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Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour
St Georges Community Housing is committed to tackling anti-social behaviour — everybody and especially our tenants have the right to a decent quality of life in your local community.
Everyone is entitled to enjoy their home quietly and peacefully and your tenancy agreement says that as a tenant you must not cause annoyance, disturbance or be a nuisance to people living, working or visiting in the locality of your home
Anti-Social Behaviour can create an environment in which crime can take hold and St Georges Community Housing is committed to working with the Police, local residents, Basildon Council  , The Local Community Safety Partnership and other agencies to tackle this problem.
Basildon Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Policy provides details of our approach.
'Everyday' problems like noise, children or lifestyle differences can usually be sorted out by mediation if both parties agree.
In more serious cases where there are threats or violence or if people cannot agree to mediation, we will take action to deal with the problem.
St Georges Anti-Social Behaviour Team
St Georges has a dedicated Anti Social Behaviour Team and referrals to the team are made via your local Area Housing Office.
When dealing with anti-social behaviour their approach is to try to change people's behaviour, but they have a successful record of taking legal action against those who will not change.
Our Anti Social Behaviour Team will not hesitate in using the full range of enforcement powers available to us against perpetrators. | |
St Georges Community Wardens
 | St Georges also has a team of Community Wardens working with the community and the Police to help reduce incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour |
Reporting Anti-Social Behaviour - Help us to help you
If you have any problems with neighbours or anyone else causing anti social behaviour where you live, just follow this simple checklist:-
- If you have a neighbour problem to begin with, talk to your neighbour and see if the problem can be sorted out between you. Once you have spoken to your neighbour, allow a reasonable time before doing anything more, to see if there is an improvement.
- If the Police have been involved make a note of the crime log number they should give you, as this may be needed to provide evidence.
- If the anti-social behaviour includes someone being violent or threatening you with violence, damaging or threatening damage to your property, or being racially abusive, you should contact the Police immediately.
- Any other reports of anti social behaviour eg youth nuisance should be reported to your local Area Housing Office giving details of the incident
What happens next??
We will acknowledge your report and give you advice how to sort the problem out.
Some problems can be resolved easily but if the anti-social behaviour is aimed directly at you ,eg; harassment and abuse, we will need to talk to you before we start an investigation.
If necessary we will talk to you about the problems you are experiencing and agree an action plan with you.
In serious cases we will want to meet with you within 24 hours.
We will treat any information you give us as confidential and will not use it without your consent and work with you to find solutions.
We may refer you to other agencies such as Positive Solutions Mediations Limited who can help resolve nuisance eg Noise, children and youths, street parking, barking dogs and parties.
We may also refer you to Basildon Council's Environmental Health service who can help deal with more serious noise disturbances or dog problems .
What actions can be taken??
We can't take action against someone without your help to gather evidence so we may give you diary sheets to record the anti-social behaviour that you see or hear.
We may need other evidence such as photographs, video or tape recordings.
We may also have to speak to other people who have witnessed the problem and if no threats of violence or harassment have been made we may ask you to speak to the other person. Sometimes a neighbour just needs reminding that their behaviour is upsetting.
If the person causing the problem is unreasonable, just walk away, don't get involved in an argument. If you feel uncomfortable with this approach, we can refer you to Positive Solutions Mediations Limited who are a local agency providing a specialist service that can help resolve your dispute.
Will we contact the person causing the problem??
Yes, but only with your consent.
If the evidence confirms the anti-social behaviour then we will take action and in serious cases we will take legal actions.
In most cases we will try to get them to change their behaviour or risk legal action. This is often enough to solve the vast majority of problems.
What happens if the problem persists??
If the problems persist after we have issued a final warning, or if someone is in danger, we will start legal action straight away.
Legal action can include an:-
- Injunction - a legal order that instructs the person causing the problem to stop acting anti-socially
- An Anti-Social Behaviour Order - will ban the person causing the problem from coming into specific areas
- Eviction - the County Court may give the us an Order which allows us to evict an anti-social tenant
Racial Harrassment
We take any allegations and incidents of racial harassment very seriously and we will help any of our tenants or leaseholders who is the victim of racial harassment.
If any tenant, leaseholder, family or any visitor threatens, abuses or insults anyone in a racist way they risk prosecution and could lose their home or prosecution
If you are the victim of racial harassment, tell your local Area Housing Office and contact the Police and we will agree an action plan with you to deal with the problem
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