Anti Social Behaviour
Dealing with anti-social behaviour – what can you do?
Talk to your neighbours
If your neighbour is being too noisy or is causing a nuisance, talking to them is often the best way to solve the problem. Most people are reasonable if you speak to them in person, and sometimes they may not realise that they are causing a nuisance.
Dealing with anti-social behaviour or harassment – what can King Street Housing Society do?
We would normally expect people to try to sort out their problems with their neighbours themselves, before asking King Street to get involved. In our experience, if we get involved before people approach their neighbours, it can often make the situation worse. Imagine how you would feel if the first you knew about a complaint against you was through a letter or a visit from one of our officers.
Wherever possible, we will try to sort out any problems informally and help the people involved to sort out their differences. We can arrange conflict resolution /mediation (independent help to sort out a problem) between the people involved if they agree. There is, however, a limit to what we can do, particularly if people are unwilling or unable to try to sort out their differences, and we will end our involvement where we consider that this is the case. If we have to do this we will write and tell you, and suggest steps that you might wish to consider if you still want to pursue the matter yourself.
Serious problems
KSHS will not accept any form of serious antisocial behaviour, and we will take action against people who cause a serious nuisance to, harass, assault, intimidate or abuse their neighbours.
Where there is clear evidence of serious antisocial behaviour, we can take legal action.
What action we take will depend on the particular details of each case, and we would only consider taking legal action in serious cases where there are no other suitable options available to us.
You are responsible for how your family, other members of your household and your visitors behave in and around your home. If you, a member of your family or household or your visitors break the conditions of your tenancy, we will take action against you and you could lose your home.
Conflict resolution services
We can offer conflict resolution (also called ‘mediation’) for residents who are arguing. This will involve a trained volunteer, who is independent of us, visiting each person to discuss the problems they are facing. They will listen to what people have to say but will not take sides in the dispute. They will try to help and find a permanent solution to the problem that both sides can accept. This is a voluntary process and can help sort out a wide range of neighbour disputes over issues such as car parking, boundary problems and noise nuisance.
Conflict resolution/Mediation is a process in which someone who isn’t involved, the mediator, helps people work out an agreement. However, it is important to remember that the people involved in the dispute work out the agreement, not the mediator. For more information on this service, please contact us: phone 01223 312294.
