'Just pick up the phone to report anti-social behaviour in Tipperary'

185 complaints of anti-social behaviour or breaches of tenancy agreements in local authority houses were received by Tipperary County Council from throughout the county during the first nine months of this year.

Catherine O’Connor, community liaison officer with the county council’s housing section, has stated that 157 of those complaints were closed, while 28 were still open for investigation.

Ms O’Connor told a meeting of Clonmel Borough District that the community liaison officer’s role was the active management of council tenants and housing stock, investigating complaints of anti-social behaviour made to the county council, and breaches of tenancy.

She acknowledged that anti-social behaviour could have a huge impact on people’s lives and the council was committed to making sure that all residents felt safe and secure in their homes and in the estates in which they live.

Complaints about anti-social behaviour could be made by phone, email or through the council’s customer service desk, and could be made on a confidential basis.

She said the first action the community liaison officers would take was to contact the complainants to get more details and clarification of the nature of the complaint, and the issues involved. They would then take steps to respond.

Quite often the council found that they had good working relationships with their tenants, and a conversation with an individual and a discussion about their behaviour often resolved the difficulty.

Ms O’Connor said that other options were available if the initial approach wasn’t successful. The council could issue verbal and written warnings, and a final warning.

If that was unsuccessful they could issue a tenancy warning, although they wanted to avoid taking people’s homes away from them at all costs.

She said that a tenancy warning could lead to court proceedings and repossession of people’s property.

Countywide this year, there had been four successful induction cases where tenants were ordered to remove particular items from the grounds of a property; three successful repossession hearings for anti-social behaviour, and one for an unauthorised alteration to a property.

Council staff met all new tenants before they received the keys to their property.

This was an opportunity to get to know the tenants and build a good relationship with them, and determine the conditions of their tenancy, such as the importance of paying their rent, maintaining the property and keeping it in good order. They also outlined behaviour that was not acceptable, as well as issues around waste management and estate management.

Tenants were also encouraged to get involved with their local residents association.

The tenancy agreement, meanwhile, made them fully aware of their responsibilities and helped to prevent future tenancy breakdown.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said that tenants who were experiencing anti-social behaviour in their area only had to lift the phone, contact the county council and ask for Catherine O’Connor or her fellow community liaison officer Tess Collins, and they did not have to give their names.

Cllr John FitzGerald said he accepted that the council was more about keeping people housed rather than terminating tenancies. But sometimes when there was bad anti-social behaviour in an area, rather than prolonging the suffering for the other residents, a quick fix on anti-social behaviour that wasn’t going to cure itself might be the best solution for everybody.

Cllr Niall Dennehy asked if there were any ethnic groups coming to the forefront in terms of complaints about anti-social behaviour. Catherine O’Connor stated that all tenants, irrespective of whether they came from an ethnic group, had to sign the standard council tenancy agreement.

Regarding Cllr FitzGerald’s comment about “a quick fix”, she said that there was a procedure and an anti-social behaviour strategy that the council was obliged to follow under the Housing Act.

Tess Collins said that the council worked very hard on anti-social behaviour, and also worked with other services to make every effort to prevent this from happening.