Tackling antisocial behaviour

We’re committed to resolving all cases of antisocial behaviour or tenancy breach that involve our customers. However, investigating antisocial behaviour, and taking enforcement action, often needs the efforts of more than one agency.

For example, environmental issues may need to be investigated in partnership with agencies like the local council. Examples may include fly tipping, vehicle nuisance, and parking disputes.

If - following a report and investigation - there is insufficient evidence, we as a landlord will be unable to take action. In these cases, we’ll advise you on the reason and signpost to relevant alternatives – including seeking your own legal advice where appropriate. Tap here to report antisocial behaviour to us

Before you proceed: please remember that serious crime, such as suspected drug crime and violent crime, should be reported direct to the Police, who have greater investigatory powers and tools.

You can report a crime to Greater Manchester Police by tapping here or search ‘report a crime’ to find your local police force’s reporting system. Always call 999 if someone’s in immediate danger.

The Police have the statutory powers and lead on investigating drug crime. This includes the use of cannabis, which is a Class B drug.

Please report any drug-related incidents through Crimestoppers (anonymously) on 0800 555111 or tap here to make an anonymous report on the Crimestoppers website.

While we’ll work with our Be Safe partners to tackle drug crime, it’s the Police who’ll need to investigate reports of drug crime either at a property we manage or in the local area.

If you report drug crime to us, we’ll share the information you provide with the Police.

Remember: you can report crime anonymously and the report will be logged and recorded. All reports will help the Police identify hotspot areas of drug crime that may require Police resources to be targeted.

We (Bolton at Home) don’t lead on drug crime, but we’ll open an antisocial behaviour case should any evidence of drug crime be linked to a property we own and if the crime is confirmed by the Police and/or court.

We’ll investigate noise complaints to ascertain if the noise is ongoing, persistent, and would constitute antisocial behaviour and not normal household noise.

We accept that tolerance to noise will vary from person to person, and that customers living in a communal environment will experience a certain level of noise due to the nature of communal/shared living spaces.

We’ve delivered training to officers that’ll support them to recognise and manage cases where a customer has support needs or a disability. In these cases, customers may be more sensitive to noise and have lower tolerance levels due to their disability.

In cases where the noise level is proved not to be at a threshold that would constitute antisocial behaviour, we’ll always signpost you to other support services that can assist customers to manage their tenancies.

Our approach:

We’ll always work to resolve the issue early without escalating the case to a formal antisocial behaviour investigation.

To do this, we’ll send a polite letter to raise awareness of the issue, and – where appropriate - mediation may also be offered in an attempt to resolve the noise issue. Tap here to learn more about our dedicated in-house Resolve Mediation Service.

Whether adjustments to your/your neighbour’s home (e.g., by installing a door closure or putting down underlay/carpets) will reduce the noise will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Please note that funding for noise reduction measures is limited to £500.

We’ll only progress a noise antisocial behaviour case and install a recording device when we deem it necessary to do so (and if diary sheets have been completed). Installing a recording device can be an intrusive action and needs to be justified.

We do not have funding to install sound-proofing measures due to their cost and the overall benefits achieved. We will, however, accept permission requests from customers who wish to undertake their own sound proofing works to reduce noise levels.

We’ll only escalate a noise antisocial behaviour case to a legal enforcement stage when all non-legal interventions have been fully exhausted.

Remember: Bolton at Home is not a statutory body (local authority) and, as such, we do not have the legal powers to serve a Noise Abatement Notice and remove equipment that causes noise. We will, however, signpost customers to their local authority where appropriate.

We condemn all forms of hate crime and help to ensure our customers can enjoy living free from victimisation and abuse.

A hate crime is any incident or criminal offence that a victim or witness feels is motivated by a hatred or prejudice of someone’s:

• Disability.
• Race, colour, or ethnic origin.
• Religion, faith, or belief.
• Sexual orientation or sexuality.
• Gender or gender identity.
• Lifestyle / alternative subculture.

Hate crime can take many forms including physical attacks or the threat of an attack, verbal abuse, or insults.

When you tell us about hate crime, we’ll make sure any incidents reported to us are sensitively investigated, providing victims with appropriate support, and making referrals to/sharing information with the Police and partner services wherever appropriate.

We’re committed to reducing the harm caused by hate crime through tackling hatred and supporting victims.

We have a firm but fair approach in dealing with antisocial behaviour. This means we focus on early intervention and prevention before progressing on to opening a case and carrying out an investigation.

If appropriate, we’ll offer mediation and other conflict coaching options as early as possible. You can tap here to learn more about our dedicated in-house Resolve Mediation Service.

We always prioritise the most serious cases of antisocial behaviour.

We’re a core member of the Be Safe Partnership and work closely with statutory organisations (like the Police and local authorities) to tackle antisocial behaviour. We’ll use all available and appropriate legal powers available to us to tackle antisocial behaviour, but please be aware we aren’t a statutory body (like the Police or a local authority). This means taking legal action as a landlord can take time.

In responding to reports of antisocial behaviour, we’ll also need to assess whether the victim and/or perpetrator of antisocial behaviour is vulnerable, has a disability, and/or another support need.

As a social landlord, we’ll rehouse customers with support needs and work closely with support services. As such, the court will expect us to consider vulnerability and support needs under equality law. We’ll need to evidence we’ve taken the disability and support needs of individuals into account when pursuing legal action as a landlord, which may also increase timescales for legal action.

When you report antisocial behaviour, we’ll do our utmost to keep you informed about the action we intend to take, and the progress made.

There may be instances where, due to privacy and data protection issues, we won’t be able to share some information with you.

However, please be assured we’ll be working to progress every case as best we can. We’d encourage you to keep in touch with us if the antisocial behaviour that you have reported is ongoing or getting worse.

Remember: if legal action is pending, please remember that this can take time and, as such, you’ll need to continue reporting and recording evidence until the case goes to court.

No.

Because we recognise that antisocial behaviour can have profound impacts on the lives of residents - including their mental and physical health and wellbeing - your rent covers the cost of our Neighbourhood Safety and Enforcement Service.

While we take between 3,000 to 3,500 reports per year and carry around 400 to 450 cases at any one time, the majority of cases reported are resolved early with no escalation or the need for any legal action.

For those cases that cannot be resolved early through non legal interventions, the cost will increase as the case progresses, and it’ll rise significantly if it continues to court (we have a policy of seeking our costs from tenants we have to take to court).

The total cost of an antisocial behaviour or tenancy breach case will depend on what resources were deployed in the case. Costs can include officer time/pay, meetings with other professionals, installing CCTV and noise recording devices, delivering mediation sessions, recharge costs, and the costs of taking any legal action where necessary (including paying for a solicitor and/or barrister).

Remember: the court and the judge will expect us to explore all possible measures to resolve the case before any legal action is undertaken (that could lead to a tenant losing their home). Legal action is always considered a last resort.

This table shows some average costs incurred when acting against antisocial behaviour and/or tenancy breaches:

Action	Cost
Opening a new antisocial behaviour or tenancy breach case:	£500
Early resolution measures (such as mediation)	£500 to £800
Investigation, officer time/pay, and installing CCTV and/or noise recording devices:	£1,000 to £3,000
Injunction application to court and associated legal work:	£2,000 to £4,000
Possession claim and associated legal work:	£5,000 to over £20,000

Cases that are taken to court can often exceed costs of £30,000.

We want you to be happy with the service we provide and we want to know when we get things right. We also want to improve on what we do by building on our successes and learning from our mistakes.

If we fail to deliver on our promises, you may wish to complain. If you'd like to make a complaint, tap here for instructions on how to do so.