Tackling anti-social behaviour and harassment
If you are suffering from anti-social behaviour or harassment or have any questions, please, contact customer services on 0845 601 5042.
Report anti-social behaviour or harassment on line
If you are in immediate danger because of violence, threats of violence or any other emergency situation you should contact the police and/or other emergency services by dialling 999.
What is anti-social behaviour?
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour by a resident, member of their household or a visitor to the household that causes annoyance, nuisance or disturbance – basically anything that impacts on other people in a negative way.
Anti-social behaviour can be anything, from loud music or littering to drug dealing and intimidation. If you feel you are experiencing anti-social behaviour of any kind, we want you to report it to us.
What is harassment?
Harassment is intimidation or persecution by a resident, member of their household, visitor of the household or group of people, often due to the person or groups’ race, nationality, colour, religion, sex, sexuality, or disability.
Harassment can range from verbal or physical abuse to attacks on property. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 makes it a criminal (and civil) offence to harass.
Noise nuisance
It is a fact of life that we all make noise: whether we are talking to others, playing music, entertaining, driving in our cars or just going about our daily business. What is a noise to one person may be pleasurable to another. But too much noise can reduce people's quality of life and, in some extreme cases, even destroy it entirely.
Think of your neighbours and always try to keep noise down. Loud noise on a regular basis will upset other residents. It may also be against your tenancy or lease conditions to cause a noise nuisance and, in many cases, against the law.
In addition to reporting regular noise nuisance to your local housing office, you should also report noise nuisance to the council’s noise nuisance team. Local authorities have increased powers to serve noise abatement notices and to seize nuisance equipment. Many of these teams are available outside of normal office hours. You can find your local Council from the Directgov website.
For further information about noise nuisance, see the Noise Concern website
What will we do to tackle anti-social behaviour and harassment?
We treat every act of anti-social behaviour and harassment seriously, making a record of every incident and taking action against those responsible. We ensure we gain permission from the complainants before proceeding with our investigations into the incident and maintain confidentiality at all times.
We will advise and consult the complainant before taking action to resolve the issue and keep them informed of progress.
We will take court action to stop anti-social behaviour and harassment for example we may obtain an injunction or possession order. We will seek to take preventative measures, and work in partnership with other agencies to resolve any issues.
Our staff receive regular training to ensure they are equipped to deal with your report in a sensitive and effective manner. All reports are dealt with in confidence.
We work with residents and other agencies, such as the police to:
- prevent anti-social behaviour and harassment of any kind
- respond swiftly, sensitively and consistently
- offer support to those suffering from anti-social behaviour, as well as assisting those causing the problems if they need help to stop
- take appropriate action against those responsible
- encourage and help residents to solve their differences themselves when this is possible.
How to report anti-social behaviour and harassment to us
Where it is possible and safe to do so, we will encourage residents to try and resolve the matter yourself. If this is not possible you should contact your Neighbourhood or Housing Officer, alternatively please contact:
Spirita
Raleigh House
68-84 Alfreton Road
Nottingham
NG7 3NN
Tel: 0845 601 5042
Report anti-social behaviour or harassment on line
When you report an incident you will be asked a series of questions to help us assess the problem. We will then carry out a further investigation and take any necessary action to resolve the situation. All cases are recorded.
Initial response times for anti-social behaviour
The response times, dependent on the severity of the incident reported are as follows.
High – 1 to 2 working days
These cases include drug-dealing, criminal activity involving violence or assault, racial and all hate related harassment, serious damage to property, hate related incidents and abusive graffiti.
Medium – 7 to 10 working days
These cases include allegations of aggressive or abusive behaviour, frequent loud noise and non-abusive graffiti. This also includes allegations of breaches of tenancy conditions such as pet nuisance, untidy gardens, litter, car repairs and so on.
For further information please see our policy statement on anti-social behaviour.
Reporting anti-social behaviour outside of normal office hours
We are currently working to make sure that we provide the right service for residents who wish to report, by telephone, anti-social behaviour outside of normal office hours. We are planning to introduce this soon.
You can currently use our online service to report anti-social behaviour or harassment on line outside normal work hours.
If you are in immediate danger because of violence, threats or violence or any other emergency situation you must always contact the police and/or other emergency services by dialling 999.
Anti-social behaviour incident diary
If you have reported a problem to us, we may ask you to fill in an Incident Diary to record re-occurring incidents of anti-social behaviour or harassment. You may also download a copy to use when needed. Please see our information on Recording re-occurring incidents of anti-social behaviour and harassment