Disputes

Being a good neighbour

Many of our properties are situated close to other people and, like all communities, are home to a diverse range of people with different lifestyles, cultures and family compositions.

Being a good neighbour means being mindful and respectful of others, particularly in terms of noise, the behaviour of your household members, visitors and pets and the use of shared areas such as parking places, laundries and gardens.

In any community, there needs to be a level of tolerance between neighbours, but we understand that issues with neighbours do occur.

It’s important for all tenants to understand when neighbour issues are considered anti-social behaviour, what steps you can take to resolve neighbour issues and how Housing Choices WA can help.

How can Housing Choices WA help resolve neighbour issues?

Housing Choices WA will always try to help you resolve neighbour issues whether it is to give advice on how to manage the issue, tell you who you should report the issue to or investigate serious claims of antisocial behaviour.

If you are experiencing any problems with noise or nuisance, it is very important that you calmly deal with it as soon as you can. Sometimes a dispute may occur because of a misunderstanding between you and your neighbour.

We encourage early intervention for neighbours in dispute. Unless you feel it is unsafe, your first step should be to approach your neighbour to resolve the situation between yourselves.

When you report a neighbourhood issue to us, we will:

• See whether the issue is antisocial behaviour and then prioritise it depending on its nature and its impact.
• Where appropriate, connect you to community legal centres and provide a subsidy so you can access specialist neighbour mediation services.
• Ask you for as much detail as possible which will include asking you to record incident diaries or police and council report numbers.
• Investigate the allegations/issues impartially, seek evidence and speak to all parties involved.
• Make sure that you are kept updated as much as possible. Due to privacy and confidentiality requirements, there may be details or updates we cannot share during the investigation.
• Work with external agencies to resolve issues, including council, service providers, supports and the police.

As your landlord the ways in which we can help are limited if:

• The issue is not a breach the Residential Tenancies ACT (WA) 1987.
• The issue is a police or council matter.
• The people involved are not Housing Choices WA tenants.
• There is insufficient evidence of antisocial behaviour.
• All parties are at fault or there is evidence of retaliation.

If the antisocial behaviour is substantiated and continues despite our attempts to resolve it, we may take action under the Residential Tenancies Act (WA) 1987.