Help from the Housing Executive with antisocial behaviour

The Housing Executive can help you if you or the person carrying out the antisocial behaviour is a Housing Executive tenant. You may also be able to get help from the Housing Executive if the other person has recently bought their home from the Housing Executive.

Who can the Housing Executive help?
What can the Housing Executive do?
First steps
Interview about the antisocial behaviour
After the interview
After mediation

Who can the Housing Executive help?

The Housing Executive can only help you if:

the antisocial behaviour involves at least one Housing Executive tenant, who may be the victim or the person carrying out the anti-social behaviour.
the main reason for the dispute is not the services being provided by the Housing Executive.

The Housing Executive may be able to help you with:

noisy disruptive tenants,
illegal activity,
problems with dogs,
hate crime,
neglected property.

What can the Housing Executive do?

The Housing Executive can take action to address anti-social behaviour that impacts on its tenants. When deciding how best to respond to complaints about anti-social behaviour, the Housing Executive must consider all aspects of the situation.

In general, the Housing Executive will first try to resolve the situation without resorting to legal action. However, if there are repeated allegations of anti-social behaviour against a tenant, the Housing Executive may consider applying for an injunction, an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) or taking steps to evict the tenant.

Before deciding to evict a tenant, the Housing Executive must assess whether this action is reasonable and must consider the following:

any particular vulnerabilities the tenant has, how these vulnerabilities may have contributed to the behaviour and whether taking steps to address this vulnerability would improve the situation
the nature of the anti social behaviour and the frequency of offences
whether the anti social behaviour was carried out by unwelcome or unpredictable guests of the tenant

First steps

Contact your local Housing Executive District Office if you have a complaint about antisocial behaviour. The district office will contact you to discuss the matter in confidence before any action is taken. Complaints can also be made anonymously. A complaint regarding antisocial behaviour can be made even if they are not the individual experiencing the anti-social behaviour.

The Housing Executive will let you know when they are investigating your complaint. If the problem is relatively simple, for instance an overgrown garden, the Housing Executive will call at the property and tell the occupant to tidy it up.

However, if the antisocial behaviour is more complex you will be interviewed before the Housing Executive decide what action to take.

Interview about the antisocial behaviour

The Housing Executive will ask you:

about the type of antisocial behaviour,
where the behaviour happens,
when it happens,
how often it happens,
who is involved.

At the end of the interview you will agree a plan of action to stop the antisocial behaviour. You will usually be asked to complete an Incident Diary recording details of any further problems.

After the interview

The Housing Executive will try to gather as much information as possible before interviewing the person carrying out the antisocial behaviour. The Housing Executive will try to convince the other person to change their behaviour.

If this doesn't work the Housing Executive will usually try to arrange mediation to help solve the issue.

After mediation

If mediation is unsuccessful in sorting out the problem with antisocial behaviour, the Housing Executive may decide to take legal action to evict the person carrying out antisocial behaviour or get an injunction to stop the person acting in this way.