Dirty Neighbours, House in extreme disrepair

boomerangjones

Hello everyone, I'm new to this so I'm a MSE forum virgin but would appreciate any advice or guidance available.

I bought my current house about 18 months ago after searching for something I both liked and could afford for quite a few years. I was previously a council tenant in a fairly rough area and had neighbours from hell, so I was over the moon when I got this house, a 1930' semi.

My problem stems from my next door neighbour, not the one who's joined on but the one on the other side.

The neighbour is an 85 year old woman who lives with her daughter (late 40's early 50's) and their house is in an extreme state of disrepair. I knew this when I bought my house and in fact I had even previously checked the land registry to establish if the neighbours house was an abandoned property to see if the owners wanted to sell because the street itself is lovely.

Anyway back to the point, although I was aware of the fact that next door was scruffy and very badly neglected, what I wasn't aware of at the time was that a group of pigeons had gotten access to their loft space through the missing fascia above the front upstairs bay window because there were no signs of pigeon occupation when I viewed my property and if they were in residence at the time the vendors of my property (who live across the road) had cleaned up the poop.

The place where the pigeons are getting in to next doors roof is at the side of the bay window and this side faces my property. As a result the pigeons perch on any available point on my house, including the satellite dish, the old alarm box and most annoyingly on the bend of the gutter downpipe right outside my bedroom window and on the roof of the bay window on my bedroom itself.

Due to their constant presence, the pigeons are defacating from their perching points which results in large piles of poo either side of my front door and which repeatedly blocks my guttering and even the downpipe.

I have had to have someone out to clear the guttering and pipes twice since I moved in and both times the man who did it confirmed that the gutters and the downpipe were full of compacted pigeon faeces. There have also been some slates dislodged from the roof by the pigeons and the overflowing gutters and blocked pipes have caused rainwater to flow over the side of the guttering down the front wall of my house, causing dampness in the living room.
On the most recent occasion when having the gutters cleared, the fella doing it had to take off the guttering at the front and replace the brackets which held it on as the weight of the pigeon poop blocking it had caused it to sag and dislodged the brackets.

In addition to this the smell from the pigeon poop is terrible and although I do my best to keep clearing it up, I can't do it every day and I have actually slipped in it a couple of times when going out to put rubbish in the wheelie bin.

I have been in contact with the local authority as they are also the local planning authority with the relevant power to enforce the Town and Country Planning Act.

Initially someone from environmental health attended and they took photographs of the house next door and of the piles of pigeon droppings, but the matter was passed onto the planning enforcement department as they felt the issue was better dealt with as next door being "adverse to the amenity of the neighbourhood" under section 215 of the TCP Act.

The neighbours house also has never had the original 1930's wooden guttering replaced so since it rotted away there is no guttering whatsoever on their property.

The downpipe from the bathroom waste came away in strong winds and is now lying in the back garden so as a consequence all their water from the bathroom runs straight down the back wall of their house.

There are several loose slates hanging from the roof on the side elevation of the house, one of which came off in recent winds and hit me as I was putting stuff in the garden waste wheelie bin a few weeks ago.

Thankfully the slate only hit my hand as I lifted the bin lid up and when it did hit me, the flat surface of the slate hit and the slate them hit the ground and broke.

The front upstairs bay window is a picture window, single glazed which is broken from top to bottom and as there are no sills on any of the windows, there is nothing other than luck holding the glass in place.

Up until recently the back garden had been a veritable jungle of trees including a 30ft + dead willow tree which blew over, snapping the trunk and completely obliterating my back garden and fence.

Although they refused to even acknowledge the fallen tree, after persisting with attempts to contact them and their defiance that they tree was not their problem, they did eventually have the tree removed after I threatened to pursue the matter in the civil courts but have made no attempts to repair or replace my fence.

Although I feel that if they want to live in such disgusting conditions then that is their choice I am somewhat aggrieved by the fact that due to the pigeons having access to their loft and perching on my house whilst waiting their turn to get in, I am plagued by a constant stench of pigeon droppings and suffering damage to my property as a result of their presence, not to mention lack of sleep from the ruddy things constantly shouting "bucket of coo" whilst they are on my roof or on the pipes outside my bedroom window.

I have heard that I may have grounds for bringing a case of Private Nuisance against my neighbours for "keeping or allowing to be kept, anything on their land or property which if it escapes can foreseeably be expected to cause damage or loss to their neighbour"

Has anyone had any similar or related experiences to this or does anyone know if I would genuinely have a case?

As I previously said, it's their choice to live in those conditions and all I really want them to do is to block up the hole so that the pigeons can't access their loft and will eventually go somewhere else. (This is what I was advised by a pest control company who's only other solution, seeing as they couldn't realistically shoot the pigeons due to being unable to fire the pellets and guarantee them to land on my property, was to install spikes to the edges and netting to my entire roof which I can no way afford to do!)

The local authority have written to the neighbour stating that they are in contravention of the TCP Act and threatening to prosecute them, but the neighbour has made out that she is a vulnerable and frightened old lady living in fear of her daughter who lives with her.

Incidentally, she appears to be neither since she has a habit of calling me names if I step outside the door, calling me a tramp, saying that my cat is a fleabag and should be put down and also used to throw used tissues, teabags, stale bread and tea/coffee slops over my fence until I wrote to her insisting it stopped. (I would have asked her in person only she refuses to answer the door to anyone, even the tree surgeons she engaged to remove the tree) but she always comes out and makes a nasty comment to anyone visiting my house be it friends, family, workmen or even someone just passing in the street who might stop to chat.

The local authority have said that they might be reluctant to prosecute her because of her age, and that I should consider taking private action against her hence my enquiry here.

Right, my fingers are almost ready to fall off, so I'll wait patiently for any responses.

Thanks everyone!:o

BitterAndTwisted

I've got the gist but I cannot discern whether there are any questions in your post which require an answer. What is it exactly that you're asking for advice about? I would suggest that you consult a pest-control expert and seek their advice about how to protect your own property from the vermin.

DVardysShadow

You have got off on the wrong foot with her and I doubt you can recover it. But it strikes me that economically, she is not in a position, probably, to do any of the things which so obviously need doing. The council have probably twigged that taking her to court will actually deprive her even more of the means to do anything which needs doing. Your best hope is to wait for her demise, but you need to understand the daughter's position - more difficult now you are at loggerheads.

Procrastinator333

Buy a high powered air rifle and get to work.

VfM4meplse

DVardysShadow wrote: »

but you need to understand the daughter's position - more difficult now you are at loggerheads.

I'm not sure that I understand the daughter's position? Is she hostile like her mother? Or dependent on her? Or at risk of being accused of neglecting her mother?

Unfortunately, short of an ASBO (unlikely to be respected), I don't think there's anything much that can be done about your neighbour. You may have seen this programme late last year - the council put up a fight and the resident won. He could only be brought around to a certain degree by neighbourhood co-operation.

nonnatus

I think you can get rolls of sticky tape with nails/spikes attached that you can lay wherever the pigeons settle now to prevent them from getting comfortable. Shouldn't be too difficult to do.

As to your war of words, it depends how happy you are with the house and the rest of the neighbourhood. Life's too short for all this hassle so you could buy a big bunch of flowers and send it / take it round with lots of apologies (regardless if it was your fault or not) and ask to start again as neighbours. If that doesn't work at least you'll know in your heart it wasn't for lack of trying .

Honestly, tactics like this DO work and it's not about "giving in". It confuses the opponent and makes them reconsider their own behaviour. (I've done it successfully following similar advice and I didn't believe it would work either but it really did!)

Good luck and keep us posted, I'm very interested in this one!

Emmzi

pigeon paint, and court for the fence if the cost of repair is higher than court fees.... I bet this oman doesn't have a bean to her name

ViolaLass

I've got a thing in my house that apparently makes a sound that rats don't like so they stay away. Might you be able to get something similar for pigeons and put it by your bedroom window?

jamie11

Flying rats, treat them as you would the earth bound ones, poison them

Emmzi

http://www.discountedpetproducts.net/97010_BIRD_REPELL_CAULK_10OZ-UKP116533.html
http://www.pigeonstop.co.uk/

GAH

First things first, sounds as though you need to build some bridges with your neighbour, however mad/horrible they are.

Dealing with the council and getting results can be a timely exercise, especially in this case where they probably won't be too harsh on an 85 year old lady who sounds as though she has no money.

In regards to the pigeon problem, if it was bothering me that much, I would pay for some form of pest control to make sure that no pigeons had nested up in the space, then pay for the neighbours fascia to be replaced and anything else to be done such as cleaning to make sure you don't have the pigeons back.

I'd also do the same with your other problems such as the fence, you may just have to pay it yourself.

My sister had a similar problem with her neighbour last year, had a leak into their house, neighbour was a bit old and mad, and wouldn't get it fixed, so my sister told her she would pay it and a plumber would be right next week to fix it. She didn't argue with that.