Being a good neighbour is an important part of living in your community. A good neighbour is considerate, tolerant, concerned, responsible, law abiding, respectful, and polite.
Being a good neighbour means you limit your noise, take pride in your home and neighbourhood, are tolerant of neighbour’s children, care for shared areas, teach your children to respect others, control your pets and dispose of your rubbish carefully.
Remember, you are responsible for the behaviour of every person, including children, living in your property and for the behaviour of your visitors.
Even if you usually get on with your neighbours there may be times when you disagree. You should always:
Try to talk
If someone has caused you nuisance or annoyance, have a quiet word. Most people simply don’t realise when they have done so. Simply let them know how their actions have disturbed you. Don’t accuse or point the finger as this may make it worse. And give them a chance to tell their side of the story, even if you don’t agree.
Remember
To keep yourself safe at all times, consider whether it is safe to approach your neighbour.
Don’t tell everyone…
…on the street first, bang on walls, throw things or shout abuse. That won’t help the situation or set a tone for talking to your neighbours.
Be willing to compromise
…don’t expect it to all go your way so give and take a little. And give them enough time to deal with the situation.
Keep calm and take notice
…if your neighbour tells you that you have disturbed them then let them know that you’ll be more thoughtful in future.
In some cases you may feel unable to solve the difficulty yourself. This may be because:
- you have spoken to your neighbour and they have not taken any notice
- the person was rude, hostile or aggressive when you tried to talk to them
- there is a group of people who are causing nuisance that may include children or visitors of neighbours and you are fearful to approach them
- you are vulnerable and feel unable to deal with the situation
- you feel that you are being deliberately targeted.
These are just examples. If you are concerned please let us know. Your housing or engagement officer will listen to your concerns and decide on the best way to deal with them.
If those causing nuisance are our tenants we will talk to them about the situation. Usually, the situation will improve. However, if we find evidence that they are causing persistent nuisance or disturbance then we will remind them that they are breaking the terms of their tenancy agreement.
We will make this official in a written warning. Sometimes we will be able to assist you and them to reach a compromise solution or we may offer professional mediation.
We will not tolerate criminal activity or deliberate acts of anti-social behaviour from our tenants. In the most serious cases, we will take legal action such as a court injunction or repossess a tenancy where we have sufficient evidence to do so.
Sometimes we may tell you that your expectations seem unreasonable or that we do not find any evidence of nuisance or annoyance. We will always be truthful and will seek to be fair to all parties. If someone is persistently complaining about their neighbour without good reason then this can be a form of harassment and we will say so if this is what we find.
Please be aware that sometimes it can take a long time to reach a solution where those causing annoyance are determined to continue. In these cases you will need to keep records and let us know if there are other neighbours who have witnessed the behaviour. You may have to report incidents to the police or other agencies in order to gain sufficient evidence.
Who else can help?
In many instances the nuisance may be caused by other people in the community who are not our residents. You can contact North East Lincolnshire Council’s Community Pride or Boston Borough Council’s Community Safety Team who deal with neighbourhood nuisance and other environmental matters.
If you feel the nuisance is deliberately targeted at you then it may be hate crime. You can report this to us by logging into or registering for our customer portal/smartphone app by clicking the button below. Alternatively, if the nuisance is serious, for example if you feel that your household or property is at risk you should contact the police.