New mediation service for conflicting neighbours
On 7 February 2011, the City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam housing corporations and the Amsterdam-Amstelland regional police force signed a covenant entitled Beter Buren (Better Neighbours). The aim of the agreement is to realise free mediation services in neighbourhoods in the city.
Agreements
Disagreements between neighbours have topped the list of nuisances in the city for a number of years. More than 12,500 incidents of conflicts between neighbours were reported to the police in 2010 alone.
There’s no avoiding the fact that Amsterdam is heavily populated and that can lead to nerves being frayed every now and again. For example, one Amsterdammer may think he has chosen a perfectly reasonable time of day or night to drill a hole in the wall, while their neighbour is positively fuming due to the disturbance. And if you fancy playing some music nice and loud, your neighbour might not be in the mood for a party.
The majority of problems can usually be solved by simply civilly discussing the issues at hand and coming to agreements that both parties consider reasonable.
Mediation between neighbours
However, unfortunately such agreements aren’t always easy to reach. If this is the case, the neighbour mediation service might be able to help. Mediators are trained volunteers that can help to break down barriers between neighbours, facilitate discussion and reach solutions. The service is free but all parties are expected to become actively involved in the process.
For more information, check out the English documentation on the Beter Buren website.
Nuisance neighbours
The number of reported incidents of conflicts between neighbours and nuisance caused by neighbours thankfully dropped in 2010 when compared to figures from 2009 and 2008. However, nuisance neighbours are still a common occurrence in some neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. The most common problems are drugs related (using and selling drugs on the property) and noise nuisance.
To help tackle the problem, the City of Amsterdam are working with the police and the Eigen Haard housing corporation on a one year trial which involves screening new tenants planning to move into the Dichtersbuurt in the Nieuw-West District of Amsterdam.
Tenants with a history of drugs will not be accepted and will be offered alternative accommodation within three months. Potential tenants have the option to refuse to participate in the screening, but this means that no further action will be taken with their application.
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