Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)

Castle Point Borough Council is committed to tackling ASB and to working with victims, perpetrators and partners, including the Police, to achieve this.

Tenancy management is broken down into two main areas: Tenancy enforcement and estate management; two areas of service that make sure that all tenants follow their tenancy conditions, allow all tenants to peacefully enjoy their home, and makes sure that estates stay pleasant and acceptable places to live.

The tenancy agreement outlines behaviour, known as antisocial behaviour (ASB), that is unacceptable to you, your family or invited visitors.

If you do not keep to the terms of your Tenancy Agreement you are in 'breach' of your tenancy. Anti Social behaviour is not acceptable under the terms of your agreement. We may take you to Court to get a court order that will allow us to evict you.

What is Anti-Social Behaviour?

Examples of ASB include 

• Using or allowing the property to be used for any immoral or illegal purposes, including using or supplying illegal drugs or substances, counterfeit goods and weapons
• Causing nuisance or annoyance to your neighbours by, for example, playing loud music, arguing and slamming doors, unreasonable dog barking and fouling, offensive drunkenness and dumping rubbish
• Harassing other neighbours or any other person in the community by, for example, using or threatening to use violence, using insulting words or behaviour, causing damage or threatening to damage another persons home or belongings, writing threatening, insulting or abusive graffiti

This list is not exhaustive and it is important to remember that ASB can impact upon an individual, a family, the community and the town as a whole. It can make life unbearable and create an environment where serious crime can take hold.

If you experience any of the above problems, contact your Housing Management Officer. Calling our switchboard on 01268 882200 will allow you to find out who is responsible for your area.

Be a caring neighbour

Disagreements between neighbours, for example about noise or boundaries are one of the most common reports we receive. Before involving us, we ask you to be considerate and try to sort out the problem between yourselves.  We also want our residents to understand that people have difference lifestyles.

However, if you, a member of your household or a visitor act in an antisocial way and cause a nuisance and annoyance, you are breaking the terms of your tenancy agreement.

If you need help

ASB Incident Log [pdf] 79KB

Speak to your Housing Management Officer or your Community Safety Officer, both can be contacted on 01268 882200.

To seek advice or report a non-emergency situation please call 101. You can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. You can report a crime anonymously to Crimestoppers.

Please download and print off an incident log. It is imperative that as much evidence is collated as possible as this can be used as evidence should the matter proceed to Court.

If the matter involves one of our tenants or leaseholders, we will be able to give you help and advice. 

A helpful guide to avoid causing a nuisance to others

• Don't carry out loud work at night including repairs
• Talk to your neighbours if you intend to have a party
• Do not play your TV, radio, hi-fi or musical instruments loudly, especially at night
• If you have a dog or other pets. keep them under control
• Be aware of where your children are playing, who is supervising them and what they are doing
• Talk to your children and visitors if their behaviour is likely to cause a nuisance to other people

If you are experiencing ASB you should tell us or report it to the Police, depending how serious it is. The action we take will depend on the type of issue you are reporting, the powers we have to deal with that issue, and the type of action that you agree we can take. We will give you advice about what we can do to support you, and help you sort out the issues.

Here are some things we can do to help

• Visit the perpetrator in their home or interview them in the office
• Refer your case to Housing Management and mediation
• Advise and assist victims in gathering evidence
• Issue warnings to the perpetrators
• Work closely with a range of partners to provide the most appropriate solution
• Provide the victim with extra security measures
• Provide victim and witness support throughout the process
• Consider alternative approaches to preventing ASB
• Consider using all approaches in the enforcement of ASB

Any action we take will be with your agreement. If the behaviour does not breach the tenancy agreement and Castlepoint Borough Council does not have powers to act, we will give you advice about who else may be able to help you.

We must give the person a reasonable opportunity to discuss the problem, and time to change or stop the behaviour. This helps if we consider legal action at a later stage.

If legal action is a consideration it is imperative that as much quality evidence is collated as possible as we will rely on this as evidence in Court. You will be asked to complete incident logs for each incident you, or any household members or visitors witness. You can obtain incident logs from the Housing office or from this page: ASB Incident Log [pdf] 79KB

 Incidents can be reported by:

• telephoning: 01268 882200 
• emailing: tenancyofficers@castlepoint.gov.uk

Our Policy on Anti-Social behaviour:

The procedures we follow to resolve incidences of anti-social behaviour, and the actions we take, are outlined in our  Anti-Social Behaviour Policy which can be viewed or downloaded here: ASB Policy [pdf] 318KB