Housing Managemet
Threshold nuisances created by neighboring owners
Neighbour relations have become an increasingly important housing issue in both the public and private sectors. Social housing landlords report they now spend more time dealing with disputes, ranging from trivial to very serious incidents (, 2005). Anti-social behaviour is generally defined as behaviour that unreasonably interferes with others’ rights to use and enjoy their home. This can involve a clash of lifestyle where different social groups have different norms of behavior (, 2005) . Crime is more specific and disputes commonly relate to drug dealing, assault or burglary. Harassment is defined as behaviour deliberately intended to intimidate or harm an individual or certain group, and includes racial harassment. All these problems are often subsumed under the umbrella term ‘nuisance’.
There is a number of reasons why social landlords are increasingly drawn into dealing with neighbour relations. The residualization of the sector has resulted in a concentration of poor and vulnerable tenants into housing which may be high density and poorly designed, often lacks good sound insulation and is inadequately maintained .( , 2005). New tenants are predominantly young households who may have different lifestyles and expectations from the older tenants. The care in the community policy has resulted in more tenants with unconventional behaviour living in ordinary housing, and exacerbated prejudice and fear between neighbours (, 2006). The drive towards efficiency in the housing service has focused attention on the costs of disputes, including repairs, re-housing, legal costs, loss of income from empty properties and reinforcement of the unpopularity of certain estates.
The most frequent nuisance problem between social tenants is noise, followed by disputes over gardens (, 2006). Other common issues include verbal abuse, criminal behaviour, harassment, damage to property, dogs, physical intimidation and vehicle repairs. Social landlords use a wide range of measures both to prevent or minimize nuisance and to deal with disputes when they arise.
Under the provisions of the 1996 Housing Act, local authorities may give all new tenants temporary Introductory Tenancies, which after twelve months automatically become Secure Tenancies ( 2006. This new power has been adopted by a number of authorities, although in practice where tenants are evicted from Introductory Tenancies it is more often for rent arrears than for anti-social behaviour (, 2005).
Dealing with neighbour disputes requires clear procedures, prompt action and close liaison with other agencies. Some social landlords designate specialist officers to handle conflicts. In many areas there is a mediation service, providing an independent third party which aims to open up channels of communication between the conflicting tenants (, 2006) . This is generally provided by a local voluntary agency and can prevent disputes from escalating. Support for victims is important, especially where there is a threat of violence, and this sometimes involves re-housing. It is also important to work with the perpetrators of anti-social behaviour, especially where they may be vulnerable themselves and in need of guidance and support.
In housing management the landlord may apply, Housing plus schemes normally involve three elements (, 2006 :
1 The physical housing development to be located close to jobs and services, environmentally sensitive with energy-efficient homes, deter crime, and include a community training programme or local labour scheme.
2 Housing management to involve tenant participation and support tenant organizations, and adopt a range of sensitive approaches such as a tailor-made local lettings policy to foster social balance, the involvement of specialists such as youth workers, community safety initiatives, adult training schemes and education.
3 The provision of community facilities to be an integral part of the development such as community buildings, play facilities, crèches, childcare and holiday schemes, youth clubs, sports and games facilities and adult education classes.
The housing plus approach goes far beyond traditional housing development and management roles, and sees housing as a potential catalyst for enhancing a range of services (, 2006). It stresses multi-agency working between housing and a range of social, environmental and economic agencies, and associations may be involved with the local health trust, social services, police, and adult or further education colleges (, 2006). This mirrors the partnership approach increasingly adopted by local authorities in housing regeneration programmes. However, inter-agency working is often very difficult to achieve in practice.
Unauthorized Parking on Estates
According to Housing Management Regulations, any vehicle parked in an unauthorized location or any unauthorized manner, the landlord have the right to intervene and may have the tenant’s vehicle removed if it constitutes a danger or obstruction is parked for example on a footpath, grassed area or in other tenant’s driveway . (, 2005). The owner of the vehicle shall remove and will be required to pay an amount that the estates required or else the vehicle will be detained. The owner must claim the vehicle or the vehicle will be post for public bidding.
Although there is a clear regulation on unauthorized parking in estates, the landlord is also required to provide proper parking area for their tenants, in order for them to have an adequate place to park their vehicle and also to avoid some unfortunate conflicts in parking their vehicles in estates areas (, 2005). Parking areas should also be included in the monthly rental of the tenant, meaning the landlord should not be charging extra cost for the parking area.
Antagonism on the Management: Deed of Mutual Relationship
Tenants according to the Housing Management are allowed to keep pets in their rented house or apartment without permission provided that the animals will not cause any nuisance to other neighbors. For those tenants who wish to have a pet dog, they need to get a permit from the landlord and the Housing Management. This permission should be written and formal. According to the dangerous dogs act 1991(, 2005):
• The Neighborhood Office will inform the tenant of its decision to grant
permission to keep a dog or other large pet within 15 working days of
receipt of the tenant’s application.
• Immediate neighbours must agree to the tenant in keeping a pet.
• The tenant must have a licence to keep that type of animal.
• The tenant can keep only one dog.
• The tenant must keep the pet under control.
• The pet must not foul the landing, the stairs or the close outside.
• The pet must not foul the back garden or drying area.
• The pet must not disturb other neighbours or cause a nuisance.
• Tenants living in multi-storey or sheltered flats are not allowed to keep a
dog, except a guide dog.
• If reasonable, where corroborated complaints are received from
neighbours, permission to keep a pet may be withdrawn.
• Tenants are NOT allowed to keep poultry, livestock or animals covered by
the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.
To quote the memorandum of the Hong Kong Housing Management (, 2005). Memorandum for the Subsidised Housing Committee
Keeping of Dogs in Tenants Purchase Scheme Estates
We have received a Member’s request for discussion of
Paper No./2004 on Keeping of Dogs in Tenants Purchase Scheme
Estates. With the agreement of the Chairman of the Subsidised Housing
Committee, the proposals contained in the Paper will be discussed at the next
Subsidised Housing Committee meeting.
2. This paper is issued for Members’ information.
References
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