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Animals

Pitbull We recognise that keeping a pet can offer pleasure, friendship, security and support to many of our customers, but sometimes they can cause a problem in our communities.

What is animal-related anti social behaviour?

Animal-related anti social behaviour is when a pet is allowed to make life very difficult for people living in that area. Some examples of this can include:

Noise nuisance caused by excessive barking.
Dogs being used to deliberately harass or intimidate people.
Dogs being used as accessories to criminal activity.
Dogs being deliberately set on or fighting each other or other animals.
Dogs causing damage to property or fouling paths and lawns.

What laws cover this type of anti social behaviour?

There are a number of laws in place that govern animals and anti social behaviour:

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

This Act bans the breeding and sale or exchange of four kinds of dog - Pit Bull Terriers, Japanese Tosas, the Dogo Argentinos, and the Fila Brasileiros. Under the Act, The police have the power to seize a dog which they believe is one of these unlawful types and at Court the burden of proof is on the owner to prove that it is not unlawful or that there is good reason why the dog was not registered.

Section 3 of this Act applies to every single dog in England and Wales, no matter whether it is a pure bred dog, cross or a mongrel and regardless of its size. Any dog classed as being "dangerously out of control in a public place" can be destroyed. This is defined as being ‘on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person’. The owner can be fined and imprisoned for up to six months.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006

This Act states that any person responsible for an animal has a legal duty to ensure that its needs are met as required by 'good practice'. These include:

The need for a suitable environment
The need for a suitable diet
The need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns
Any need to be housed with or apart from other animals, and
The need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison.

There's also range of offences under this Act which apply to animal fighting. These include:

Causing a fight
Receiving money for admission to a fight
Publicising a fight
Makes or accepts a bet on a fight
Supply, publish or show a recording of a fight

Dog Control Orders

These were introduced by the Clean Neighbourhood Act 2005. Whilst the orders themselves do not deal specifically with dangerous dogs, they can be used to place greater restrictions on where dogs may or may not be taken, and also the level of control an individual must have over their dog.

For example, a council can make an Order to require all dogs to be on a lead or to be put on a lead on all public highways and footpaths. Anyone contravening a DCO faces a fixed penalty.

What can I do about it?

If you are concerned about noise or other nuisance caused by animals, your first step should be to talk to the person responsible for the animal and explain the problem. They may not be aware that their dog barks as soon as its owners leave their home, or that it’s not cleaned up after if it’s walked by a different family member.

If this approach does not succeed there are other things you can do:

Download our incident diary and keep an accurate record of the anti social behaviour.

The RSPCA is a useful partner in dealing with animal-related problems. It can advise on the animal's wellbeing and whether its accommodation is suitable. Your local authority may also have an Animal Welfare Officer.

Environmental Health Officers can issue fixed penalty notices (FPN) and noise abatement notices to stop a noise that is causing a statutory nuisance.

What can the police do?

We work closely with the police and local authorities to help enforce these laws. Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams can look into dog-related nuisance and respond to complaints.

Dog owners who allow their pets to regularly engage in anti social behaviour should be aware that they face fixed penalty notices for certain dog control offences such as:

Not cleaning up after their dog
Not putting their dog on a lead when asked to do so by an authorised police officer
Allowing their dog to enter a dog exclusion zone
They may also have to sign an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement (ABA), which is designed to address the problems their dog ownership is causing in your area. If the behaviour continues we can start legal proceedings to issue an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) or take injunction action.
Their dogs may be seized by the police if it continually causes distress and annoyance.

What can Flagship do to help?

If pet owners continue to act irresponsibly and animal-related anti social behaviour continues, we have the powers to take action against those who allow their pets to breach their tenancy agreement by causing nuisance to neighbours.

We can:

Work with Statutory and Voluntary Agencies to address the situation.
As last resort enforcement of the Tenancy Conditions.

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Last updated: 03 August 2010