Flat next door smells absolutely sickening due to 13 house Cats that don't go outside.What Can I do?

FreeBear

KxMx said:

Cats Protection can work with a willing owner with rehoming, but have no legal or enforcement powers. 

The RSPCA might be better placed.

The RSPCA don't have any legal powers either. At best, they can collect evidence and bring a private prosecution, or hand the file over to the CPS.

grumpy_codger

Tabieth said:

...It’s an animal welfare issue first and foremost. 

I thought it was human welfare first... I mean the neighbours.

penners324

Contact the management company and the freehold management company and suggest the neighbours do the same.

penners324

eddddy said:

Presumably your daughter is the leaseholder of her own flat. So typically, the situation will be as follows:

As a starting point...

• She should read her own lease to see what it says about keeping pets. Her neighbour's lease is very likely to say the same thing.

Typically, a lease will either say...

• No Pets
• or No Pets without consent of the freeholder (or management company), and consent is conditional on the pets not causing annoyance to other leaseholders

It is extremely unlikely that a freeholder (or management company) has given consent for 13 cats to live in the flat - and even if they did, the cats are now causing annoyance.

So your daughter can complain to the freeholder (or management company) that the neighbour is breaching the lease.

The freeholder (or management company) will be required by the lease to take enforcement action. i.e. 'Force' the neighbour to stop breaching the lease, which would involve the neighbour getting the cats out of their flat.



(The freeholder / mgmt co might warn your daughter that if the neighbour isn't really breaching the lease - e.g. your daughter is fibbing about the 13 cats next door - your daughter might have to pay the freeholder's / mgmt co's costs.)

The cats will be causing more than an annoyance. Their exretions may well be causing structural damage to the property

sheramber

Contact Environmentla Health.

We did that when our next door neighbour never walked thier dog and it toileted in the garden whcih was never cleaned.

The grass and weed were waist high.

We could not go out use our bck garden becuse of the smell.

EH called and the result was a skip full of black bags of rubbish, weeds, grass etc. and the smell gone.

Exodi

FrankFalcon said:

13 house Cats that don't go outside

Apparently, the residents of the flat (which they have bought) have 13 cats (and other animals) that don't go out of the house EVER.  When I say that the smell of urine is overwhelming I am not exaggerating.

Sorry, but as an indoor cat owner I can't let it slide (and also it may be confusing the issue when it is being reported):

Cats being indoor in and of itself is not an issue, and is very common. Even though about ~40% of cats are solely indoor in the UK, this figure is about ~70% for the US and Canada, and about 80% in Japan.

Many households, like mine, will have a litter box in one of the bathrooms that they change once a week.

What you are describing appears to be a negligent owner allowing a significant number of cats to urinate/defecate (likely on the floor) and not cleaning it up.

Your post doesn't mention that, it just focuses on the fact they don't go outside... which will hardly have the RSPCA kicking down the door.

youth_leader

Poor cats, I do hope something can be done.  I agree that this 'stench' can only be because the cats are going on the floor.  I feed my neighbour's cat and he has a litter tray, I can never smell it.

Skiddaw1

Those poor cats....

Yes, cats can be perfectly happy as 'indoor' cats but this situation is quite different.

I agree with all the advice already provided. I do hope, like @youth_leader , that a solution can be found for everyone's sake.

Auti

Makes you wonder if the old man is capable of looking after himself if the place smells so much from outside - maybe another angle?

Myci85

Poor cats. Some indoor cats may be OK as indoor cats, but unless it is a very big flat, 13 cats cooped up indoors is far too many. Cats like their own space. And clearly if it smells like that they are not being cared for. 

Definitely report it to RSPCA and environmental health as advised.