Managing ASB

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) affects our tenants’ quality of life, so we are committed to tackling and reducing this problem in our communities and neighbourhoods.

We have three dedicated Tenancy Compliance Officers and a wider neighbourhood housing team who investigate cases and take action where there is clear evidence of a breach of tenancy and/or anti-social behaviour on our estates.

When addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB), we will make sure any action taken is appropriate and proportionate. We consider the needs of everyone involved and ensure our actions do not directly or indirectly discriminate against them.

Our Tenancy Compliance Officers and the wider neighbourhood housing team work closely together. They’ve also developed some great working relationships with the Police, Forest of Dean District Council, Gloucester City Council and Herefordshire Council Community Safety Partnerships. When you report an incident to us, we may refer it to a partner team or agency to lead on for further investigation and appropriate action.

If you wish to report an incident of anti-social behaviour, please go to our “˜Report…‘ section.

What ASB is, and how we investigate

Anti-social behaviour is defined in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, as:

(a) conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person,

(b) conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person’s occupation of residential premises, or

(c) conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person.

For example:

• Assault; threatening behaviour; domestic abuse; verbal abuse.
• Hate crime; incitement.
• Loud music; excessive dog barking.
• Rubbish dumping.
• Drug and alcohol-related nuisance.
• Damage to Two Rivers Housing property.

Sometimes anti-social behaviour perpetrated by an individual will also be a breach of their tenancy conditions. Examples include:

• Racial harassment and other hate crimes.
• Domestic abuse.
• Drug dealing.

We will not necessarily become involved in all disputes between neighbours. Under certain circumstances, when there is no case to answer, no action will be required.

In particular, we will not investigate:

• Actions which amount to residents going about their normal everyday activities, eg children playing.
• Complaints of people staring.
• Disputes over non-allocated parking.
• People being unpleasant to each other, but which does not justify our involvement.
• People with lifestyles that offend others, eg issues about parenting, who people socialise with, how they dress and what they do in their own homes – UNLESS the behaviour is a breach of tenancy.

When you contact us, your complaint will be allocated to the team in the best place to investigate, based on the severity level of the report. We will tell you which of the following three priorities your complaint falls in to:

• Priority 1 – Very serious, eg actual and/or threats of violence. These will be responded to within one working day.
• Priority 2 – Serious, eg threatening or intimidating behaviour. These will be responded to within two working days.
• Priority 3 – Minor, eg noise from domestic appliances or parking complaints. These will be responded to within seven working days.

You can find out more about ASB and how we deal with it in the “˜Downloads and links’ on this page, and in the leaflets in our ‘Library‘.