Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)
Anti-social behaviour complaints
Incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) can negatively impact communities and significantly affect residents’ quality of life. It is the third most common type of complaint we receive from residents, and the process can be complex, often involving multiple agencies.
In cases of ASB, the Ombudsman’s role is not to determine if a complaint is ASB but to consider the actions of the landlord in response to a complaint made following the landlords handling of ASB.
Our factsheet for residents provides examples of the kind of issues that would be considered as ASB as well as some helpful information on the type of incident or report that could be considered ASB.
Helpful Links
Guidance
Landlord expectations
Landlords can read the expectations to find out how to proactively respond to complaints about ASB, and implement learning from our casework and reports.
Resident expectations
Residents can read the guidance provided to understand what your landlord must do and what the Ombudsman can do in relation to complaints about ASB.
Reports
Our reports concentrate on an area of service provision where we see high amounts of failure through our casework. They examine the issues within this theme and set out recommendations.
Learning from severe maladministration
We have released a learning from severe maladministration report focusing on Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB).
The decisions are grouped around 5 key themes we are seeing consistent failings in our casework: action plans, risk assessments, working with other agencies, hate crime, and communication/complaint handling.
Spotlight report on noise complaints – time to be heard
At the heart of our findings in this report is a fundamental unfairness: most noise reports concern household noise rather than Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), and yet most landlords handle it under their ASB policy.
Podcasts with the Centre for Learning
We publish our podcasts on SoundCloud, offering the opportunity to listen to the latest insights from the Ombudsman while on the go. Tune in to hear about current topics such as damp and mould, noise complaints, and casework from the Ombudsman. Our playlists also feature interviews with special guests, providing updates from across the housing sector.
In conversation with dispute resolution on anti-social behaviour
In this episode, Sector Learning and Development Lead Victoria King speaks with Adjudicator Gareth Marshall about a complaint raised by a resident following reports of anti-social behaviour to their landlord.
During this podcast, we explore the orders and recommendations made by the Ombudsman and what the landlord did to put things right following our investigation
Case studies
The case studies are examples from our case work. We will always try to show one example where a landlord did things right and received a finding of no maladministration and an example where a landlord did not act in the correct way and received a finding of severe maladministration or maladministration
No maladministration
We found no maladministration following a resident’s complaint to their landlord about a neighbour’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB). The landlord adhered to its anti-social behaviour policies and procedures. They recorded the resident’s reports, signposted them to appropriate agencies, and reported concerns to the police.
The landlord demonstrated proactive action by speaking with the neighbour and issuing a letter regarding the reported anti-social behaviour. They also maintained regular communication with the resident, asking for updates and providing suitable advice. When considering the closure of the resident's case the landlord contacted the resident to discuss any ongoing concerns.
Additionally, the landlord maintained the resident's anonymity as requested. This limited some actions the landlord could have taken to resolve the situation, such as mediation.
The Ombudsman concluded that the landlord took appropriate actions regarding the resident’s complaint, and we did not find any maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the anti-social behaviour.
Severe maladministration
We found severe maladministration after a landlord inadequately responded to a resident's reports of antisocial behaviour and noise nuisance, which caused stress and anxiety to her terminally ill husband. During the timescale of the case, the resident lost her husband which further compounded her feelings.
We identified serious failings related to core legislation and the landlord’s procedures, particularly a lack of non-legal interventions. An action plan was created but not monitored or reviewed as promised and it failed to follow up on a visit to the reported neighbour. Despite having policies for antisocial behaviour and vulnerable persons, the landlord did not assess the resident’s vulnerability.
Although the landlord communicated with the police and local authority, they could have provided better evidence for earlier interventions.
We ordered the Chief Executive to personally apologise to the resident, pay £2,000 in compensation, and review how antisocial behaviour is managed within the organisation.
Landlord Learning Hub
Centre for Learning online platform
Log in and discover the training options available to you.
If you have not logged into the new Hub, you will need to set up an account to gain access to a range of learning materials.
Resident information
When to use the Housing Ombudsman Service
If you are unable to resolve the complaint with your landlord directly via its complaint procedure, this service may be able to provide you with further assistance.
View the residents' pages to find out how to raise and complaint to your landlord and when to escalate your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.