My neighbours are having bonfires in the garden
Throughout the year your neighbour might have the occasional bonfire in the garden either to burn some rubbish, keep warm or to celebrate an event like bonfire night.
Is this antisocial behaviour?
For bonfires to be considered antisocial behaviour, they need to be consistent and disruptive to your life. Your neighbour having a bonfire now and again is not likely to be considered antisocial behaviour. If bonfires are happening frequently and causing a nuisance, we can investigate this as an antisocial behaviour issue. There are some rules about garden bonfires that can be found here.
Before you report the issue, consider the following questions which will help you to decide whether to raise this issue:
- Is this a one off or is it a special occasion like bonfire night?
- How many times in the last week have you been affected by a bonfire?
- What impact is the bonfire having on your life?
- Is this causing a problem for anyone else in your neighbourhood?
If this isn’t an antisocial behaviour issue, it may be worth speaking to your neighbour and letting them know about the impact their bonfires have on your life. Tips about talking with your neighbour can be found here.
What will happen if I report the issue?
It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to stop your neighbours having a bonfire from time to time, but if it’s a consistent problem causing repeated disturbances, we can work with you and your neighbour to come to a resolution. It might be that we advise your neighbour about the impact this is having. We are very unlikely to evict your neighbour because they have had a bonfire.
How to report antisocial behaviour
Keep a diary incident log.docof the times and dates of any incidents for at least two weeks before contacting us. Make a note of what time this started, how long it lasted, and the impact it had on you, your family, or your home.
When you have logged the repeated incidents, you can report this to be investigated by our neighbourhoods team by sending your incident log.doc via email to us at enquiries@futureshg.co.uk.
You will need to tell us about the issue, and what, if anything, you’ve tried to resolve this yourself. For example, if you’ve spoken to your neighbour directly and if you know of anyone else who is experiencing the same issue.
We’ll also need to know if you’ve reported this to the police or local authority, and if you have a reference number.
Please remember, we can only investigate reports of antisocial behaviour with your neighbour if they are also a Futures customer, and you’ll need to provide their address.
If your neighbour doesn’t live in a Futures home, you can speak to the council or police for advice on how to deal with this issue.
What we’ll do
When we receive your query, it will be triaged by the customer services team to make sure you’ve provided all the information we need, and then it will be passed to a neighbourhood officer for investigation. They will get in touch with you within 5 working days.
If at any point you or someone else is at risk or you feel a crime is being committed, please contact the police. Always dial 999 in an emergency.
