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Report anti-social behaviour as a council tenant

We will respond to incidents of anti-social behaviour when this is either caused or experienced by council tenants and occupants. This includes incidents caused by council tenants and occupants in the locality of their home.

The term anti-social behaviour is used to describe a variety of issues which can cause nuisance, annoyance, harassment, alarm, or distress or which have a detrimental impact on the quality of life of those in the locality. This can range from a minor issue to serious criminal activity.

Examples of behaviours we generally consider to be anti-social behaviour
  • hate crime / hate incidents
  • playing unreasonably loud music/television/video games or similar
  • threatening or verbally abusing another person, including threats of violence, such as to kill or harm someone.
  • damaging property, including defacing a building with graffiti.
  • violent incident. We define a violent incident as one in which physical violence was used for example attacking another person
  • failing to control a pet
  • misusing drugs or alcohol, drug production or drug dealing
  • incorrect disposal of rubbish, for example fly-tipping
  • anti-social use of vehicles for example off road riding of motorbikes or quad bikes, anti-social parking and misuse of road vehicles
Examples of behaviours we generally consider not to be anti-social behaviour
  • reasonable household noise eg. vacuuming and the use of other domestic appliances, opening/closing doors, using stairs
  • positioning of wheelie bins
  • boundary disputes
  • carrying out DIY at reasonable times and for reasonable durations
  • complaints of people looking at, ignoring, or staring at you where there is no other associated offence (such as stalking)
  • babies crying
  • a one-off party if noise was the only issue and it is unlikely to be repeated
  • children playing (including ball games). We will not consider this to be anti-social behaviour unless there is evidence of other issues such as verbal abuse, harassment, or deliberate damage
  • minor issues such as cooking smells or items on washing lines

These types of behaviour require a different response. The Council’s involvement will be limited, in most cases we will provide guidance and tips around how the complainants themselves can resolve issues with their neighbours or we may refer the complainant to a mediation or support service.

How to report anti-social behaviour

If you are a council tenant or leaseholder or your complaint is about a tenant or leaseholder, you can make a report:

  • in person at your nearest Neighbourhood Office or First Point
  • in writing to the Housing and Neighbourhood Service, PO Box 5967, Sheffield, S2 9GH
  • to your Neighbourhood Officer
  • phone us on 0114 293 0000 or email TenancyEnforcementAndSustainment@sheffield.gov.uk
  • If you are concerned for anyone’s safety within the household, then contact the police on 999 in an emergency or 101. On some occasions, what may seem like a noise issue could be
    domestic abuse. If you think you have witnessed or heard domestic abuse, help to keep others safe by reporting it straight away to the Police.
  • If you are worried that a child has been harmed or is at risk of harm, then phone the Sheffield Safeguarding Hub on 0114 273 4855 (24 hours) to speak to a social worker.

Our responsibilities

We will:

Aim to contact you within 2 working days to gather information, explain available options and agree an action plan for investigating and resolving the problems you are experiencing.

Contact other witnesses, make enquiries with other agencies and, where appropriate, signpost you to other organisations such as the Police.

Keep you informed of developments. We will aim to update you every 2 weeks.

Contact the person alleged to have caused or allowed the antisocial behaviour to ensure that we have all the facts give them a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations.

Where appropriate, we will also explain the consequences and summarise the next steps of our investigations. Before taking any steps, which may disclose your identity, we will discuss this
with you and the options available.

Hold to account those people who are causing anti-social behaviour and, where appropriate, provide them with support to change.

Make use of informal measures, such as mediation, to resolve issues at an early stage.

Work with you to manage your expectations regarding what action we can take. Any action we take must be proportionate to the anti-social behaviour that is evidenced.

Where appropriate, utilise the range of legal powers and tools available to us, including Possession and legal orders under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Work with relevant agencies, such as the police, to resolve any anti-social behaviour identified.

Where we need to take legal action, we will support you through this process and provide assistance and advice on gathering evidence.

Ensure that we consider a person’s vulnerabilities and protected characteristics when making decisions and providing support.

Seek feedback on the services we provide and identify any potential areas for improvement .

If we decide to take no further action on a case, we will explain the reasons why and confirm this to you in writing. We will keep a record of the incident, in case this information is needed in
the future.

What we ask of you

Your responsibilities:

  • Adhere to the conditions of your tenancy agreement, including looking after your home and being a good neighbour. You can find more information on this in our ‘Good Neighbour Guide’
  • Be tolerant and respectful towards your neighbours, visitors and other people living in the community
  • Consider resolving matters with your neighbours yourself, if appropriate and safe to do so
  • Understand that we are not able to take action on everyday disagreements and disputes between neighbours
  • Work with us to gather evidence. This includes keeping an accurate record of incidents that occur and reporting these promptly to us or other agencies such as the Police. If you do
    not do this, we may not be able to challenge the unacceptable behaviour or build a case against the person causing it

Measuring success

We will:

  • evaluate our performance using a range of different measures. This may include carrying out customer experience surveys
  • ensure our performance results are available to customers and use this information to improve our services

Contact Tenancy Enforcement and Sustainment

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