Anti-Social Behaviour
We want you to feel settled and safe in your home, but we know that sometimes this is not always the case. Whether you are one of our tenants or a resident, we work in partnership with you, and agencies like the Police and Durham County Council, to take swift action to resolve issues of anti-social behaviour.
Read the full Anti-social behaviour or Customer Vulnerability policy or our summarised versions below.
Dealing with anti-social behaviour
We take all reports of anti-social behaviour seriously and encourage you to report any issues you're currently experiencing or have witnessed. If you are a victim of crime and you feel it is an emergency, please call the Police immediately on 999.
Alternatively, if you need urgent medical help or advice you can call the free non-emergency NHS number on 111.
Keep up to date
We are working in partnership with Durham Police and Crime Commissioner to raise awareness about anti-social behaviour and improve the flow of information between our places and the police. By improving communication we can all make a greater impact in the prevention and detection of crime and anti-social behaviour.
You can sign up to receive regular crime updates to learn about what your local neighbourhood policing team is doing to tackle anti-social behaviour near you.
Selective Licensing scheme
Durham County Council are introducing a Selective Licensing scheme across private sector housing as of April 1 2022.
Click the button below to read the briefing note from Durham County Council's Housing Solutions team summarising what this might mean for you, as well as links to resources for further information and who to contact with future enquiries.
Legal powers
Parts 1 to 4 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provide six powers for use by local agencies. These options provide a broad enforcement regime with local partners.
Anti-social behaviour case review
The Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review gives you and your community the right to expect action where an ongoing problem is not being addressed.
We know anti-social behaviour can have a serious detrimental impact on you and our places and that’s why we take all reports seriously. We really want you to tell us about anti-social behaviour so we can take appropriate action.
What next?
1. Tell us about the ASB you have experienced. The quickest and easiest way to do this is using our Livin app, on our website or by email. If you prefer to talk to someone you can call our customer service centre and they can put you in touch with your housing coordinator.
2. A member of our housing team will be responsible for supporting you with your ASB case.
3. We will agree actions to be taken with you and provide regular updates.
4. We will support you and work with our community partners to deal with perpetrators.
5. We will let you know the outcome.
Examples of what anti-social behaviour include:
Noise nuisance
Drug dealing
Drunken behaviour
Incidents of violence
Criminal activity
Dangerous animals
Hate incidents
Verbal and written abuse and threats
All forms of harassment and intimidation
If you think you are experiencing anti-social behaviour, please tell us. We will deal with this quickly and efficiently to resolve the issue.
Examples of what isn't anti-social behaviour include:
Day to day “living” noise which is not excessive or unreasonable
Cooking smells
Children playing where property is not being damaged
Your Pets
You are able to keep common household pets and you don't need to ask us for permission. We know how important pets can be for companionship, wellbeing, fitness and social interaction. The majority of pet owners are caring, responsible and respectful and keep their pets under control. However, sometimes we do have issues related to animal nuisance. If you want to report anti-social behaviour related to pets, get in touch.
Hate incidents
We value the diversity of our communities and believe that all tenants and residents, their families, and visitors to their home have a right to live without fear of abuse, intimidation, harassment, humiliation or attack. A hate incident can be any action of abuse or intimidation that you perceive to have been motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s (perceived or otherwise) disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender Identity.
If you wish to report a criminal offence you believe to have been motivated by hostility or prejudice based on any of these characteristics, this could be a hate crime and you should also report this to the police immediately using 999.
To tackle Hate Incidents, we will:
Investigate all reports of hate incidents
Work in partnership with the police where appropriate take enforcement action against hate incidents and support victims
Conduct routine estate inspections and work with partners where required to ensure any hate related graffiti is swiftly dealt with in our communities
Take prompt and appropriate action on tenancies, having regard for all of the powers available to us, where tenancy breaches motivated by hate are proven
There are a number of organisations who can help with support and advice if you have been a victim of hate related incidents or a hate crime.
Domestic abuse
We will take firm action against domestic abuse in partnership with the Police and have a zero tolerance approach to any form of prejudice or hate crime.