We want your home and communities to continue to be great places to live without fear of harassment, alarm, or distress. But sometimes anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate crime stops this from happening. And when it does, we want to know about it. Because there are lots we can do to help.
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is defined as: 'Conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person. Conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to someone in or near their home. Conduct that causes housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person.'
Whether it’s abusive behaviour, nuisance, or illegal activity, we know that ASB can seriously affect the quality of your lives and impact you in different ways. When you report ASB, we treat all reports seriously and we make sure we understand the impact of each incident, treating everyone fairly. In this section you'll find useful information on what ASB is and how we will investigate and tackle reports of ASB.
This is not a complete list but can be helpful to consider before making a report of ASB.
Anyone could be a victim of a hate crime. A hate crime/incident can be any criminal or non-criminal act which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity or perceived disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
A hate crime/incident could be an act such as graffiti, vandalism to a property, name calling, assault, or online abuse using social media.
No hate crime is acceptable. We all have a right to live safely, free from hatred and prejudice.
We take reports of hate crime seriously and can put measures in place to support you to feel safe, refer you to appropriate agencies for specialist advice, and work with those agencies to provide you with the outcome that suits you best.
You can report it to us:
You can also speak to your Neighbourhood Services Manager or book an appointment to visit our office and meet with us in person.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger phone the police on 999. If it’s not an emergency but you’d still like to talk to the police, call 101. If you don’t want to speak to the police directly you can contact Crimestoppers. They’ll take all the info but won’t ask for your name or any other personal details.
In order for us to support you to the best of our ability, we ask that you fully engage with us. This means providing as much detail as possible so we can proceed with your report, complete a risk assessment, offer advice, referrals and signposting, and agree on an action plan before we can investigate your case further.
We understand that speaking up about ASB or hate crime can be worrying, especially if you've been a repeat victim and/or you're a vulnerable person.
We'll seek your consent before revealing your identity to the person you're reporting. If you don't consent, we'll tell you whether we're able to progress your report without you being identified. Due to the nature of some reports, it can be obvious who it has come from.
You can choose to remain anonymous, but we’ll be unable to provide you with regular case updates and it may limit our ability to resolve the report.
We want everyone living in our homes and communities to feel safe and supported. We'll respond to a customer's report where there is significant risk to their personal safety within one working day. All other reports of ASB will be responded to within five working days.
Dedicated officers from our Neighbourhood and Customer Services teams assess and prioritise new cases daily so we can respond quickly to get you the help you need - which will be tailored to each case individually.
When you report ASB to us, we can provide different levels of support and action, including:
Please read our policy for more information on how we will manage your report of ASB.
Mediation is a voluntary process in which an impartial mediator, who is specially trained, helps people to discuss problems and look for solutions. We use independent mediation services. Mediation can help to resolve many of the ASB reports we receive. We may ask parties to agree to participate in mediation where appropriate and will continue to encourage them to do so throughout our investigation.
Sometimes, where mediation isn't agreed, there may not be any other reasonable steps we can take to resolve the report. We'll always be sure to communicate this with you from the start.
We have a responsibility to make sure that all residents can enjoy their home safely and in peace, without experiencing ASB. If you feel there is more that we can do to resolve your ASB report, please tell us and we can investigate it as part of our internal complaints process.
Alternatively, you may contact your Local Authority who can review our response to reports of ASB using a process called an ASB Case Review (also known as a Community Trigger).
The threshold for activating an ASB Case Review is:
The threshold is decided by the relevant Local Authority and each area chooses a lead agency to manage the process, usually the Council or Police. Please contact your Local Authority for more information.
You should only use the ASB Case Review if we have not taken any action after you have repeatedly reported the ASB to us. Activating the ASB Case Review does not interfere with your right to follow our internal complaints procedure; both processes can run at the same time.
Moat works in partnership with agencies, including the Police and local Councils, to tackle and resolve cases of ASB. We will engage fully with the ASB Case Review.
