If you are in emotional distress or despair call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000 and speak to a counsellor immediately.
For support, advice or information about mental health, call Inspire on 0808 189 0036

Anti-social behaviour

Problems with neighbours can make you feel really low. Find out where to get help

Your mental health can really suffer if you’re having problems with anti-social behaviour by neighbours or other people living in your area. It’s important to know what help you can get.

Some problems can be easily sorted out by talking to the people involved. You should only do this if you feel that it’s safe and you won’t be hurt or upset. You could talk to someone you trust first, like a support worker, to see how they think you should handle the problem.

Help if you’re affected by anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour can have a huge impact on your mental health. It can range from low-level noise problems right up to being bullied, harassed or intimidated by people in your area.

You can report this behaviour to:

  • The police
  • The council
  • The Housing Executive or housing associations if it’s happening in one of their developments

These organisations can try different things to deal with this behaviour, like:

  • Mediating between you and the person causing the problem
  • Getting a court order to stop the person from behaving in certain ways
  • Getting the person causing the behaviour to sign an acceptable behaviour contract
  • Issuing an anti-social behaviour order against the person causing the problems

Help if you’re accused of anti-social behaviour

Mental health conditions can make you act in ways that other people don’t understand. Your neighbours may complain about your behaviour. If this happens, your landlord has to investigate. But they also have to take your mental health into account when deciding how to respond to these complaints.

Your landlord can evict you if you are regularly behaving in ways that cause a serious nuisance to your neighbour. They have to follow the proper legal process to do this. Contact Housing Rights or a local advice agency as soon as you get a notice from your landlord about your behaviour. Getting advice quickly will help you to keep your home.

Managing your feelings

Dealing with anti-social behaviour can be incredibly stressful. It’s normal to feel strong emotions like anger, anxiety, sadness or fear. Our resources can help you manage these strong feelings: