Neighbours' ugly wall paint. Is this legal?

crayola

Hi all

I am concerned about the way that some of my neighbours treat their properties, and feel like if certain things don't improve, I'll never sell my home! In particular, there is one resident who has painted very large, unsightly messages on their front garage and on the sides of their walls, ruining the look of the entire street.

The reason they've written the messages is that someone uses the area as a dumping ground, which in itself is a problem. However I see this is a lesser problem as the council are generally very good about removing fly tips and all it usually takes is one polite phonecall to get this seen to. I can totally understand how frustrating it must be to have to do that on a regular basis, but I do not feel it justifies ruining the look of an area on a far more permanent basis by essentially using graffiti to issue warnings (I should add that the words are badly mis-spelled, which somehow makes it all the more ugly and embarrassing!)

I would really like to report this resident to the council, but have no idea if I'll get anywhere seeing as it is (hopefully!!) their property they have wilfully defaced. I know that other residents are extremely unhappy about what has been done and would like it removed. I'm sad to say I don't live in a conservation area and that there are probably more pressing concerns above this one, but it really affects me and several others.

Is there ANYTHING we can do?

BitterAndTwisted

This is a joke, isn't it? Whatever happened to "an Englishman's home is his castle"?

If you think this mis-spelled notice is unsightly why don't you have a chat with the neighbour about it and see if you can come to some sort of compromise, even if you have to pay half of the cost?

Credit_Jake

Have you spoken to them? They may feel as though they've done everyone a favour and instead have upset a lot of people.

crayola

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

This is a joke, isn't it? Whatever happened to "an Englishman's home is his castle"?

I'm afraid not - now I know that a lot of things are a matter of taste and that we all have to put up with what some people consider attractive in terms of garden features and so on...but this is really, REALLY huge lettering - I'm not just talking little notices, I'm talking huge graffiti-style daubings that go halfway up the house.

As for the cost of removing it, that would likely be a far smaller issue than the problems it could cause if the perpetrators took offence at our suggestion, which I suspect they most probably would. This is why I'd rather not be personally involved in the removal!

But if it is just a case of 'it's your house to do what you want with' I'll obviously butt out.

crayola

Credit_Jake wrote: »

Have you spoken to them? They may feel as though they've done everyone a favour and instead have upset a lot of people.

*nod* you are most probably right and I think they do need some help dealing with what is clearly a very frustrating problem for them. But I am honestly scared to put myself in that position. It's possible one of the other neighbours who's braver than me might do it but tbh I was hoping we could get them on a legal point and not have to deal directly. Last thing I want is bad local relations as well as this!

Credit_Jake

If you have spoken with them you could make an official complaint to your local authority.

Found this not to sure if it is applicable.

Sections 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52 of the Anti-social Behaviour
Act 2003 (‘the Act’) (as amended by section 31 of, and
paragraphs 16–19 of Schedule 4 to, the Clean Neighbourhoods
and Environment Act 2005) enable a local authority to serve a
‘defacement removal notice’ on the owners, occupiers, operators
(such as telecommunication companies and outdoor advertising
companies) of ‘relevant surfaces’ (including street furniture),
statutory undertakers and educational institutions whose
property is defaced with graffiti and / or fly-posting.

crayola

Thanks, that might be well worth quoting in a letter.

To me, this does look no different from graffiti. But I was unsure if it could count when we have to assume the perpetrators own the property.

diable

In big letters and an arrow pointing to your neighbours house just write "BROTHEL" somewhere ;o))))

Brb

diable wrote: »

In big letters and an arrow pointing to your neighbours house just write "BROTHEL" somewhere ;o))))

Made me really LOL (then got quizzed as to why, hmmm not telling 11 yo).

OP, not sure of legalities but your council would be first port of call I would think.

Although I'd be tempted (if I had the money) to ask if they'd like cctv installing and whitewash over the wall ? I think it would appeal to their desire for the fly tipping to stop (and could actually prove to be a deterrent to fly-tippers) and white wash to obviously get rid of graffiti. I would point out (nicely) that if the area was nice then fly tippers would hopefully drive onto another area. Telling ppl not what to do generally leads to them doing it more, human nature unfortunately.

BitterAndTwisted

Oh honestly, I really don't think it would be that hard to talk to the neighbour. Someone just needs to politely point out that as the spelling isn't right and the letters aren't very regular it might be easy for people to either not understand the writing or ignore it altogether.

A nice whitewashed wall with smaller, properly executed writing and all could be well. Not all things in life can be resolved by relying on the law or getting the local authority to do our dirty work for us: sometimes we need to do stuff for ourselves, especially when it's for our own benefit.

Credit-Jake's quote from the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 refers to graffiti and fly-posting. I don't think this particular instance is either.

Catatonia

crayola wrote: »

I was hoping we could get them on a legal point and not have to deal directly. Last thing I want is bad local relations as well as this!

I would have thought that going down a legal route would be much, much worse for relations than a friendly word.