Antisocial behaviour

Antisocial behaviour can have a negative effect on the quality of life of individuals and communities. It's important to report your concerns about antisocial behaviour you are experiencing as soon as possible.

Recognising antisocial behaviour

The term antisocial behaviour (ASB) describes different types of nuisance behaviour, such as:

  • too much noise
  • graffiti
  • littering
  • disputes with neighbours

The behaviour might not be a criminal offence but can affect quality of life for people and communities. If you're concerned about antisocial behaviour, you should report this as soon as possible to prevent it getting out of control.

Reporting antisocial behaviour

Local councils, the Housing Executive, housing associations, private landlords and police are responsible for dealing with different types of antisocial behaviour.

Local councils

Local councils can investigate:

  • noise nuisance
  • disputes about high hedges
  • litter and illegal dumping
  • graffiti
  • fly posting
  • dog fouling
  • dog nuisance
  • stray dogs
  • abandoned vehicles
  • Local councils in Northern Ireland

Housing Executive

The Housing Executive is responsible for investigating:

  • noisy or disruptive tenants
  • neglected dwellings/gardens
  • using premises for illegal purposes
  • using premises for business purposes
  • neighbourhood disputes

To contact the Housing Executive:

Police

Some antisocial behaviour is criminal activity. You should contact the police to report: 

  • motoring offences
  • drunken and rowdy behaviour in a public place
  • criminal damage
  • assaults
  • theft
  • intimidation
  • harassment
  • drug use/dealing
  • hate crime

To contact the police:

  • telephone: 101 (for non-emergency calls and general enquires; if you are a Tesco mobile or giffgaff user call 028 9065 0222)
  • telephone: 999 (for emergencies)
  • Police Service of Northern Ireland

What you can do to help

When reporting antisocial behaviour, it's important to give as much information as possible. You should provide:

  • information about the incident, including location, time, description of those involved, if this has happened before
  • if you are worried about your own safety or your family’s safety
  • if you think the incident was aggravated by any other factors such as sectarian or racial abuse, any form of hostility such as homophobia or based on disability
  • details of any witnesses 
  • the impact the incident has had on you
  • your contact details

Policing and Community Safety Partnerships

Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSPs) work with organisations and communities to deal with antisocial behaviour in local areas.

To find out more about their work, contact your local PCSP.

More useful links

Share this page

What do you want to do?
What is your question about?
Do you want a reply?
Your email address
To reply to you, we need your email address
Your feedback

We will not reply to your feedback.  Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

This feedback form is for issues with the nidirect website only.

You can use it to report a problem or suggest an improvement to a webpage.

If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly as we don’t have access to information about you held by government departments.

You must be aged 13 years or older - if you’re younger, ask someone with parental responsibility to send the feedback for you.

The nidirect privacy notice applies to any information you send on this feedback form.

Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

Plain text only, 750 characters maximum.
Plain text only, 750 characters maximum.

What to do next

Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

What to do next

If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

Carer's Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

Call 0800 587 2750 
Email customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

Disability Living Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912 
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Employment and Support Allowance

Call 0800 587 1377

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

Personal Independence Payment

Call 0800 587 0932

If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

What to do next

Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

What to do next

For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

What to do next

For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

What to do next

For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

What to do next

For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

What to do next

Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

What to do next

For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

What to do next

For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

What to do next

For queries about:

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

What to do next

For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

What to do next

For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

What to do next

For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

What to do next

If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

What to do next

For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

What to do next

For queries or advice about rates, email:
rating@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about property valuation, email:
valuation@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about land registry, email:
CustomerInformation.LandRegistration@finance-ni.gov.uk

For mapping queries, email:
Mapping.Helpdesk@finance-ni.gov.uk

What to do next

For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.