How do we get someone to clean up his yard?

Ranger (call Canberra Connect 132281) needs to come out and inspect, and deem the block a “dirty block”. This means the neighbour gets issued with a demand to clean it up by a certain date. If not done, it gets cleaned up for them and they get the bill.

This happened to our neighbour at our last house, in Dunlop (in Counihan Court – Google Map it – you’ll see it from space!). Guy had a hanger sized garage, and carport the length of the house, and still couldn’t keep the yard tidy… of course, he got drunk and came and abused all the neighbours, threatening to burn our houses down – so I was very glad to be moving out shortly thereafter… Funniest thing is – he was a landscaper by trade…

There is always this house in Waramanga, which is apparently invincible when it comes to the nearby residents filing complaining with ACTPLA.
Its been ‘a work in progress’ for maybe five years now.

Molotov cocktail in the dead of night!

Slightly off topic, but while the state of the grass at this property doesn’t look too bad in this Google Maps shot, you can see the extent of the rubbish piled up in the backyard.

http://tinyurl.com/2bvb7bc

I find this place pretty suspicious too (although not enough to report it as a possible meth lab) as the front blinds and outside sun-shades are always down and the front door is completely inaccessible, due to piles of rotting boxes.

Make the complaint through the Canberra Connect website, then you can clearly document what your problem is so that they can forward it to the relevant agency. This will give you a formal reference number that allows you to follow up your complaint and they will normally respond to you by emailing what action is or will be taken.

I feel for you. I’m next door to an okay bloke but the long grass (also over a metre long)and the junk is horrible. If you aren’t going to use a camper van the entire time you own it, why leave it sitting in your front yard for five going on six years? Sell it for scrap and buy more bottles of beer to throw at your stupid arse dogs!! ARRRGGGHH YOU STUPID BOGAN!

Okay, calm now. I try to put up with my neighbour as he hasn’t stolen anything from us, doesn’t host loud parties and is polite when we talk to him. So I try to look at the positives even though I could write a book about all the crap I’ve seen/heard him do. I have no solution, but I wanted you to know, you’re not alone. I have contacted public housing in regards to my neighbour suggesting they do a house inspection, do you have that option?

carnardly said :

Have you asked him to? You could try starting a friendly chat saying you’ve seen mice and you’re worried about snakes blah blah. He might think his junk in his yard doesn’t affect anyone else. Of course it does, but he could be totally oblivious. At least give him the choice before you drop building regs on him.

The difficulty with taking this approach is if the neighbour refuses to clean up and you then call the relevant authorities, they know who did it – having a dispute with your neighbours is a bitch.

Call the scrap metal places and say you have an old truck and a bunch of random crap they can have for free if they pick it up.

fire bomb it

Have you asked him to? You could try starting a friendly chat saying you’ve seen mice and you’re worried about snakes blah blah. He might think his junk in his yard doesn’t affect anyone else. Of course it does, but he could be totally oblivious. At least give him the choice before you drop building regs on him.

ACTPLA have a form for this:
http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/3009/ca_order.pdf

Not sure exactly what (if anything) will be done once said form is submitted, but if it fails you can always call Today/Tonight.

http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/topics/design_build/regulation/control_orders

A friend of mine had a neighbour similar to yours with a grass problem; one day when he had some firies around, he got them to take a squiz at his neighbours yard. They took one look and declared it a fire hazard: the neighbour was given notice to clean it up.

Send in a photo and we can go from there, link him to google maps, get them on satallite photoes and maybe a blog or two. Then there might be some action.

You need to approach ACTPLA.

It is a breach of his lease conditions to not keep his property in a reasonable state.