New “Respect Orders”: the key to ending anti-social behaviour?

The Government has announced new Respect Orders to clamp down on repeat anti-social behaviour offenders. The orders will allow the police and local councils to impose tougher restrictions, such as banning individuals from town centres and public places where they have caused harm.

Offenders can also be required to address the root causes of their behaviour through rehabilitation programmes, such as drug or alcohol treatment or anger management.

Breaching a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, with punishments including:

· arrest

· prison sentences of up to two years

· unlimited fines

· community orders like unpaid work and curfews.

Respect Orders will partly replace Civil Injunctions for adults and will be piloted before a national rollout.

The police will also gain stronger powers to tackle nuisance vehicles. They will no longer need to issue a warning before seizing off-road bikes, e-scooters, and other vehicles used anti-socially, helping them respond swiftly to problems like illegal street racing and dangerous riding in public areas. These measures form part of the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill and complement the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which aims to increase visible police presence in communities.

How this impacts social housing landlords

The introduction of Respect Orders does not give social housing landlords new powers directly, but it does strengthen the wider enforcement framework relied on to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in your properties.

Landlords will likely welcome these changes as a way to address persistent ASB that affects both their tenants and the wider neighbourhood, particularly where current housing law powers fall short.

Social landlords, who often struggle to tackle ASB that spills beyond their properties, will benefit from stronger partnership working with the police and councils.

By reporting incidents and sharing evidence with your local police and council ASB teams, you can play a key role in helping to secure Respect Orders against problematic individuals, even when the behaviour occurs outside the tenancy itself.

Faster action against persistent offenders

Housing powers, such as possession proceedings or injunctions, can be slow to implement and are not always appropriate for tenants whose behaviour causes distress to others but falls short of serious tenancy breaches.

Respect Orders offer an alternative route for dealing with these individuals, allowing the police and councils to impose swift restrictions and rehabilitation requirements.

For you, this provides a quicker and more proportionate response to persistent ASB, reducing the need to pursue costly and time-consuming eviction proceedings in every case.

Supporting, not replacing, existing tenancy enforcement

Respect Orders are designed to complement, not replace, existing housing powers. You will still need to rely on tenancy agreements and housing legislation – such as the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 and the Housing Acts – to manage behaviour that breaches tenancy conditions.

However, where a tenant’s ASB leads to a Respect Order, this may serve as clear evidence of tenancy breaches, helping you build a stronger case for tenancy enforcement or possession if needed.

Tackling the wider community impact

The strengthened powers to seize vehicles used anti-socially, such as off-road bikes and e-scooters, will also, hopefully, help address nuisance behaviour in and around social housing estates.

This could help reduce some of the common complaints landlords receive, such as noise, intimidation, and property damage caused by unauthorised vehicles.

In turn, this should improve quality of life for other tenants and ease the burden of dealing with repeated complaints.

While landlords themselves will not have the power to apply for a Respect Order, these new measures give them an important role to play in tackling ASB through partnership working.

By reporting issues promptly and providing evidence to support applications for Respect Orders, you can help protect your communities and properties and take a more joined-up approach to tackling persistent anti-social behaviour.

For more information, or tailored guidance on dealing with anti-social behaviour, please get in touch with our experts.