Social Landlord Service: Anti-Social Behaviour Policy

1. Introduction

1.1This Policy provides a framework for how Great Yarmouth Borough Council (the Council) will effectively manage reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) that impacts residents of its social housing homes and those using communal area open spaces. The Policy defines ASB and provides examples of behaviours that would not be considered ASB in the context of providing sustainable communities.

1.2The Policy promotes a proactive approach to supporting community safety and details how tailored support will be delivered when incidents of ASB occur. This is complimented by ensuring all reasonable and effective actions are used effectively to address inappropriate behaviours.

2. Policy Context

2.1 This is a sub-policy of the existing overarching Tenancy Policy and operates within the following policy context:

• Social Landlord Service: Tenancy policy
• Social Landlord Service: Estate Services Policy
• Social Landlord Service: Additional Support Policy
• Safeguarding Policy
• Corporate complaints and compliments policy
• Dealing with abusive, persistent or vexatious complaints and complainants policy

3.Key Legalisation

3.1 This Policy has been developed in accordance with the following key legislation that is relevant to this policy:

• Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003
• Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
• Housing Act 1985
• Housing Act 1996
• Domestic Abuse Act 2021
• Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
• Environmental Protection Act 1990
• Equality Act 2010

4. Scope and Purpose

4.1The Council believes all tenants have the right to their chosen lifestyle as long as it doesn't breach their tenancy agreement or impact the quality of life of other residents or visitors to the neighbourhood.

4.2 The Council takes incidents of ASB very seriously. This Policy defines ASB and shapes the approach for staff and residents in how the organisation will effectively and efficiently challenge reported or identified incidents of ASB to support community safety.

4.3 This Policy presents the Council's commitment to working with local residents to prevent and when incidents occur, investigate and deliver early interventions to challenge inappropriate behaviours. The Council will ensure tailored support is considered and the ASB Toolkit is appropriately utilised to achieve the earliest possible resolution and tenancy sustainment.

4.4 The Council acknowledges that working collaboratively with partners is a vital element of providing safe communities. Working as a multi-organisational group provides the best opportunity to understand triggers for behaviour; current interventions in place and provide appropriate support and remedies to support both perpetrators and complainants impacted by ASB.

4.5 This Policy highlights that an important element of residing in a local community is to have respect for neighbours and a degree of tolerance for each other. Not all disputes can be resolved, and landlords are unable to eliminate all sound transfer between properties.

4.6This Policy should be read in conjunction with the Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy 2024 - 2029. This document sets out the priorities for preventing and tackling ASB over this period.

5. Definitions

5.1 ASB is defined by Section 2(1) of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 as:

• conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress, to any person,
• conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person's occupation of residential premises, or
• conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person

5.2 Domestic Abuse is defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 as behaviour of a person ("A") towards another person ("B") if:

1. A and B are each aged 16 or over and are personally connected to each other, and
2. behaviour is abusive, and it does not matter whether the behaviour consists of a single incident or a course of conduct
3. behaviour is "abusive" if it consists of any of the following:
   1. physical or sexual abuse
   2. violent or threatening behaviour
   3. controlling or coercive behaviour
   4. economic abuse (see subsection (4))
   5. psychological, emotional, or other abuse
4. "economic abuse" means any behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on B's ability to:
   1. acquire, use or maintain money or other property, or
   2. obtain goods or services
5. for the purposes of this Act, A's behaviour may be behaviour "towards' B's despite the fact that it consists of conduct directed at another person (for example, B's child)

5.3 Harassment includes a range of behaviours including verbal abuse, threatening behaviour, and intimidating actions. More specifically, this can involve shouting, screaming, swearing, and making offensive gestures. Other examples include noise nuisance, like loud music or parties at unsociable hours.

5.4 Hate Crime is a criminal act motivated by prejudice against a victim's actual or perceived characteristics, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or transgender identity. It involves hostility or prejudice towards these characteristics and can involve both crimes against a person or property.

6. What is not considered ASB?

6.1 While examples below may sometimes be inconvenient, the Council considers that the harm likely to be caused is not automatically ASB. Issues on which we may be able to provide advice but will not investigate include the following:

• living or domestic noises including:
  • ordinary conversation heard through walls or floors
  • neighbours walking around their home as part of the normal use of their home
  • domestic activities, such as vacuuming; using washing machines
  • toilets being flushed
  • lumps and bangs
• noise from children playing
• parking disagreements
• one-off incidents of noise nuisance
• disputes on social media
• DIY
• cooking odours
• one-off parties
• barking dogs (for short periods of time)
• issues that do not constitute a tenancy breach for example smoking/vaping, lifestyle clashes, cultural differences or people occasionally staring or glancing, even if unwelcome - however, persistent or deliberate attempts to observe inside another resident's home such as positioning oneself to look into a property, may be considered intrusive and will be investigated as ASB
• reports of residents not being pleasant to each other but not sufficiently serious to require landlord involvement

6.2 When a report is not classified as ASB under this policy we will encourage neighbours to resolve disputes amicably between themselves where appropriate.

6.3 To support good neighbourly relations we will explore and offer any additional relevant support that maybe available. We will also make recommendations that may include but not limited to:

• installing carpets in above ground floor properties
• informing neighbours when one-off events may take place e.g. BBQ, DIY, parties
• explaining work shift patterns when they change or fall into unsociable hours
• using wireless headphones where possible when playing music or playing games consoles
• reducing the base function on sound systems
• being considerate and tolerant to neighbours with an understanding that protected characteristics maybe present in other households

7. Policy Statement

7.1 To effectively prevent; investigate and challenge ASB to support positive behavioural change and enable communities to enjoy the use of their home and local neighbourhood the Council will:

• ensure all staff receiving/managing ASB complaints are trained and have the knowledge and confidence to provide support/deliver the right interventions to minimise the impact on a complainant
• promote and deliver the agreed Council Customer Charter Standards to all enquiries/communications received, ensuring residents are aware of what communications they can expect from the Council
• promote responsibilities and expectations to respect your neighbour and the local community during all new tenancy sign up meetings
• publicise and promote services available to support persons impacted by ASB through encouraging persons to report incidents through a range of methods
• provide a community based caretaking service to act as a first point of contact in homes located of communal stairwells
• record all incidents of ASB and undertake a risk assessment of each complainant to ensure appropriate support is delivered. This will include referring high risk cases to the multi-agency Operational Partnership Team for interventions
• explain clearly to residents when reported, what incidents will not be treated as ASB and highlight support available
• provide clear support and guidance to ensure reasonable expectations are set during the initial contact and then managed throughout the case
• adopt a victim centred approach to investigating reports of ASB and ensuring where possible there is an understanding developed of the trigger for any inappropriate behaviour when considering how to respond to a report
• work collaboratively with partners including the Council's Collaboration Hub to develop a holistic understanding of work with individuals and agree joint action plans to support both complainants/perpetrators of ASB, ensuring the impact of any issues is minimised
• keep complainants regularly updated with actions being taken and consider any additional support required throughout the case
• undertake targeted joint police patrols to promote community safety and identify and address concerns of local residents
• fully utilise the ASB Toolkit ensuring that the best options from a wide range of powers are used appropriately, where it is reasonable and proportionate to do so, escalating actions in a timely manner
• in the most serious cases where formal court actions are required, ensure all complainants have a clear understanding of the court process and there is a consideration of any additional support required before/during the court hearing
• the Council's corporate complaint procedure is also available when a resident believes a service has not been delivered appropriately

8. ASB Case Review

8.1 The Council acknowledges that in some cases residents may be dissatisfied with the outcome of an investigation into their report of ASB. The ASB Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced a process to support residents in these circumstances, called the Community Trigger (subsequently renamed ASB Case Review). The ASB Case Review is a formal review process ensuring agencies work together where persistent ASB has occurred and no resolution has been achieved. The Council will promote this process through its website and the case closure letter issued, supported by officer communications when dissatisfaction is raised.

9. Service Standards

9.1 The Council as landlord will not undertake a full investigation into every report of ASB. Some will be related to a one off incident or of a very minor issue where the impact and harm on the victim is assessed as low or where the alleged perpetrator may also not be aware their behaviour is impacting another resident. To support good community relations, persons reporting this type of incident will be requested to speak to their neighbour (unless there are significant vulnerabilities identified) to achieve a positive outcome without the intervention of the landlord.

9.2 When a crime has occurred we will work with police to ensure the Council's neighbourhoods are safe but will not lead on any ASB criminal investigations as this is a role for the police. Where appropriate we will support the police and local communities through delivering tenancy related interventions as a subsequent outcome where appropriate.

9.3 We will record all incidents to determine if multiple incidents of ASB have occurred; a significant crime is being investigated or a person reporting an issue has significant vulnerabilities. If this is the case the Council will undertake an investigation within 5 working days and provide a complainant update into the investigation every 10 working days unless agreed differently with the complainant.

9.4 Where evidence is identified that unreasonable for example, where targeted or vexatious complaints are made, the Council reserves the right to not take further action in these cases but will offer appropriate advice and support.

9.5 Incidents reported that fall into categories not classed as ASB as outlined in 6.1 of this policy when considering the likely harm caused, may not be subject to a full ASB investigation.

9.6 All ASB related issues notified through the Corporate Complaint process will be dealt with as service requests in line with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.

10. Monitoring and Review

10.1 Compliance with this policy will be monitored through the defined standards set out by the Regulator for Social Housing for Neighbourhood and ASB as follows:

• TP10 - Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained
• TP11 - Satisfaction with the landlords' contribution to the neighbourhood
• NM01 - Anti Social Behaviour cases per 1,000 properties
• TP12 - Satisfaction with the landlords handling of ASB The Tenancy Services Manager oversees performance that is collated and reported quarterly to ELT and Cabinet. Performance is published on the Council's website to provide residents with details of service outcomes.

10.2 The policy will also be monitored through the following operational outcomes to support management of the service and enhance opportunities to introduce service improvements:

• case closure satisfaction survey outcomes
• number of informal and formal actions taken
• number of ASB support actions delivered

10.3 This Policy will be reviewed every five years or earlier if required.