My neighbour's dog keeps getting on to my garden

It is your neighbour’s responsibility to keep control of their dogs. However, the dog may escape accidently on the odd occasion. If you believe the dog to be dangerous, or feel threatened or at risk of injury, you must report this to the police.

Is this antisocial behaviour?

For something to be considered antisocial behaviour it needs to be consistent and disruptive to your life. A one-off incident when the dog has entered your garden is not likely to be considered antisocial behaviour. If the dog is repeatedly entering your garden or fowling on it, and it’s disrupting your work or home life, we can investigate this as an antisocial behaviour issue.

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 incident?
• Does your property need a repair to a fence or gate to stop the dog getting in?
• How many times in the last week have you been disturbed by the dog?
• What impact is the dog on your garden 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 the dog is having on your life. They may be able to close a gate or get a fence repaired to stop this from happening.

What will happen if I report the issue?

It’s unlikely we will be able to do anything about controlling the dog, 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 and see if any repairs need to take place in the attempt to stop it from happening. We are very unlikely to evict your neighbour because their dog has escaped onto your property.

How to report antisocial behaviour

Keep a diary incident log.doc of 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 is at risk or you feel a crime is being committed, please contact the police. Always dial 999 in an emergency.