Antisocial behaviour
All Sage Homes residents have the right to enjoy and feel safe in their homes, without the stress, fear and tensions that antisocial behaviour (ASB) and crime can cause.
Read more about what ASB is, and how we can help tackle it below.
If you’ve witnessed something like noise, drug use or fly-tipping find out what to do here.
Are you sure it’s antisocial behaviour?
Antisocial behaviour is behaviour which is targeted, persistent and causes harm or distress to others. It may include actions that are deliberately intimidating or disruptive.
People’s lifestyles, routines and choices can be different, and they can lead to tensions. However, disagreements or clashes between neighbours aren’t automatically considered ‘antisocial behaviour’.
Things that aren’t antisocial behaviour include:
- Babies crying
- Children playing
- Cooking smells
- One-off parties, BBQs and bonfires
- Normal behaviour happening at unusual times (ega neighbour cooking late at night because they have a different working pattern)
- Lifestyle clashes, including cultural differences
- Noise travelling owing to poor sound insulation.
We encourage you to be empathetic, and try to understand each other’s points of view. Talking openly and respecting each other can help different people live near each other comfortably. We can help you with mediation and other services to resolve these conflicts.
How to report antisocial behaviour
Antisocial behaviour can include:
- Verbal or physical abuse
- Arguing and slamming doors
- Letting dogs bark too much, or foul public areas
- Offensive behaviour
- Fly-tipping (dumping rubbish)
You can report an incident of antisocial behaviour on My Sage Home, your online account. You can also email us at: communitysafety@sagehomes.co.uk or call our Customer Care team on 020 8168 0500.
We may ask you to send evidence using an antisocial behaviour app, which is free and can be used on your computer or mobile phone. Check out our antisocial behaviour policy here.
Is it an emergency?
If it’s a serious or life-threatening incident, please call 999 and speak to the emergency services immediately. This might include:
- Violent behaviour
- Hate-related crime
- Stolen vehicles
- Damaged property
- Drug use or dealing in your neighbourhood.
If the incident is about crime but not an emergency, please call 101.
What happens when I report antisocial behaviour?
When you report antisocial behaviour, we’ll contact you to assess any risk within five working days.
We may create an action plan which we will share with you, and we may ask you to keep a record of any future antisocial behaviour issues.
We’ll always do our best to keep your report anonymous and will never openly share that you’ve made a report, unless it’s necessary and we have your consent.
Find out more about our community safety support
Learn more below
We’ll work quickly to see if it can be classed as ‘antisocial behaviour’.
If we don’t feel it is antisocial behaviour, but there are still issues around noise or disturbance, we may offer you mediation services, as well as offering the perpetrator education around limiting noise and any dampening devices such as vibration mats.
If we believe it is antisocial behaviour, we’ll check the level of risk, and respond to you accordingly.
If we feel it is high risk, we’ll reply in one working day. These may be issues such as domestic abuse, hate incidents, threats of/actual violence or high risk of harm to the victim’s health and wellbeing.
If we feel it is medium or standard risk, we’ll reply in five working days. This includes all behaviours not listed under ‘high risk’.
A Sage colleague will carry out risk assessments and agree on an action plan with you. This may include the information and evidence we need to investigate, as well as our planned actions and frequency of contact.
We’ll work with any agencies we feel necessary to resolve the case, including police, Environmental Health and social services. We’ll offer the reporter and alleged perpetrator any support we feel necessary, including safeguarding referrals.
All parties involved will be treated fairly, and interventions will be based on evidence provided.
We aim to resolve cases quickly and effectively. Any resolution methods will be proportionate and reasonable, and we’ll encourage mediation wherever possible.
As we carry out required interventions, we’ll use available legal tools and powers, and will make sure we comply with the Public Sector Equality Act.
We’ll close your case once the antisocial behaviour issue has been resolved. We may close your case if we don’t feel the reported issues need any action, if there hasn’t been sufficient evidence made available, or if reporters haven’t helped us with evidence requirements. If this happens, we’ll explain why we’re closing the case without a resolution.