Can't sell house due to crazy neighbour

Lit_Up

I've had several viewings, including one person who came three times, so I thought she was really interested. However they all declined to put in an offer. They all said that the problem was that they did not want to live next door to the neighbour. She's not noisy or malicious but is an obsessive hoarder. She piles up black blacks of things (rubbish?) outside her property and it makes the place look like a tip, disgusting and unkempt. You can even see the crap she creates in her garden from the windows of my house.

What can I do about this? I doubt the council will get involved. It is making me feel desperate and I don't know how to sell the house anymore. Of course I've spoken to the neighbour but she won't change her habits. She got like this after her husband died suddenly. I'm not a social worker and I don't even live in the house (buy to let) so I can't get her to fix it up before people come round. It is out of my hands to fix, I think... advice appreciated

ognum

Try Enviromental Health!

Yorkie1

Vermin is a problem that EH will be interested in ...

SuzieSue

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Vermin is a problem that EH will be interested in ...

Yes, that rat you saw when you were there the other day......

tim123456789

Lit_Up wrote: »

I've had several viewings, including one person who came three times, so I thought she was really interested. However they all declined to put in an offer. They all said that the problem was that they did not want to live next door to the neighbour. She's not noisy or malicious but is an obsessive hoarder. She piles up black blacks of things (rubbish?) outside her property and it makes the place look like a tip, disgusting and unkempt. You can even see the crap she creates in her garden from the windows of my house.

What can I do about this? I doubt the council will get involved.

They will if she's using her garden(s) as a tip

HTH

tim

sandsni

You might actually be doing the neighbour a favour by contacting Environmental Health. It sounds like the poor woman has mental health issues and if EH take a look then someone, somewhere might suggest getting the woman some help from healthcare professionals. If she's hoarding to that extent it won't be doing her own health any good.

mrsbmartin

From what little I understand of it...it needs to be extreme and prolonged rubbish/overgrowth etc outside the building before the council will clear the rubbish and bill the owner (which can take years). However, if you say that you have tried to involve EH, attempted to reason with her etc then the council will usually send out letters, possibly send someone in person, to request that the rubbish is cleared.

The best thing to do would be to contact and involve EA, Council etc.

If it was my property I would go around and remove the rubbish from the outside of the building myself on a periodical basis (daily/weekly etc).

Tixy

Is it the back garden of her property? you say you can see it from inside your house? in the short term could you put up some screening or a higher fence that would make it less obvious to potential buyers?

Aside from that I would certainly contact EH and the council and ask them to look in to it.
Do you think she is an owner occupier or might she also rent? If she rents then I would also consider contacting her landlord.

ruggedtoast

If shes hoarding it she probably doesnt want it removed, and you cant just go taking stuff from other peoples property because you dont like the look of it.

My friends bought a probate sale house that had been occupied by someone like this who had died. The neighbours practically had a street party. The place was filthy and before it had been cleared for viewings had been rat infested.

aliama

I agree removing the rubbish yourself without the permission of the neighbour is not appropriate; aside from the fact that it's basically theft, it will probably be extremely distressing to the neighbour and could be counterproductive. Agree contacting the council (possibly Social Services as well?) is the way to go.

There's a hoarding thread in the OS forum where you may be able to get some advice and I stumbled across an excellent hoarding forum while looking for advice on cleaning techniques, where again you may be able to find advice or possibly some understanding of the condition.

http://takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/index.cgi

Lit_Up

Council says they're not interested and will not get involved. I said I saw rats. They told me to put down bait and traps...