Tackling ASB

Once we have received your complaint, we aim to discuss the matter with you within five working days. We will do this face to face or over the telephone. During this interview, we will also agree an action plan to help us to resolve the problem together. We will discuss with you the most appropriate action that we can take to tackle the ASB you are experiencing. We use a variety of tools to help us tackle ASB and will discuss these with you during your interview. Click here for more details about the tools available to tackle ASB.

If you have been threatened or are a victim of a hate crime, domestic abuse or another serious incident, we will aim to discuss the matter with you within 24 hours of you reporting the matter.

Before we take any action against the perpetrators of anti social behaviour, we will seek your consent to do so. You will be kept fully updated throughout your case regarding any action that Six Town Housing may take.

Diary booklets

As part of your complaint, you may be asked to complete diary booklets. Diary booklets are used to evidence what anti social behaviour you are experiencing. It is very important that you complete your diary booklets thoroughly to ensure that we know exactly what has been happening.

Why complete diary booklets?

They enable ASB officers to get a clear understanding of the type of nuisance you are experiencing.
They give an indication of the frequency and severity of the nuisance.
They enable officers to see if there are any patterns to the behaviour…it may be that someone always goes out on Tuesday and Friday nights and comes home drunk and noisy. Noise monitoring equipment could then be installed at the most appropriate time to catch the nuisance on tape.
They enable officers to raise specific incidents with the perpetrators when they are visited/interviewed.
Completed diary sheets are translated into a witness statement should the nuisance be serious enough to warrant legal action.
You could be cross examined in court on the allegations you have made…having completed diary sheets allows you to provide accurate and detailed information, and therefore be more confident under cross examination.

So what type of information needs to be provided on the sheets?

Incident diaries are fairly straightforward to complete and require some very basic information.

The date, time and location of an incident need to be supplied.
You need to describe in detail what happened … If for instance your complaint is of noise nuisance, don’t just put ‘noise’, describe the type of noise… ‘it was exceptionally loud music. The Kaiser Chiefs CD was playing until 02.00am’. `they were arguing and shouting all night. At one point I could clearly hear him shout ‘Shut the f*** up. I’ll f***in’ kill you.’ NB Although you may find it distasteful, you should write out in full any foul or abusive language you can hear.
Who is responsible for the nuisance behaviour… if you don’t know the name, provide the address and a brief description.
Give the contact details of any witnesses to the nuisance.
If you have phoned the police, make sure you ask for an incident number which you should then include on your diary sheet.
State how the behaviour you are experiencing makes you feel. Some people really tell us how it makes them feel… ‘f***ed off!’ or ‘like going round there and f***in’ hammering them.’ What you need to remember is that your diary sheets may be seen in court as evidence and what may seem a reasonable comment to you in the heat of the moment, doesn’t look too good in court. You should state how the behaviour affects your life… ‘I couldn’t get to sleep and I was tired at work all day'. ’It is making me ill and I have been prescribed tablets by my doctor.’ ‘I don’t enjoy living here any more.’

When you have finished the sheets always remember to sign and date the entry. You should send your diary sheets to us as soon as possible so that they can be reviewed and necessary action taken to stop the ASB.

If you are unable to complete diary sheets for any reason, you should contact your ASB officer who can assist you in a number of ways.

Some people worry that their spelling isn’t too good and that puts them off filling in the sheets. Don’t worry about that…this isn’t a spelling test! So long as your entries can be understood there isn’t a problem.
You may not be able to write for any number of reasons, however we can supply you with a dictaphone on which you can record your complaints.
Under certain circumstances your ASB officer will complete the sheets on your behalf and you will just be required to sign them.

Without diary booklets, Six Town Housing generally cannot take action against perpetrators.

To download a diary booklet, please click here.

For full details on how we tackle ASB, please see our ASB Statement of Policy and Procedures and our ASB service standards.

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