'Living next door to anti-social behaviour has been hell'

For seven years James Daniel has been living next to successive "nightmare neighbours". Despite numerous complaints to various agencies, including his housing association, he said his situation had not improved. It comes as new data from the Housing Ombudsman showed a rise over five years in the number of complaints upheld about social landlords' handling of anti-social behaviour.While Devon and Cornwall Police has increased the number of closure orders placed on residential properties, housing associations report that dealing with anti-social behaviour can be a complex issue and requires working closely with other agencies. Daniel said he had spent years reporting the alleged anti-social behaviour and collecting evidence, including security camera and mobile phone footage, which he passed on to the police, North Devon Homes and now the BBC. The videos he shared with the BBC showed knives being thrown from a window, an altercation outside his house and a neighbour appearing to make gun gestures at his security camera.Other footage showed a previous tenant shouting at Daniel and other residents, as well as throwing bags of rubbish and a dust pan brush."Living next door to anti-social behaviour has been hell to be honest, absolute hell, said Daniel.New data showed the Housing Ombudsman upheld almost four times as many complaints relating to social landlords' handling of anti-social behaviour reports than five years ago.In the 2021-2022 financial year, the ombudsman found failings in 159 incidents compared with 609 in 2025–26.Ric Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman at the time, said there were a number of "consistent reasons" why the maladministration rate - or uphold rate - had increased."It's poor communication, it's poor record keeping, it's not using the tools that landlords should use - such as doing a risk assessment or producing an action plan - and that is a consistent reason that we would uphold a case," he explained."Where we don't uphold it though, I think you see the kind of opposite of that."Easier access to the ombudsman service and greater awareness of housing rights were among the drivers Blakeway believed had led to a rise in casework.Blakeway said his teams had seen cases where residents had been making themselves "in effect homeless" by sleeping in cars to escape the anti-social behaviour.In West Cornwall, neighbours said closure orders on two properties in the same street had been effective. Melanie, whose surname we are not using, said residents had been "living in fear" before one neighbour, who was accused of waving a sword, was removed. "You shouldn't have to live like that these days," she said.At another property, PC James Tompson said officers spent weeks gathering evidence of drug use, fighting and anti-social behaviour linked to the address.In April, Daniel's neighbour was convicted of assaulting another resident and a month later was charged with allegedly harassing him.Daniel said victims of anti-social behaviour, particularly in social housing, needed support from agencies in a "more joined up approach"."For me, it's about highlighting the system is broken," he said."All the agencies are involved but actually it seems nobody's talking to each other, and nobody knows what's going on."He said he no longer felt safe at home and that it was becoming "impossible to get any support" for those affected by anti-social behaviour."It's got to the point where actually the house that I love, I don't love anymore," he added.