Neighbour or anti-social behaviour complaints

Complaints can be submitted to your Locality Housing Office by telephone, email, letter or by dropping in to speak to staff or please use our general enquiry form.

When you complain our staff will ask for the:

• Name and address of the complainant (the individual complaining) 
• Name and address of alleged perpetrator (the individual who the complaint concerns)
• Relationship between the parties
• Date, time and place of incident(s)
• Details of any involvement by Police or other agencies/services.

You will be sent an acknowledgement of the complaint and the target time for the first response from the Housing Officer to investigate the complaint:

• The target time to respond to a routine case is 5 working days
• The target time to respond to a serious case is 2 working days.

We aim to resolve routine complaints within 30 working days, and serious complaints within 20 working days (see guidance below). 

What happens after I make a complaint?

The Housing Officer will investigate the complaint and inform the complainant about progress and any action proposed in resolving the matter. Steps that the Housing Officer can take to investigate the issue are:

• Visiting the complainant and interviewing them about the incident(s)
• Visiting the alleged perpetrator and interviewing them about the incident(s)
• Considering if support to either party is required
• Contacting neighbours for evidence, for example to corroborate the complaint
• Contacting the Police or Safer Community Wardens to obtain information where they have attended the incident/ taken action 
• Consulting our Safer Communities Team (SCT) for advice and assistance, including joint visits and other co-ordinated interventions with other partners such as Police Scotland

If the complaint is about noise we will suggest the installation of a noise monitor in your home, or a noise recording app on your mobile phone, so that we can gather evidence.

On completion of the investigation the Housing Officer will make contact with the complainant and alleged perpetrator about any action to be taken as a result of the complaint.

Actions may include:

• Issuing a warning letter to the perpetrator
• Seeking an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement (ABA) with the perpetrator in consultation with our Safer Communities Team.
• Referring the case for mediation between parties
• Legal action
• Converting the perpetrator's tenancy from a Scottish Secure Tenancy to a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy so their behaviour can be monitored.
• Closing the case and no further action taken

No-one should have to live with anti-social behaviour so if you believe you are suffering as a result of the actions of others in your community please contact your Locality Housing Team. Every complaint is taken seriously.

The definition of anti-social behaviour is broad, with an array of behaviours which might be perceived to be anti-social. However, your Housing Officers might not be able to deal with every issue. Where we are unable to resolve the issue, we would always work in partnership with other agencies and services to explore solutions . Some examples of the types of behaviours include:

•  Fly tipping or littering - Environmental Services & Safer Communities Team
• Children and young people playing in open spaces, the street, their home or garden - Education and Children's Services
• Parenting Concerns - Education and Children's Services
• Shouting and swearing within a private dwelling, including the garden - Safer Communities Team, Police Scotland
• Matters to do with planning or building control (if not a PKC tenancy) - Planning /Building Control
• Varying lifestyles and everyday family living noises - Safer Communities Team
• Cannabis smoking - Safer Communities Team, Police Scotland
• Dogs barking and other animal related complaints - Dog Control/Animal Welfare