The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our number one priority. We understand that neighbour disputes, environmental issues and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) can have a significant impact on people’s mental health and sense of security as well as harming the wider community. This is why we have a dedicated community safety team which works with our local neighbourhood officers to resolve issues as quickly as possible.
Neighbourhood issues
Neighbour disputes can cover a variety of issues including:
- Issues with parking spaces
- Positioning of wheelie bins
- Boundary disputes
- Cooking smells
- A baby crying
- D-I-Y that is occurring during reasonable hours
- Situations where all parties are contributing to the issue or dispute
- Issues arising from a difference in lifestyle. An example of this is someone working nights and having a problem with a neighbour making noise during the day
For further information see our Good neighbourhood management policy.
Example of a neighbourhood issue that we helped resolve
Issue: A customer reported that they were being disturbed by their neighbour’s child crying. They added that the child’s family were walking around the flat and using household appliances during the night.
Resolution: As the noise was not created deliberately or maliciously, it was deemed to be household noise. We offered a mediation service so that both customers had the chance to better understand the issues and agree a compromise.
Environmental issues
Environmental issues can include:
- Condition of property that is causing a hazard to health
- Littering/fly-tipping
- Dog fouling
- Graffiti
Anti-social behaviour
What is anti-social behaviour?
Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) is defined as behaviour by a person, not of the same household, which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to someone.
ASB includes:
- Threats of violence or actual violence
- Harassment and intimidation
- Threats of criminal damage or actual criminal damage
- Constant and unreasonable noise nuisance
- Alcohol or drug related nuisance
For further information on dealing with anti-social behaviour, see our ASB policy.
Read our policies Report ASB
Examples of ASB that we helped resolve
Issue: We received several reports from different customers about suspected drug use and dealing from a first floor flat. Visitors to the property were causing a disturbance during all hours of the day and night, causing damage to the property as well as the communal areas of the block of flats and threatening customers.
Resolution: We worked in partnership with the police, fire service, mental health and local authority to address the behaviour. Actions taken by us included, home visits, offers of support to the customer involved, in relation to his mental health and substance misuse, verbal and written warnings and installing CCTV. Despite the police issuing a community protection notice warning, unfortunately, none of these measures were successful in resolving the anti-social behaviour. To finally resolve this issue for our customers, we took legal action which allowed us to possess the property and evict the customer involved.
Issue: We received a report that a customer was verbally abusing and threatening another customer and a Homes Plus employee.
Resolution: Due to the severity of the incidents, we applied for and were granted a 5-year injunction to protect those being abused. The injunction specified an exclusion zone to prevent the customer from entering the street where one of the people involved lived.