9 November 2010

How do we get someone to clean up his yard?

| bellemorte
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Hey everyone,

We have a neighbour who has all sorts of junk in his front yard including an old truck piled with stuff, falling down old timber scaffolding and grass a meter tall. We live near a creek and already have a problem with rats and mice invading no matter what we do to stop it and with 3 small kiddies in our house we are getting concerned with snakes, not to mention if the house ever caught on fire.

We have called Canberra Connect and go zero advice so I am wondering if anyone had had similar problems and can point us in the right direction to get the fire brigade or someone to get this guy to clean up his yard?

Thanks!

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Hey all thanks for the help, we are trying some things suggested.

Just to clarify though, I could care less what the guy wants to store in his yard or the aesthetics of his house but at least keep it tidy. He could paint it with purple and green stripes and put a moat in if he wanted to, but when the guy’s overgrown, trash riddled, dumping ground of a yard starts attracting filthy vermin to his neighbour’s houses something has to be done.

Also, I don’t think its ridiculous to be worried about rats and mice when every summer the creek we all live near has brown snake warnings posted everywhere. I would call that attempting to protect my children from harm or worse.

Forgive me for not wanting to have snakes encouraged into our yard.

Anyway, I will continue with the helpful suggestions posted.

CraigT said :

trix, those “minimal standards” are covered by legislation, while attempting to impose one’s own aesthetic idiosyncracies on one’s neighbours smacks of pure totalitarianiasm.

So he wants to store some crap in his back yard? Why do you believe anyone else should get any say in it? Are we living in Communist Russia?

To be fair, lots of people kept heaps of crap in their yards in Communist Russia.

trix, those “minimal standards” are covered by legislation, while attempting to impose one’s own aesthetic idiosyncracies on one’s neighbours smacks of pure totalitarianiasm.

So he wants to store some crap in his back yard? Why do you believe anyone else should get any say in it? Are we living in Communist Russia?

@CraigT – living in the city means you are living close together and so treating your back yard as a rubbish tip has a much bigger impact on the neighbours than if it’s the back paddock of a 100 acre section. While we may have “different standards”, there are MINIMAL standards that enable cities to exist.

If you would like to apply your “different standards”, then perhaps you should go live out in Ungabunga land where people don’t care (although leave thistle all through your paddocks in NSW and you might get a different story).

Er, maybe:

This is called living in the city: different people have different standards and there’s no reason why you should be able to enforce yours on other people.

Your whining about mice and snakes is ridiculous.

Having said that, this guy in Narrabundah has been ruining the look of Goyder Street for well over a decade:
View Larger Map

i’m no brain surgeon but people who live in their own filth have serious problems between their ears…

GardeningGirl4:58 pm 09 Nov 10

I remember a place at our end of town being in the media after the gubmint had to clean it up, presumably owner was requested to do so first. Disappointed you got no joy from Canberra Connect. Maybe RiotACT should send them a bill for doing their job for them. Hope your situation is sorted soon Bellemorte. Heheh I like the scrap metal suggestion too!

UrbanAdventure.org4:39 pm 09 Nov 10

p1 said :

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.

HA Ha ha ha ha ha! Gold!

I know that some people might be worried about that – but I’m man enough to at least ask the question before dobbing him in. Shove an anonymous letter in his box if you’re that woosy.

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.

Captain RAAF3:09 pm 09 Nov 10

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?

colourful sydney racing identity2:38 pm 09 Nov 10

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.

Inappropriate1:49 pm 09 Nov 10

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.

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