Neighbours behaving badly: anti-social behaviour, property rights and exclusion in England and Australia

Abstract

This paper describes the repertoires of response to anti-social behaviour in England and Australia and considers the exclusionary implications of an increasingly confiscatory legal regime for tenants of social housing. In doing so it draws on research by the authors3 and suggests a confusion inherent in any attempt to control behaviour through property rights. It questions the likely success of such a response in the private rental market, where issues of antisocial behaviour are now anticipated. Finally, it challenges the construction of anti-social behaviour as a housing issue, suggesting that such a fundamental distortion inevitably results in a flawed response.