Tenants’ behaviour

This fact sheet is aimed at residents who are experiencing anti-social behaviour (ASB). It provides examples of the kind of issues that would be considered as ASB as well as some of the actions that a landlord would be expected to take in response.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) is a term which covers a broad range of issues. There are several definitions for ASB but it is most defined as ‘anything causing a nuisance or annoyance'.

ASB definitions

  • Dog fouling, uncontrolled and noisy pets, inconsiderate or dangerous parking and abandoned cars.
  • Noise nuisance at high levels or unreasonable hours.
  • Environmental health issues such as rubbish dumping.
  • Vandalism and graffiti.
  • Drug misuse, alcohol-related nuisance, and prostitution.
  • Hate incidents motivated by someone’s age, disability, faith, sexual orientation, or race.
  • Harassment, including verbal and physical abuse and threats.
  • Acts of violence.

All social housing landlords have a duty to publish policies and procedures to help them deal with reports of ASB.  If you are experiencing ASB you should contact your landlord and ask how to report the issue and find out what action it can take. If you are experiencing threats of violence or any other possible criminal activity you should also report this to the police.

Landlords' methods for dealing with ASB

  • Offering mediation between the relevant parties.
  • Asking the victim to complete diary sheets.
  • Drawing up ‘good neighbour agreements’ between the parties concerned.
  • Formulating an action plan with the relevant parties.
  • Issuing a warning to the alleged perpetrator.
  • Installing sound monitoring equipment.

Landlords' methods dealing with serious ASB

  • Involve other agencies such as the police or environmental health.
  • Go to court to get the person behaving in an anti-social way evicted, if they are a tenant or leaseholder.
  • Apply to court for an injunction.

Landlords will only seek to have someone evicted for ASB if the behaviour is serious and persistent and all other interventions have failed. To evict an individual, a landlord will also need substantial evidence that it can rely on in court.

If you report instances of ASB to your landlord and you are dissatisfied with how it deals with the situation, you should raise a formal complaint explaining why you do not consider its response to be appropriate.

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