Your Responsibility

We classify anti-social behaviour under two categories – serious and less serious.

Serious anti-social behaviour includes criminal activity, drug dealing, violence or threats of violence, verbal abuse, vandalism and graffiti.

Less serious anti-social behaviour includes neighbour disputes over parking, noise and leaving bulky items in communal areas.

Take action

If you are being affected by anti-social behaviour, it is best to speak with your neighbour to let them know how their behaviour is affecting you. They may not be aware that it is a problem.

If you feel that the problem is too serious, such as threatening or violent behaviour, or you have spoken to your neighbour and their behaviour hasn’t changed, contact your Housing Officer who will investigate the matter further.

Report any incidents

It is important that you report any incidents of criminal activity to the police.
Keep a note of the date and time of any incidents.

Our involvement

If the person causing the problem is our tenant or sharing owner, we will speak to them to investigate further.

We will remind them of the agreement they have signed and may issue a warning about their behaviour. In cases of serious anti-social behaviour, if a tenant ignores a complaint and does not listen to our warnings we may consider legal action.

Garden Maintenance

If you have a garden it is advised to keep it in good order.

If you share a back garden, you share the responsibility for keeping it clean and tidy unless you pay a service charge for looking after the upkeep.

How we can help

If you are unable to maintain either the garden or common area due to frailty or disability, the Association may be able to assist.

Please contact your Housing Officer to discuss this.

Rubbish Disposal

You will be advised of the day, frequency and method of council refuse uplift. If you stay in a main door property you should take it to its storage space on the day for collection.

For communal rubbish disposal, please ensure all refuse bags are placed in the bins provided. The Council will service these bins on the days allocated to your area and return them to the appropriate storage space.  see the section below on living in flats.

If you are experiencing issues with your bin collections, please contact Glasgow City Council on 0141 287 9700.

The Home team Estates staff will assist with ensuring that the communal backcourts are maintained to a satisfactory standard.

Please ensure that all refuse is placed in the appropriate bins provided.

We believe that you have the right to enjoy living in your home in a safe and secure environment. You can help avoid difficulties by showing consideration to others and meeting your responsibilities as a tenant.

How you get on with your neighbours can be one of the most important factors in determining whether you are happy in your home. We must remind you that any nuisance in or around your home, caused by yourself, family members or visitors, is a breach of your tenancy agreement. You can avoid problems by considering how your behaviours affect others – just follow these do’s and don’ts.

Do

• Take your turn at cleaning stairs and common areas (you will be informed if you have a stair cleaning contractor);
• Close gates and doors behind you (particularly when you have a controlled entry system);
• Take responsibility for your children, pets and any visitors to your home;
• Put your rubbish and recycling in the bins provided.

Don’t

• Play music or your television loudly;
• Leave any rubbish or bulky items in common areas;
• Use household appliances (like vacuum cleaners or washing machines) late at night or early in the morning.

You must ensure that you, members of your household or visitors do not commit any form of harassment.

What is “harassment”?

The term “harassment” covers the types of behaviour which are deliberately intended to annoy, intimidate, dominate or harm an individual, family or group, which is motivated by prejudice or discriminatory attitudes and where the harassment takes place either in the Association’s property or in the vicinity of the Association’s property.

Our involvement

The Association may take legal proceedings to evict any tenant found causing or allowing harassment. If you feel that you are a victim of harassment, you should contact your Housing Officer.

All information you give us is confidential and we will not take any action without your approval.

If you live in a flat you need to treat your neighbours with special consideration and work together to look after common areas and facilities. In particular:

Cleaning

In many of the Association’s flats, we hire contractors to clean communal stairs on a weekly basis. However, you are jointly responsible for any cleaning required at other times.

If you pay for such a service and are not happy with the standard please let your Housing Officer know.

If a stair cleaning service is not provided, it is your responsibility, along with all other residents, to keep the stair clean and tidy and you should be prepared to clean the stair at least once a week.

It helps if you can agree with neighbours on a rota system to ensure that everyone takes their turn.

Safety and security

If your stair has an entry phone system make sure all outside doors are kept locked to stop unauthorised people coming into the building.

You must make sure that landings are kept clean of obstructions. You must not leave anything outside your flat that can cause an obstruction or be a potential fire hazard.

If you have a problem with a neighbour we hope that you will try to speak to them to solve the problem.

If this does not work, or you think it is too serious to deal with by yourself, please contact our housing team for further advice and assistance and we will tell you how it will be dealt with.

You should also contact the police if it is a serious complaint about noise or harassment (see separate sections on noise complaints, anti-social behaviour and harassment).

On many occasions, we will work closely with other agencies such as the police, mediation and social work to resolve such problems.

We must remind you that any nuisance in and around your home – whether caused by yourself, members of your household, or visitors to your house – is a breach of your tenancy agreement.

In these cases, we may take legal action.

If you need further information on anti-social behaviour, please contact your Housing Officer. If you would like to report anti-social behaviour you can contact our office.

Too much noise from music systems, household appliances, some DIY tools, etc. can cause great annoyance and stress. Please be considerate when using them.

If the disturbance is mild or a “one-off”, it is best to speak to your neighbour in the first place. They may not be aware that there is a problem. If the problem continues please contact the police, environmental health or your Housing Officer.

The Association may grant permission for you to keep a pet. Any request to keep a pet must be made in writing to your Housing Officer.

For Tenants

If you are allowed to have a pet, you will be responsible for it at all times and making sure that it does not cause a nuisance to neighbours or damage the Association’s property, including gardens.

If you are having problems with a tenant’s pet, please report the problem to your Housing Officer.

Getting help with pets

For more information on pet ownership, contact the office and speak to your Housing Officer. If you are aware of an aggressive or dangerous dog you should report this to the dog warden.

Glasgow City Council provides this service.

You can contact them 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 0141 287 6698. Or, if you are aware of someone being cruel to an animal, please report this to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on 0870 737 7722.

We regularly inspect our areas for graffiti or vandalism.

Report Vandalism

Anyone witnessing vandalism to Association property should report this to us and to the police.

How we can help

We will repair any damage to common areas as quickly as possible.

If the culprit is an Association tenant, sharing owner or a member of one of these households then strong action will be taken, including invoicing them for the cost of repairing the damage or even taking legal action to evict them.

If someone repeatedly writes graffiti or damages property, we will ask the police to take action in cases where we can provide evidence.

As your landlord, we are responsible for all fixtures and fitting of the building, however you as the tenant are responsible for the contents of the property which belong to you, for example your furniture and personal belongings such as clothes.

We strongly recommend you insure your personal possessions against loss or damage caused by fire, flood, theft, accident, etc.

You can insure your contents with any provider you wish.

Below is a link to Thistle Tenant’s Risk home contents insurance.

Thistle are designed to meet the demands and needs of those living in social housing who wish to insure their possessions. All social housing tenants and residents are eligible to apply.

https://www.thistletenants-scotland.co.uk/

Only a Sheriff of the court can evict a tenant by law. We need detailed evidence from witnesses to take a case to court.

We are not witness to the anti-social behaviour so you have to provide first-hand accounts of what has happened. We will collate all reports of anti-social behaviour and submit them for any subsequent legal action.

We cannot pursue any course of action unless there are corroborated reports. All complaints to the police, Govan Housing Association or any other agency are treated in complete confidence and full support will be given during any investigations. A referral can also be made to Victim Support Scotland.