Jargon Buster
Jargon Buster
In serious cases we may end up taking formal or legal action and have a number of tools available to us in order to challenge bad behaviour. Some of the actions we take are often abbreviated and can be quite confusing. Below is a list of those actions and what they mean:
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC) – early intervention tools signed voluntarily by perpetrators as a declaration of intent to change their bad behaviour.
Undertakings – similar to ABCs, the perpetrator signs a written undertaking to change their behaviour.
Formal Tenancy Warnings – these may be done alone or jointly with police to warn perpetrators that further bad behaviour may result in more serious action.
Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBI) - An injunction is a court order that will demand or forbid a person to do something. This may mean for example that someone is not allowed near a certain address or to contact a certain person. An example of the use of an injunction would be to protect somebody from a neighbour who was causing him or her alarm by threats of, or actual violence. The penalty for breaking the terms of an injunction can be a prison sentence, and where there is threat of or actual violence a power of arrest can be attached to the order.
Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) – In Knowsley ASBOs tend to be taken out by the Knowsley Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, usually with the support of KHT and the police. They can be made against anyone who is over ten years of age and are specific to the anti-social behaviour of an individual who regularly acts in a manner that causes distress or alarm to other people. An example of when an ASBO would be applied for is where a leader of a gang was terrorising neighbourhood through acts of violence, intimidation or criminal behaviour.
Possession Order – This order occurs when a judge makes an order that a tenant must leave their home upon the serving of an Eviction Warrant. The tenant does have the option to apply back to court to suspend the warrant prior to eviction. Evictions are very rare indeed and will only be used as a last resort (e.g. out of 13,500 KHT residents, in 2010/11 only 4 were evicted for ASB).
Suspended or Postponed Possession Orders (SPO or PPO) – SPOs/PPOs occur where a judge grants a Possession Order which would normally require the tenant to leave their home, but suspends it on the basis of future good behaviour. The judge will outline clauses similar to an injunction to specify the terms of the order.