, or that you may be worried talk into. If you would like to use about how the person will react. one of our Dictaphones, please let your Neighbourhood Housing If you want to talk through the Officer know. issue before you decide on the best course of action, we can arrange for you to speak to a trained officer who will give you advice in relation If you are experiencing noise to your complaint. nuisance, you can download our free app ASB If there is an on-going issue, such ‘The Noise App’ as loud music, it is helpful to keep a record of the times and dates that www.thenoiseapp.com you have been disturbed. 9 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE Dispute Resolution We may also need to interview any witnesses, or speak to other agencies Many issues that arise between who are involved, such as the police, neighbours can be resolved through or the local authority. communication, and in some cases, having an informal discussion can We may ask you to submit evidence, resolve the issue without it escalating. such as re-cordings, incident diaries, photographs or state-ments. This will Where customers do not feel able to help us to understand the problem, do this, or where they are worried and discuss with you what the options about how their neighbour may are to resolve the issue. respond, we will offer both parties mediation. This is where a trained mediator will speak to all the parties and work to broker an agreement through negotiation and compromise. We may also refer your case to a Community Justice Panel (sometimes also referred to as Neighbourhood Panels).In most cases, legal action will be a last resort after dispute resolution has been attempted. Investigation of ASB In order to investigate what you have told us, we will usually need to interview the alleged perpetrator. This is so they are aware that someone feels affected by their behaviour, and to give them an opportunity to respond. 10 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND NUISANCE What are the options for This may include: tackling ASB? yyInjunction This will depend upon the type of yyPossession order behaviour that is being reported, yyDemotion order how often it happens, what the risk is to others, what evidence there is We may also involve the police or the and who is being affected. local authority who have additional authorities that can be used to stop The vast majority of disputes antisocial behaviour. between neighbours are resolved quickly but some are more complex. Rehabilitation Actions which may be taken by One Vision Housing include: In most cases, we will aim to work with offenders to encourage them to yyVerbal warning change their behaviour. This will often involve partnering with other agencies yyWritten warning or signposting to services which can yyYellow and red card notice offer tailored support. Our aim is to: yyMediation yyTry to break the cycle of ASB yyRestorative practice yyAvoid further incidents yyAcceptable behaviour agreements yyHelp the individual to keep their tenancy yyParenting agreements yyObtain the right support for the In some cases, it may be that legal individual action against the perpetrator yyHelp individuals improve their becomes necessary. behaviour yyCreate safer communities