Antisocial behaviour
What are my responsibilities as a tenant?
- You have the right to the peaceful enjoyment of your home
- You, members of your household, or your visitors must not cause any noise, disturbance, annoyance or behaviour that affects your neighbours or anyone in the surrounding area of your home
You may be subject to legal action and could lose your home if you commit, or allow others to commit, antisocial behaviour.
Verbal or physical abuse or any form of harassment such as racist, homophobic, sexist or religious abuse against other residents is not acceptable. We will take action to prevent antisocial behaviour, such as:
- mediation to try to resolve disputes amicably
- acceptable behaviour contracts to detail how people should act
- interdicts to prevent people acting illegally
- antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) to prevent alarming behaviour
How do I report incidents of anti-social behaviour?
You should contact Housing if you are experiencing any antisocial behaviour or harassment. You will be given help and advice. We treat all complaints in confidence and they need not be in writing.
You can report noise nuisance to us via the Noise app. The app enables anyone within Aberdeenshire to record evidence of noise onto their smartphones and submitting it to the council.
You may naturally be frightened of reprisals if you report a problem. Our housing staff are sensitive to this and will make sure that any concerns you have are dealt with sympathetically and confidentially.
When you report a complaint it is important that we know the specific details of any incident, such as:
- date
- time
- person, or people, responsible
- names and addresses of any witnesses
Serious incidents such as assault, racist abuse or damage to property should be reported to the police in the first instance.
Our housing officers will contact tenants and investigate all complaints of antisocial behaviour. We will let you know in writing what action we will take following your complaint.
We will support victims of antisocial behaviour and make them aware of the advice and help that is available to them.
Our approach to antisocial behaviour is aimed at resolving problems and all options will be explored prior to taking legal action.
What happens if I am evicted because of antisocial behaviour?
If you are evicted because of antisocial behaviour you will be regarded as being intentionally homeless.
Former tenants who were evicted because of antisocial behaviour who re-apply for housing, or tenants who have been given an ASBO, are likely to be moved to a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy. Tenants on this type of tenancy do not have security of tenure and cannot buy their home.
Our commitment to you on antisocial behaviour
We are committed to tackling antisocial behaviour and making sure that all our tenants and residents are able to enjoy a safe and peaceful environment.
We work with the Police, Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, Community Mediation and other statutory and voluntary agencies to tackle antisocial behaviour and harassment. We are setting up information sharing protocols with the Police and other agencies to work with them and to tackle antisocial problems in Aberdeenshire.