How can YHN help me?

Anti-social behaviour can be broadly described as behaviour that is capable of causing nuisance, annoyance, alarm or distress to an individual or the wider community. This can include things like:

• Domestic violence and abuse (click here to go to the stop abuse section of our website)
• Physical violence
• Hate crime, for example targeting someone because of their sex, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief (click here to find out what hate crime is and how to report it)
• Harassment, verbal abuse or other threatening behaviour. This includes threats to YHN staff
• Drug and alcohol abuse causing anti-social behaviour
• Using illegal drugs
• Playing music loudly or making too much noise
• Not keeping pets under control. This includes dog fouling
• Fly tipping, dumping rubbish or setting fires
• Damaging or vandalising property
• Untidy gardens
• Illegal or immoral use of a property
• Graffiti
• Neighbour nuisance

It is also important to remember that some things that cause you nuisance or annoyance may not be classified as anti-social behaviour and we will not be able to take any action in relation to them.  

If you are making a complaint for the first time, it will be passed to your Tenancy and Estates Officer who will contact you to discuss your complaint in more detail.

They may request to visit you at your home or for you to attend your local Customer Service Centre to complete an initial investigation and decide the best way to help and support you in resolving the problem.

The Tenancy and Estates Officer will agree an Action Plan with you and discuss any possible interventions that can be made. They will also agree to keep in regular contact with you until the issue has been resolved.

In some instances, if problems persist, your complaint may be passed to Your Home’s Newcastle’s Housing, Anti-Social Behaviour and Enforcement Team (HASBET).

HASBET (Housing, Anti-Social Behaviour and Enforcement Team) is our specialist team that deals with the more serious cases of anti-social behaviour.

Your case may be passed to HASBET if, for example, you are the victim of a serious crime or you are suffering persistent anti-social behaviour that has been investigated by the Tenancy and Estates Team and further action is required.

HASBET tackles anti-social behaviour using tools including:

• early intervention warning letters and visits
• acceptable behaviour agreements (ABAs)
• injunctions
• extending introductory tenancies
• tenancy demotion orders
• confiscating noisy equipment with the Council’s Environmental Health Team
• possession proceedings and evictions

HASBET works with partners such as:

• Family Intervention Project (FIP) Police and Social Services to share information which helps us to deal with problems quickly
• Local tenants and residents groups to give them the opportunity to tell us what they think

We aim to make it easy to report anti-social behaviour. We use publicity to boost public confidence and show that we take strong action against anti-social behaviour.  

If you do not feel at risk and have not suffered any abuse or threats, you may want to consider talking directly to the person causing the problem - especially if it is a neighbour.

In our experience, some of the best and most effective long term solutions have come from neighbours talking to each other. Even if you have already reported the anti-social behaviour to us, there are many benefits to discussing a problem.

When a landlord becomes involved it can increase tension between you and your neighbour. By speaking to them directly, you have an opportunity to explain how the anti-social behaviour is affecting you to the person you think is causing it. Always keep in mind it might be that your neighbour is not aware they are causing nuisance and annoyance to you and will be happy to change their behaviour immediately.

Click here to read our guide on how to approach a neighbour