Living In Harmony

Everyone has the right to the quiet enjoyment of their home and its surroundings. Under the terms of your tenancy agreement you must not behave in a way that causes nuisance to people living near by. 

You are responsible for your behaviour at all times both at home and in your Neighbourhood and for the behaviour of the rest of your household (including children) and visitors to your home. 

Anti Social Behaviour

All tenants have the right to peaceful enjoyment of their homes.  We want to prevent problems caused by nuisance and anti-social behaviour and ask that all tenants and their families are considerate towards their neighbours.  You must keep the peace by ensuring that you do not create any form of nuisance to others. You can help by reporting incidences of anti-social behaviour to us and the Police.  We treat all neighbour nuisance complaints seriously and will take whatever action is necessary to resolve the problem. If you behave in an anti-social manner, we may take legal action to evict you from your home.  If you are evicted because of anti-social behaviour, we will refuse you further accommodation.

If you experience nuisance and cannot sort the problem out yourself or the problem is serious, you can contact your Neighbourhood Co-ordinator for help.  We will try to build up a clear picture of the problem by speaking to you and the person who the complaint is about.  If we agree that a nuisance is being caused, we will draw up an action plan.  Part of this is may be asking you to monitor the situation by keeping an Incident Diary.  We may liaise with the Council, Social Services or the Police if necessary. 

We will consider using the following remedies: 

• Mediation (Your Neighbourhood Co-ordinator will offer advice and guidance and where appropriate will arrange mediation as a means to resolve neighbour disputes. You should contact them for more details.)
• Acceptable Behaviour Contracts
• Parenting Orders
• Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
• Injunctions
• Possession Orders

Only in exceptional circumstances can we proceed to court immediately.  Usually we need to gather evidence and monitor the situation, which can take weeks or even months depending on the nature of the problem. 

We will...

• Treat all complaints of nuisance behaviour seriously
• Respect your confidentiality at all times
• Investigate all complaints in a sympathetic, firm and impartial manner
• Keep records of all interviews, visits and correspondence
• Expect you to help us solve the nuisance behaviour problem by keeping records of events   and in extreme cases, giving evidence in court
• Take whatever action is necessary to stop nuisance behaviour
• Tell all concerned about what action we intend to take and the affect it may have

You must...

• Try and talk to your neighbours first to see if you can sort out the problem between yourselves, contact us for help if you cannot solve the problem yourself or you feel the problem is serious. Be prepared to monitor the situation by keeping a written record of events in order to help us investigate.

Making the High Peak Safer

High Peak Community Housing is working in partnership with Derbyshire Constabulary to tackle the issue of crime and anti-social behaviour in our Neighborhoods'.  Together we are determined, with your help, to deal swiftly and effectively with the perpetrators of crime and anti-social behaviour.   We work closely with the Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams in all our Neighbourhoods. These teams deal with reducing crime and the fear of crime by a variety of methods such as joint enforcement action and diversionary tactics.

Making the High Peak Cleaner and Greener

As well as looking after your home, we also expect you to take good care of the area where you live.  To help us make your Neighbourhood a pleasant and safe place to live, you should let us know if something needs doing or if you spot someone dumping rubbish or carrying out acts of vandalism or graffiti. 

You have a responsibility to keep your garden clean and tidy.  Grassed areas should be cut regularly and trees and hedges should not be obstruct public footpaths or interfere with a neighbours property. We understand that some of our tenants may have physical difficulty maintaining their garden to an acceptable level.  We operate a Garden Maintenance Scheme for elderly and disabled tenants who have difficulty with their gardens and whose friends, neighbours or family cannot help them.  Contact your Neighbourhood Coordinator for more details on this scheme.

We also operate a Tool Loan scheme to assist tenants who do not have access to their own garden tools.  This allows tenants to borrow items such as lawn mowers to help maintain their gardens.  As a term of your tenancy, you must maintain your garden. To help maintain the overall appearance of the area in which you live, we are responsible for regularly mowing communal grassed areas. We also ensure communal hedges and shrub beds are kept neat and tidy. 

High Peak Borough Council will take away bulky items of rubbish for a small charge.  If you are claiming Housing or Council Tax Benefit, bulky refuse will be removed for half the normal price. To arrange the removal of bulky rubbish, contact High Peak Borough Council Environmental Services on Tel: 0845 129 7777. 

For more information about living in harmony with your neighbours, please click here to download our leaflet.