Neighbours with sofa in front garden!

phoebe1989seb

Sus59 wrote: »

I have always been puzzled about those outdoor sofas. Surely they must be a nightmare to look after? Picturing myself rushing outside to remove the cushions at the slightest hint of rain. Or leave the cushions indoors until you need to go out and sit on them which would make it look weird when not in use.

We have a Gloster set (not a sofa, but table plus dining armchairs) in our rear garden and the fabric of the 'all weather' seat cushions is water resistant. Water just runs off them. Nonetheless at the first sign of rain I move the cushions to the verandah ;)

I'm with Bouicca though and think sofas of any kind in the front garden is a bit naff

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

There are courses one may go on to boost assertiveness. £200 on one of those might have proved an even better deal.

Then you could have held out for a better car, not a measly cover.

Don't think it works quite that way Dave:rotfl:. I've been on one of them. I found it very useful personally - but it's on the basis of refusing unreasonable requests from other people - rather than negotiating for a "better deal" of something like that.

So I held out against pressure from one nfh down to rubbish that was - temporarily - outside and quite obviously due to my house renovation (rather than being a chav). I did get it removed at intervals - and did wish the neighbour concerned would stop "getting at me" about it and actually offer to help out with its removal (as I don't have either a car or a hefty male to hand to help out). I didn't want that rubbish there any more than they did! It's all been gone for some time now - as renovation finished for the time being (until I can afford to do some more of it).

On the other hand - the other nfh has had a sizeable bit of rubbish sited nearby for some time (with every appearance of being likely to stay there:mad:) and I'm stuck for ideas as to how to get it moved. In their case - they are chavs (falling down house/they throw litter around/etc) - so I cant see that my offering to pay the Council to remove it would have any effect:(

So:
- offering a normal household help (financial or otherwise) to move rubbish might well work (it would have with me).

- offering a chav household help won't work - as they're quite happy to be chavs and may even relish the thought of upsetting a normal neighbour with chav behaviour.

glasgowdan

Get hold of an old banjo and a toy shotgun and leave them on the sofa?

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Don't think it works quite that way Dave:rotfl:. I've been on one of them. I found it very useful personally - but it's on the basis of refusing unreasonable requests from other people - rather than negotiating for a "better deal" of something like that.

So I held out against pressure from one nfh down to rubbish that was - temporarily - outside and quite obviously due to my house renovation (rather than being a chav)..

I didn't put forward that suggestion seriously. However I was incredulous that someone would be happy to cover up their car to please a neighbour, even though I had a problem when selling from a car renovation next door.

Building work, especially renovation, creates incredible amounts of waste, which those who never become involved with it know nothing about and probably don't understand. I've had heavy side deliveries amounting to roughly 50 tonnes over the last 3 years, so a similar amount of material has to be found a home....... somewhere.

The previous owners, whose work I have mainly been undoing, constructed tumuli and long barrows here. I've had to make those disappear as well!

DaftyDuck

Christmas is coming. Wrap it in foil coated paper, and top with a bow. Potential buyers of the OP's house will now be stunned at the obvious generosity of the folk opposite, and simply have to complete before Christmas out of curiosity as to what it is.

Oh, and Money, on an assertiveness course ? The mind boggles at the outcome!

moneyistooshorttomention

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

and repeat

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

and repeat

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That's called the "broken record" reply Dafty - ie repeating the comment they've just tried not to hear however many times necessary....until they have to acknowledge they have heard it....:)

Preferable to a vague "I'll think about it/I'm not sure/(waver-y comment)/(waver-y comment)" and one is left thinking "Why don't they just say yes or no? - as it's not clear what their answer is".

Crashy_Time

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-banking/mortgages/your-mortgage-is-going-to-cost-more-very-soon---here-is-why/

Crashy_Time

Buyers are going to get a LOT thinner on the ground (yes even thinner than now) so quibbling over "silly low offers" that are in fact very reasonable, and only a few thousand under asking is a very dangerous move right now, if you genuinely want to sell that is. IMO of course.

Crashy_Time

antilles wrote: »

I totally sympathise. When I sold a previous house, the neighbours used to dump anything and everything in their garden. The back garden was particularly bad and had old tables, a rusty cooker, bags of rubbish including nappies, an old carpet, rusty microwave oven, and to put the top hat on it, a huge old rusty camper van turned up one day. Total eyesore.

When I put the house up for sale I showed people around myself and could see people's faces when they looked out of the windows and saw the rubbish and made their excuses and left.

The neighbours were renting from a housing association and I considered complaining but I suspected it might be recorded somewhere and show up in a solicitor's search so I stayed away from that route.

In the end I borrowed a friend's van, and knocked on the door, told them I was making a few runs to the tip as I was clearing out some rubbish from the loft and they let me take some of it. I managed to break up a lot of the rubbish and take it the tip which improved the situation quite a bit. It was a disgusting job moving someone else's wet and smelly rubbish but it was worth the effort.

However no sooner had I cleared the rubbish then more started to build up. At that point I gave up and realised that I was just cleaning up after people and I reduced the value of the house. In the end the house was bought by a landlord who didn't seem too bothered about any of it.

One of the the first things I check now when viewing houses is the state of the neighbour's gardens - in general I think people will assume that rubbish dumped in the garden will equal problem neighbours - whether this is right or not doesn't matter as I saw with my own eyes that it put buyers off.

I think you just have to be honest - why don't you knock and just say that a couple of potential buyers were asking about the sofa and it put them off, and would there be any chance of moving it? Either they will tell you to mind your own business (in which case the situation is no worse), or they will agree, maybe they can't afford to tip it themselves. Definitely worth a try.

Hope you get it sorted!

Slight difference between having a rubbish tip in your back garden, and a sofa?

warehouse

What if it were to "disappear" one night? That would be lucky.