Nuisance and anti-social behaviour

This page is about anti-social behaviour relating to housing tenants. You can find out more about reporting other anti-social behaviour on our community safety pages. [opens in new tab]

What is anti-social behaviour?

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a broad term for describing lots of different types of behaviour. For ASB relating to council housing, this is conduct which can cause nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to:

• that person’s occupation of residential premises
• the conduct can cause housing related nuisance or annoyance

Examples of ASB include;

• noise nuisance
• nuisance caused by pets
• verbal abuse and harassment

What is hate crime?

Hate crime is a term that can be used to describe a range of criminal behaviour. This is where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility towards a victim’s:

• disability
• race
• religion
• sexual orientation
• gender identity

Reporting anti-social behaviour?

  Report anti-social behaviour  

If talking to the person causing the problem does not help, there is a range of ways to contact us. If you, or the person responsible for the ASB is a tenant, you can either:

• call us on 01325 405333
• online via our referral form
• email us at [email protected].

If your complaint relates to any type of criminal behaviour you should report this to the police. Please contact them on either 101 or 999 for emergencies.

If you are not a housing tenant find out how to report anti-social behaviour on our community safety pages[opens in a new tab].

How do we deal with ASB?

Each case will be dealt with in relation to its own facts. Our response is flexible so that we can respond to the different types of ASB that are reported. For serious reports such as hate crime we will contact you within 1 working day. For all other reports of ASB we will aim to contact you within 5 working days. The vast majority of reports do not require legal action. They will be resolved through early intervention. In some cases it may be appropriate to take legal and enforcement action, this is when other measures to resolve the problem have failed.

Further advice

• find out how we can deal with anti-social behaviour in our Tackling ASB - our tools and powers leaflet [pdf document]
• view our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy 2022-26 [pdf document].  The policy is also available in alternative languages:
  • Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (Arabic) [pdf document]
  • Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (Dari) [pdf document]
  • Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (Polish) [pdf document]
  • Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (Ukrainian) [pdf document]
  • Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (Farsi) [pdf document]
  • For translation into additional alternative languages please contact us
• find further information on our Community Trigger page.
• find further information about being a good neighbour [pdf document]
• find further advice and details on Durham Constabulary [external link]
• find Government guidance for social housing tenants who are experiencing anti-social behaviour [external link]

Pictured are Housing Services Tenancy Enforcement Officers.