Antisocial behaviour

Antisocial behaviour is behaving in a way that causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to people in another household.

Antisocial behaviour can include:

• noise

• shouting, swearing and fighting

• intimidation – including threats or actual violence towards others

• harassment, including racial harassment or sectarian aggression - read more about harassment

• verbal abuse

• bullying of children – for example in parks, on the way to school or at school if normal school action doesn’t stop it

• abusive behaviour aimed at causing distress or fear to certain people, for example, older or disabled people

• dangerous or inconsiderate driving - for example, groups of drivers gathering to race

• dumping rubbish

• animal nuisance – including dog fouling

• vandalism, property damage or graffiti.

It can be hard to tell the difference between everyday disagreements and antisocial behaviour, but small issues can become antisocial behaviour if they keep happening.

What you can do about antisocial behaviour

There are things you can do if a neighbour or someone in your local area is behaving antisocially.

If you feel safe to, you should try speaking to the person first. You can explain what impact their behaviour has on you and try to find a compromise.

If you don't feel able to speak to the person, or if speaking to them does not work, you could:

• use a mediation service

• report the behaviour to their landlord - if they're a tenant

• report the behaviour to your local council

• report the behaviour to the police

• take legal action.

If you want help to understand your options for dealing with antisocial behaviour, you can contact an adviser in Scotland.

Keep a diary

You should consider keeping a diary of any antisocial behaviour, especially if its persistent. You should write down:

• what happened

• when it happened

• what impact it had on you or your family.

This evidence can help if you decide you need to take further action later, for example by reporting the behaviour to your local council or the police.

Community and neighbour mediation

If you want the behaviour to stop but you don’t want to take legal action, you can try mediation.

A mediator is an independent person who helps both sides focus on the problem and work towards an agreement. They’ll help you talk through the issues, understand each other’s needs and find a solution you can both accept. The mediator won’t take sides or make a decision for you.

Community mediation services help with disputes between neighbours or people in the local area. This can include problems with noise, children, pets and parking.

How to find a mediator

There might be a mediation scheme run by your local council. You can find your local council on mygov.scot.

There might also be a community mediation service run by SACRO in your area.

You can also find mediators through Scottish Mediation.

There might be a fee for mediation. You should tell them if you’re on a low income - you might be able to pay less.

Report antisocial behaviour to the landlord

If your neighbour is a tenant, you can report antisocial behaviour to their landlord and ask them to take action.

All landlords should take reports of antisocial behaviour seriously. Local councils and housing associations might have more resources to deal with problems.

Private landlords must also take steps to address antisocial behaviour. This includes antisocial behaviour in short-term holiday accommodation.

A landlord can:

• ask the police or the local council to take action

• take steps to bring the tenancy to an end

If the landlord is a local council or housing association they can also:

• rehouse you

• rehouse the person behaving antisocially

• apply to court for an antisocial behaviour order.

If someone with a local council or housing association tenancy has an antisocial behaviour order against them, their tenancy can be changed to a short Scottish secure tenancy. You can read more about the types of public tenancies.

How to report antisocial behaviour to a private landlord

Most private landlords must be registered with the local council. If they allow antisocial behaviour at their property, this could affect their registration. Using the address of the property, you can find contact details for a private landlord on the Scottish landlord register.

If they do not take reasonable steps to deal with the problem, you should contact your local council.

If a private landlord does not respond to complaints about antisocial behaviour at their property, the local council can give them an antisocial behaviour notice (ASBN). This tells the landlord what they must do to deal with the behaviour.

If the landlord still doesn’t take action, the local council can:

• issue a rent penalty order – this means no rent is payable until the landlord deals with the problem

• issue a management control order – this means the local council temporarily takes over the landlord’s responsibility for the property

• refer the landlord to the Procurator Fiscal – failing to comply with an ASBN is a criminal offence.

How to report antisocial behaviour to a local council or housing association landlord

You can contact a local council or housing association to report antisocial behaviour by a tenant. Local council landlords and housing associations must have antisocial behaviour policies.

Find out how to complain to your local council on the Shelter Scotland website.

Find out how to complain to a housing association on the Shelter Scotland website.

Report antisocial behaviour to your local council

If you’re affected by antisocial behaviour, you can ask your local council to take action. They’ll have a team to deal with antisocial behaviour in your area. The local council can:

• apply to a court for an order to stop or prevent violent antisocial behaviour in its area

• apply to a court for an order to stop public nuisance, which includes drug-dealing

• take action to stop noise, nuisance and threats to health

• take action to evict the person responsible for the behaviour, if they’re a local council tenant

• offer you alternative accommodation

• refer any criminal offence to the Procurator Fiscal who will consider whether to prosecute

• take action to ensure that private landlords deal with the antisocial behaviour of their tenants.

You can find contact details for your local council on mygov.scot.

If you’re unhappy with how the local council has dealt with your issue, you should use their complaints procedure.

If you’re not happy with the outcome or how the local council dealt with your complaint, you can complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. There' s a leaflet about antisocial behaviour and neighbour problems on the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman website.

Report antisocial behaviour to the police

The police can take action about any antisocial behaviour which is a criminal offence, for example someone who has:

• attacked another person

• wilfully damaged someone else’s property

• behaved in a threatening or abusive way - read more about harassment

• incited hatred or violence against a group of people - read more about hate crime.

The police can:

• disperse groups of people who persistently act in an antisocial way

• issue on the spot fines (fixed penalty notices) for some types of antisocial behaviour, such as littering and dog fouling

• ask someone to stop drinking alcohol outside if they think it’s likely to cause antisocial behaviour – in some areas

• seize and retain vehicles if the owner's driving has caused alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public.

The police can apply to the court for a closure order if there’s serious or persistent antisocial behaviour at a property. If the court grants the order, the property will be sealed and entering it will be an offence.

Closure orders might be used when a property is used for:

• drug dealing

• sex work

• regular alcoholic drinking gatherings that disturb neighbours.

Closure orders are usually sought when the activity causes significant disruption or disorder.

You can report antisocial behaviour at your local police station or by phone. You can find out how to contact the police on the Police Scotland website.

If you feel the police haven’t taken your report seriously enough, you can make a complaint against the police.

Take legal action about antisocial behaviour

You could take court action to claim compensation or apply for an order to stop the perpetrator continuing with their behaviour.

You could take court action to claim compensation or get an order to stop the antisocial behaviour. If you’re thinking about legal action you should contact a solicitor.

If you sell your home because of neighbour problems

If you own your home and you move because of neighbour problems, you and the estate agent must not mislead a prospective buyer about the problems you've had. If a buyer asks if there is a current neighbour dispute and you or the estate agent doesn’t disclose it, the buyer might have grounds to withdraw from the sale and take legal action for breach of contract.

Get help from Victim Support Scotland

If you’re affected by antisocial behaviour, you can get practical and emotional support from Victim Support Scotland. You can read more about getting help with antisocial behaviour on the Victim Support Scotland website.