Tor Homes has signed up to the Respect standard for housing management, part of the government’s Respect action plan.
The standard has been introduced to make sure landlords tackle anti-social behaviour and promote respect in local communities.
Zilpah Leahy, Housing and Customer Services Manager for Tor Homes explains: "We already have a good track record of tackling anti-social behaviour. By signing up to this new standard, we are building on our work to create places where people want to live and work."
“The majority of our tenants are law-abiding and care about their neighbours and the places they live. There is just a minority who spoil it for others and we want to stamp out unacceptable behaviour and make sure that our tenants feel safe and secure.”
The government’s Respect campaign aims to ensure that local agencies tackle unacceptable behaviour and its causes to improve quality of life for residents.
The Respect standard outlines steps to tackle anti-social behaviour and build stronger communities, such as accountability, leadership, giving greater resident empowerment, and supporting community efforts at tackling anti-social behaviour.
Tor Homes manages over 3000 properties across South Devon and during 2006 124 cases of reported anti-social behaviour were resolved. The housing association works hard to resolve anti-social behaviour issues before applying to the courts for injunctions or evictions.
During 2006 22 households were served with a warning, known as a Notice of Seeking Possession and as a final resort, 28 tenants were served with demotion orders and 12 tenants were evicted. A demotion order is where a landlord can apply to the court for a demotion order, ending the tenant’s existing tenancy and replacing it with a less secure ‘demoted’ tenancy. They give a serious warning to the tenant, since if they continue to misbehave, swift action can be taken to seek possession of their home.
Injunctions are a quick and effective way to put an end to a range of anti-social behaviour, such as playing loud music at night, vandalism and barking dogs. They are civil orders which can be obtained from the county court and prohibit the person concerned from engaging in the specific behaviour.
To learn more about Tor Homes' approach to anti-social behaviour, click on the link below to download our leaflet, or call our Customer and Community Contact team on 0800 316 88 39
