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The Role Of Mediation In Tackling Neighbour Disputes And Anti-Social Behaviour

6. RESULTS: LEGAL ACTION CASES

Nature of disputes

6.1 All of the ASBO and repossession cases studied involved serious anti-social behaviour: repeated incidents over a long period. The problems included loud music and/or shouting and swearing; and at least one of fighting, verbal abuse, banging doors, barking or fouling by dogs, or damage to common areas ( Table 13). In most cases, it involved the defendant and visitors, and often disputes with visitors, other family members, or ex-partners. All cases involved problems with several neighbours. In at least half of cases, there was a history of convictions or convictions during the legal process. Several cases involved identified mental health problems or alcohol misuse (and at least one case involved a learning disability). Many of the households with children had ongoing social work involvement. Drug use and/or dealing was a factor in several cases. In other words, the situations revealed in these cases were generally not only neighbour disputes, but also problems in themselves, which came to the attention of the authorities through the disturbance to neighbours. This is in contrast to the general nature of neighbour disputes found in mediation services. It also suggests that many such cases could not be solved by mediation alone.

6.2 This contrast is also seen in the duration of intervention or proceedings. In mediation cases, mediation lasted from one day to three months, whereas legal cases had durations of between two months and 52 months (over four years).

6.3 Where mediation services were available, all local authority housing services reported that they would refer cases to mediation whenever possible before taking legal action. Further in-depth research would be required to 'track' the trajectories of cases prior to the action and make an assessment whether mediation partially resolved, completely resolved for a period of time or contributed very little due to irreconcilable differences prior to the pursuit of a legal action.

Table 13: Main issue in neighbour disputes: legal cases

Tenure

6.4 Of 50 cases, the majority of perpetrators of anti-social behaviour were local authority tenants, although two were owner occupiers, two private tenants and one tenant (or occupier) of a voluntary organisation. In around half of cases, the neighbours affected included owner occupiers.

6.5 From the survey of 41 housing associations, three reported having used community mediation to resolve disputes; but only one association had taken legal action for anti-social behaviour, which it pursued by means of ASBO through its local authority investigation team.

Intervention and outcomes of legal action

Table 14: Nature of legal intervention/outcome

6.6 Housing and legal services regard outcomes in a different way to mediation services, and may regard the intervention itself (ASBO, for example) as the outcome. A proportion of the cases dissolved because there was insufficient evidence or there was a reported improvement (seven cases). Insufficient evidence may be because there is not in fact a significant problem, or because neighbours are unwilling to co-operate with the investigation for some reason. In around half of the cases an Anti-Social Behaviour Order was pursued, although the cases studied were at different stages of the ASBO process. The other main outcome was a repossession action; in some cases this led to eviction, and in other cases this was avoided through voluntary transfer to another tenancy ( Table 14). Some evictions followed breach of ASBO, some were pursued without ASBO. Seven cases resulted in the problem being 'solved' by the perpetrator leaving the area or going to prison, or by mental health proceedings. Further research would be required to improve our understanding of whether the displacement of 'problem' households and or individuals resolve the anti-social behaviour or simply 'moves it on' to another set of neighbours or locality.

6.7 It is less than straightforward to describe particular outcomes as positive or negative. Often, legal and housing services themselves regard obtaining decree as a positive outcome in itself. In just over half of the 50 cases, a decree was obtained. In the majority of cases (39 of 50), legal action resulted in a positive outcome for neighbours, that is, either decree against the perpetrator or the perpetrator moving away or being rehoused elsewhere. On the other hand, only two of 50 cases where legal action commenced resulted in improvement of the situation such that no further action was necessary. Two referrals for community care can perhaps be seen as positive outcomes. When a perpetrator is evicted, moves away, or is offered housing elsewhere, this is no doubt a positive outcome for the neighbours, but may or may not be in terms of preventing any further disputes.

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