Leeds Jewish Housing Association recognise that anti-social behaviour (ASB) can make the area in which people live an unhappy, unpleasant and sometimes frightening place to live and relax in. The fear of intimidation and harassment can have a dramatic effect on our tenants’ quality of life. For some people, ASB may just be annoying. However for others, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, the impact of serious incidents, or of repeated incidents of low-level ASB can be devastating. ASB-related issues which have gone on for a long time not only damage the lives of individual households, but can bring misery for entire communities, damaging the reputation of estates and leading to low demand and neighbourhood decline if these are not addressed.

Neighbourhood

What is Anti-Social Behaviour?

Anti-Social Behaviour can take different forms. Examples include (but are not limited to):

  • Using or threatening to use violence
  • The use of abusive and/or insulting words
  • Damage or the threat of damage to another person’s possessions or belongings
  • The playing of loud music at what is accepted as social or unsocial hours
  • Disturbance late at night
  • Graffiti
  • Neighbour dispute, arguing and excessive noise
  • Racist / anti-Semitic behaviour and / or language

What isn’t Anti-Social Behaviour?

The following behaviours are not classed as anti-social behaviour in isolation:

  • Parking (including badly parked vehicles)
  • Children playing
  • Neighbours doing DIY (at reasonable times of the day)
  • Groups of people in the street, outside a property, or in another public area, unless they are being rowdy, abusive, causing damage or committing other crimes
  • Noise caused by everyday living
  • Religious or cultural practice
  • A one-off party
  • General living noise which would reasonably be expected in flat-based living

How to Report?

In order to be classed as anti-social behaviour, and to help LJHA compile evidence as part of an investigation, there must be a pattern of behaviour over a particular period of time. A one-off incident, for example, even if proof can be supplied, will not be treated as a case of anti-social behaviour, unless the complainant perceives that this is motivated by hate in any form. 

Reports of ASB can be received by LJHA via any medium, such as:

  • In person via the LJHA Reception.
  • Telephone by calling the LJHA office on 0113 320 7777 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Thursday, or between 9am and 2pm on Friday.
  • E-mail info@ljha.co.uk
  • Online, via the LJHA’s online contact form at http://ljha.co.uk/contact

Reporting ASB to Leeds City Council

Leeds City Council’s Out-of-Hours service has now ceased. Their process now is to encourage residents to firstly try and speak to their neighbour about the noise and how it is affecting them.

If this if doesn’t work, then please contact us.

If the noise is on an evening/night time, you can approach the Council to enquire about a Noise kit being installed. However, they would need to see a diary and reported incidents to establish a pattern of the noise and how often it’s occurring to justify the kit being installed.

The kits are normally installed for around a week to 10 days.

Reports made to Leeds City Council or West Yorkshire Police may depend on the nature of the incident. For non-emergency crime-related issues, reports can be made to West Yorkshire Police by calling 101. In an emergency (if a crime is in progress or if the offenders are nearby), call 999.

Further information on who deals with which type of ASB can be found below.

West Yorkshire Police

  • Begging
  • Dealing/taking drugs and drinking alcohol in the street
  • Gangs or groups of young people drinking in parks
  • Harassment or intimidation
  • Hoax call to emergency services
  • Misuse of fireworks
  • Prostitution or indecent behaviour
  • Vandalism

Leeds City Council

  • Abandoned vehicles
  • Dead animals
  • Dog fouling
  • Fly posting/graffiti
  • Littering
  • Fly tipping
  • Waste
  • Lost or stray dogs
  • Noise nuisance/noise from DIY
  • Syringes or needles

You can report fly-tipping, or waste in gardens via Leeds City Council at Report fly tipping (leeds.gov.uk)

Further Information

We have produced various pieces of information relating to Anti-Social Behaviour:

Anti-Social Behaviour Policy (our approach to Anti-Social Behaviour)

Anti-Social Behaviour Easy Read document

When is Anti-Social Behaviour something else?

In response to a Housing Ombudsman report on Noise complaints, we have also.

1) Written a new Neighbourhood Management Policy

2) Written a new Noise Policy

3) Made some changes to our computer system to allow us to accurately record Noise complaints separately from Anti-Social Behaviour incidents.

These are also available as summary leaflets, which are available from the LJHA office. A copy is also contained on all communal noticeboards.

What this means in practice is that when you report an issue to us, we will investigate this in detail to enable us to make a decision on whether there has been deliberate ASB, or whether it relates to noise that may be part of everyday flat living, such as thin walls or hard floors. We have also made some changes so that we can record and deal with Hate-related ASB separately from other ASB reports.

The Housing Ombudsman have also produced a Noise complaints factsheet | Housing Ombudsman Service to help you learn more about how to complain about noise.