Neighbour Complaint Garden

[chaosqueenParticipant]

You have foxes living in your backyard? Cool. How do the foxes get in? Is there no other access but through your house? With Covid you could always come up with excuses as why you don’t want people to go through the house and could they access in another way, ladder over fence, cut out fence, I don’t know.

What would happen if your neighbour reported the messy garden? You could always check on that and see if you aren’t able to just happily ignore their complaints.

[Rebecca.MayParticipant]

Thanks so much, the foxes have lived un my garden off and on for years under the decking and I’m in a terraced house so they jump the fences including my neighbours. She’s complained off and on about them re noise etc but this year has been them digging up her plants.

That’s a good idea,the only problem is I back onto a brick wall and both neighbours are nor friendly so wouldn’t let me access via their houses I will keep in mind though,as you have said I could say if she is that keen then they will need to access via hers.

I rang environmental health and apparently if your garden is over grown complaints can be looked into.Since I posted I had a thought to ask my son and his friends if they could climb through the window at the back of my house and start to clip some of the garden back and at least if environmental health are called I can say am getting it done and it won’t look as bad.

It’s just brought to mind how hopeless I feel with it all and it just feels totally overwhelming where to begin.Im so glad I have joined here and am going to look at others posts for encouragement.

Thank you so much for your post and reply,its meant a lot, Its lovely to talk without judgement and have support.

Thanks again and have a lovely evening.I will update when I know more and what happens x

 

[chaosqueenParticipant]

Good idea to get your son involved. Also always a good idea to start working in the spot the complaints are about. I don’t know how it is in the UK, but where I live once authorities are involved it is hard to get rid of them and not be subject to more checks.

The way I work with my kids is to tell them I need help, that this is a team effort and then I offer them 2 jobs. In your case it would be would you rather eg cut back trees or mow the lawn?
This way they feel like they have a choice and a say in the matter which especially with boys and Mom’s can be an important thing. I have a child almost on the spectrum and it helps to give very specific instructions and a detailed plan. Like mow the lawn, collect the cuttings, discard of them here and put the lawnmower back. Or cut off all the branches lower than 5 feet. I also tell my kids when I want the job done. One of mine really needs that.
I once saw a coffee mug that said:”If a man says he’ll fix it, he will. No need to remind him about it every 3 months” So. Yes. Give a time. Now. Before dinner, by next Saturday. Doesn’t matter what ever works for you. Just make it clear by what tie you need the job done.

Depending on age and on how much needs to be done I also ask my kids:”What would you like to do.” Yesterday one of them came up with scrubbing the bathroom sinks, which was on my list of things to do but I had not considered delegating it.

And remember. Split it up in smaller jobs and focus on them one by one. Less daunting!

[Rebecca.MayParticipant]

Thanks so much for your advice,that’s a great idea.I am going to give my son and his friends a plan and as you say ask them to tackle the bit where the complaints are coming from first.

It sounds like you have a great system with your children and I agree it’s good to get them involved and ask them about it.

Thanks so much for your advice and support.   Have a lovely evening.Ps am in the UK

 

[OddsocksParticipant]

Foxes arent a public health problem. Rats are, but you dont mention them. I dont think environmental health will take action for an untidy garden * see below*

Its important to have a lock on the back door. Risk of burglarly, and your insurance wouldnt pay out.

When I have a tradesperson coming, just for that day I squash stuff into rooms/areas they wont need to go into. Sometimes that involves putting things outside (in plastic  boxes with lid). *only for that day!*

Easier said than done, it doesnt matter what they think.

Here is some info from a Council’s environmental health website
Neighbourhood nuisance

In the majority of cases, while the gardens may look untidy or unsightly, the council do not have any powers to require these overgrown gardens to be tidied.  There is no standard that gardens need to meet and indeed one person’s untidy garden can be another’s nature reserve.

If vegetation from overgrown gardens is encroaching over the property boundary it can be cut off by the affected property owner to the boundary line, and passed back to the overgrown side. If vegetation is encroaching onto the pavement please report this to the council.

Environmental Health may be able to take action if an overgrown garden is providing harbourage for pests such as rats or mice, or if it is having a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality.  This may involve vegetation clearance. Please note that foxes are not considered a pest. Residents are asked to make sure that their gardens do not provide potential harbourage for pests.’ 

I dont know how they define ‘having a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’ but your garden is not impacting the quality of life for other people. I would not expect that neighbours only impacted by the view would count (since foxes arent a reason).

Url http://www.sutton.gov.uk/info/200454/environmental_health/1390/neighbourhood_nuisance/4

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• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Oddsocks.

[AClutterbugParticipant]

Hi Rebecca,

Just wondered if you know that near to you is the original hoarding support group in the UK, run by Satwant Singh. I went to see him once to speak to him about my issues, as I couldn’t make the weekly support group sessions. I was delighted to read that there was such a group, as at the time (& not very long ago) it just didn’t seem to be recognised/being supported. He seems to have been a real pioneer.

It seems, from this site, that they are not running in person due to covid, but it does give his email address, so I was wondering if he may still be able to support/advise & perhaps they have some remote version running. & could be of use perhaps once they restart.

All the Best,

A

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by AClutterbug. Reason: Typos

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