What can I do about antisocial neighbours?
Short answer
Log every incident with dates and times, report it in writing to your landlord and to the council’s antisocial behaviour team, and call the police for anything criminal. If three or more reports in six months bring no adequate response, you can activate an ASB Case Review — the Community Trigger.
Antisocial behaviour ranges from persistent noise and intimidation to criminal activity, and the routes to deal with it run in parallel. Use more than one: landlords, councils and the police each have different powers, and none of them will act on a vague complaint.
Build the record first
Keep a log of every incident — date, time, what happened, how long it lasted, who witnessed it, and the effect on your household. Add recordings or photographs where it is safe and lawful to capture them, and note any crime reference numbers. This log is what turns "my neighbours are noisy" into evidence a court or tribunal can act on.
Who to report to
- Your landlord, in writing. If the perpetrator is also their tenant, they may have grounds to seek possession, and social landlords have particular duties to tackle serious ASB.
- The council’s ASB team, which can act independently of any landlord through Community Protection Notices and civil injunctions, and through the noise nuisance powers of environmental health.
- The police, for threats, violence, harassment or drug activity. Report each incident separately and keep the reference numbers.
When nobody acts
Escalate through your landlord’s formal complaints procedure, then to the Housing Ombudsman for a social landlord, or the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for a council service failure.
The ASB Case Review (Community Trigger) is the underused tool. If you have reported ASB three or more times in six months and the response has been inadequate, write to the council, police or housing provider stating that you are activating it, and list every report with dates and reference numbers. The agency must tell you whether the threshold is met and, if it says not, explain why in writing. Where the police response is the problem, you can also raise it with your Police and Crime Commissioner.
One reassurance: you cannot lawfully be evicted for complaining. Retaliation of that kind is likely to amount to harassment, and since Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026 a landlord needs a Section 8 ground proved in court to obtain possession at all. If you are served with a notice after complaining, contact Shelter or Citizens Advice straight away.
Related guides
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