Elderly neighbour in dilapidated/dangerous house

skintbuthappy81

I know several people have already suggested it but you need to contact Social Services as they will be able to deal with the issues and offer him help.
Being a council property there must be conditions in his tenancy in order to keep the property in a certain condition, so I would inform them and also tell them about the hazards.
The Police can be informed but all they can do is make a visit and submit a form which will then be forwarded to Social Services, so it is much quicker contacting SS yourself. Let us know how you get on.

skintbuthappy81

arunadasi wrote: »

Your local fire brigade would also be interested. There's obviously a fire hazard. Imagine if something happened and you hadn't alerted anyone - how wguilty you'd feel then!

Great idea. The fire service would make a 'welfare visit' and offer him advice on keeping his property free from hazards, they also check/install all smoke alarms aswell.

margaretclare

Reading post # 1 I was interested in the 'religious' argument against neutering feral cats. When I worked in Saudi 20 years ago we all used to feed the feral cats that were around. Some of the girls used to bring uneaten patients' food from the wards for them. They were pitiful to see. One day I spoke to one of the Saudis and suggested it would be a good idea if the whole lot were to be caught and neutered - I've heard of this being done around hospitals in England where there was a colony of feral cats living in the grounds. There were vets and farriers not far away because there were horses....He was shocked. 'It is God's will' he insisted. 'They must do what God intends them to do'. And that was that.

iieee

Thanks again for the responses. I suppose really I would like to be able to help him but do so in a respectful way, that doesn't make him feel like we all see him as a menace and want rid. Sending the police or fire brigade round doesn't really appeal TBH. I mean, the firemen can tell him that leaving his oven hob on is dangerous, but they can't provide alternative heating, so I'm sure he would just ignore them and carry on.

Last time I was in his house was a year or two ago I think, the entire hallway was full up with litter trays, so although it didn't smell great he wasn't just letting the cats go on the floor, so they're not entirely living in filth. And yes we are often reminded of Mr Trebus! I seem to remember him being not very impressed by moving into the home though?

Skintbuthappy it's not a council house, he owns it outright himself, so no go there. The grant was just some sort of crisis thing for the elderly which anyone can apply for. I think we will speak to Age Concern first and see what they suggest.

iieee

margaretclare wrote: »

Reading post # 1 I was interested in the 'religious' argument against neutering feral cats. When I worked in Saudi 20 years ago we all used to feed the feral cats that were around. Some of the girls used to bring uneaten patients' food from the wards for them. They were pitiful to see. One day I spoke to one of the Saudis and suggested it would be a good idea if the whole lot were to be caught and neutered - I've heard of this being done around hospitals in England where there was a colony of feral cats living in the grounds. There were vets and farriers not far away because there were horses....He was shocked. 'It is God's will' he insisted. 'They must do what God intends them to do'. And that was that.

It was while working in Saudi that he converted! I'll put you in touch with him if you like, he could quite happily talk for hours on the subject if you give him half a chance... it was funny the first time we went round there after moving here. Despite being in a very advanced state of dementia and spending much of our visit singing 'Michael Finnegan', his wife did find the time to tell him 'YOU'RE VERY BORING!' once he'd got into detail about some of the finer points of his religious beliefs.

getting-sorted-sarah

MaximumImpact wrote: »

he does have an awful lot of rights thanks to the beanbag brigade who have caused as many problems as they have solved.

I'm really glad that I have the legal right to not have Social Services come storming into my home just because one of my neighbours doesn't like the way I'm living, and if that makes me one of the beanbag brigade, I'm proud to be so!

However, OP, you have genuine concerns and I hope your local Age Concern will be helpful - that would be my advice too. I am an Information and Advice Manager at Age Concern - if your local one isn't able to offer you advice PM me and I'll give you my office number.

margaretclare

iieee wrote: »

It was while working in Saudi that he converted! I'll put you in touch with him if you like, he could quite happily talk for hours on the subject if you give him half a chance... it was funny the first time we went round there after moving here. Despite being in a very advanced state of dementia and spending much of our visit singing 'Michael Finnegan', his wife did find the time to tell him 'YOU'RE VERY BORING!' once he'd got into detail about some of the finer points of his religious beliefs.

Oh good Lord, no. No, no, no! Thanks, but no thanks. I had enough of them in the fairly short time I worked there.

In fact, it was a great 'feather in their cap' if they managed to convert one of us. Not my cup of tea at all, but this is what happened when I was taken ill and admitted to the cardiology ward of the hospital where I worked. I was a long way from home, had no visitors apart from my colleagues, and 2 of the young doctors from my ward took to popping in. I thought nothing of it, thought they were just being kind. They brought me leaflets and booklets to read, which I read because there was nowt else to read, once I started to feel a little bit better. I had already been ticked off for saying the Lord's Prayer when I was in ER (what we call A&E). Anyway, one day one of the young doctors arrived with another bloke with a veil over his head and a book under his arm. This bloke refused my offer of a hand-shake. The young doc launched into this spiel: 'Sister Margaret, we know you've been very ill and you nearly died. You might still die. If you die you'll go to hell because you're a Christian. We think you're very nice and we don't want you to go to hell. But if you become a Muslim that won't happen. All you have to do is say some words after us and you'll be a Muslim and you won't go to hell'. And looked at me expectantly.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was the last thing I was expecting. I was weak, in pain, far from home, and I don't know what gave me the strength to say 'Thanks for the kind thoughts, but no thanks. We Christians don't believe we shall go to hell either. I haven't been a very good Christian but I'll try to do better'. They were obviously very disappointed, thought they'd won a victory there!!

I would never volunteer to join any religion which specified what I had to wear, to eat, when to pray, how to live in great detail. But it was a near thing. It would have been so easy to say 'oh all right', and just say the words, anything for peace. But something inside me said 'no'.

Incidentally, DH has fairly recently had a brush with the Grim Reaper just as I did back then, although maybe his was an even closer brush! And it has strengthened his faith, just as it did for me.

Primrose

Depending on how well you know him, you could possibly drop in and tell him that you've heard on the grapevine that a number of neighbours are considering making a complaint to Social Services/the local Environmental Health Department and RSPCA about the state of his house and the welfare of his animals. Tell him that you're concerned they may well implement actions that he won't like that might result in his animals being rehomed or other intrusions and suggest things he can do to avoid this happening. If he's elderly and living alone, he probably won't want to admit that things have got completely beyond him being able to cope with on his own so you might have to be prepared to offer some physical help to assist him get cleared up. Incidentally we know somebody who had a houseful of books which they used to sell for charity and when they stopped doing this, they phoned Oxfam who came and collected them all so this might be an outlet to help him clear some of them from his house. It's a difficult problem, and yes I do remember Mr. Trebus in The Life of Grime Series. Within reason people have a right for their homes to be their castles, but when this effects of this can affect others, you have to draw a line somewhere. The important thing is for him to feel you're on his side and offering some help to change things might be essential here, and this might need to include the couple who live on his semi-detached side. Have you talked to them?

dirtyflannel

its such a shame that noone seems to want to help this guy are there no societies such as help the aged who could visit and befriend him after all what are these charities all about he may just need some help sorting things out and like people have said bet the cats are better looked after than himself

margaretclare

Reading through this thread, and especially post # 1, it seems that it's not so much a case of 'no one wants to help this guy' as the fact that he has so far resisted all suggestions and attempts to help him.

Charities or not, there is no way to force help on to anybody.

How about someone from his local mosque?