What If You're Experiencing Antisocial Behaviour?

Unless you are suffering from serious acts of violence or harassment, in most cases of antisocial behaviour you should first try and speak to the person to sort out the situation at an early stage.

Many problems arise because people have not talked or considered each other’s point of view. Sometimes people just need reminding that their behaviour is upsetting you.

However, if the other person is unreasonable just walk away. Do not get involved in an argument or fight back in any way.

If the problem is continuing or you are not able to talk to the person for any reason – for example, in serious harassment cases – you should tell your area housing office, preferably in writing or by phone. Also let the local Police know.

What we can do

Once you have reported the problem, the area housing office will

• Send you an acknowledgement form for your complaint
• Name an officer who will be responsible for dealing with you, and
• Start an antisocial behaviour case file

The area housing office will contact you and make an appointment to see you. They will send you an incident diary, which you should use to keep a record of incidents as and when they happen. This is important, as it will be very useful evidence later on. In serious cases, we will arrange a meeting with
you urgently.

Once we have interviewed you and found out what is happening and how you are affected, we will agree an action plan with you. This plan will outline what both you and the area housing office will do.

With your permission, we may, for example

• Contact the person carrying out the antisocial behaviour
• Contact the Police or other agencies, and
• Contact neighbours or other witnesses to find out the facts and who else is involved

We will make another appointment to see you to review what we have found out and what action we have taken. The steps we can take include

• Warning the person who has carried out the antisocial behaviour
• Working with other agencies, for example the noise team, if your complaint is about noise or the Police community safety unit if it is about a hate crime (domestic violence, racial harassment or homophobic violence)
• Improving the security of your block or home, and
• If you agree, referring you to Southwark mediation service, a free confidential service for neighbours in conflict. They may be able to help you and your neighbour find a solution that you are happy with

If the antisocial behaviour continues

Most cases are sorted out before any legal action is needed. However, if the antisocial behaviour is continuing and is serious, your area housing office can refer your case to the Southwark antisocial behaviour unit (SASBU).

SASBU is a multi agency team, including officers from housing, the police and the youth offending team, who are responsible for

• Dealing with the person allegedly committing the offence
• Taking legal action
• Arranging victim support, and
• Organising systems for collecting evidence and information. 

Contact SASBU on 020 7232 7001 or by emailing sasbu@southwark.gov.uk

What can SASBU do?

Once your case has been referred, the unit will hold a case meeting with all the agencies involved to consider the following steps.

Non-legal action

• Acceptable behaviour contract, a voluntary agreement between us and the person allegedly committing the offence to stop the behaviour
• Warning letters

Legal action

• Serving a notice of seeking possession (NSP) on the person allegedly committing the offence. This is the first stage of legal proceedings to evict a tenant from their home
• Taking out court injunctions against the person allegedly committing the offence, which may include a power of arrest. In serious cases involving violence, an injunction may be applied for without giving notice
• Apply for an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO). This will set boundaries on behaviour and may mean that the person allegedly committing the offence is excluded from certain areas. We can apply for ASBOs on anyone aged ten and above

Joint working between agencies

Sometimes there may be reasons for the person's behaviour, for example, they may have mental health or social problems. Although this does not excuse their behaviour, we should give them an opportunity to put the situation right.

SASBU can ask social services, mental health or the youth offending team to get involved to try and support the person to change their behaviour. If this does not work, we can still take legal action through the courts.

Collecting evidence

If we take legal action, the courts must have evidence to prove the antisocial behaviour. The best evidence is the direct experience of the victims and witnesses (which has been recorded in the incident diary).

Sometimes this may need to be added to by professional witnesses or by using surveillance technology. We will decide whether or not to take legal action after considering each individual case and the available evidence.

Cases will only go to court if the advice we receive from our solicitors or counsel is that we have a reasonable chance of getting the appropriate order.

Victim and witness support

We will treat what you tell us in strict confidence but it may still not be possible for you to remain anonymous. This is because, unless there are a number of people complaining, the person who you are complaining about may guess who made the complaint.

If we do have to go to court, we will ask you to be a witness. However, if you have worries about this, you can discuss this with us at the initial interview. It may also be possible for someone else to give evidence on your behalf in court.

SASBU will always put the needs of the victim and witnesses first when managing cases. Caseholders will agree a package of support at the initial stages and regularly update you on the progress of the case.