AWOL neighbour

gwynlas

Personally I would be cutting down the overgrowth  if was causing me problems.

What is the worse that could happen?

MouldyOldDough

Do you know his name? 

Albermarle

gwynlas said:

Personally I would be cutting down the overgrowth  if was causing me problems.

What is the worse that could happen?

I agree. A quick step over the fence and a couple of hours with some powered shears, would solve the problem until next Summer at least.
However as the OP is a PC, they may have to be more careful.

Jaybee_16

Ground floor flat next to mine was owned by a single man. He moved out but visited once a month to do the garden but the visits got fewer then stopped completely leaving an empty flat for over 20 years. 

Flat owner the other side thought he saw a rat in the garden, contacted the council who came to have a look over the fence at the six foot high brambles, traced the owners current address and told him to clear it or they would and invoice him for the work.
Owner let the council do the clearance. 

A few months later someone broke in, changed the lock, bypassed the meters and let the flat to about ten people with mattresses on the floor of this two bed flat. 
Next problem was scrap metal. These people would go out around 4am every morning going through bins for anything that would sell, either metal or clothes. Now I would see a six foot high pile of scrap in the garden then it would go.
Nice people, caused me no problems.

Eventually the police raided the flat, cleared them out and the flat was sold. 

neilc75

Thanks for all the answers , house isn't derelict at all , all secure as if he just went out , only issue is chimney ( due to age of property ) and huge overgrown garden , I dont think the council could claim the property as the majority of it is in good condition ,it's certainly not derelict , I think I will contact council to discuss the garden and get a bit of advice from them 

Catonthemoon

Are you sure he’s not ‘still in there’? There have been a few very sad cases in recent years where people lay undiscovered for 18 months/2 years. I could be way off the mark, however, it would explain a lot!

ic

All sounds like my neighbour... he visits once a fortnight, stays a night or two arriving on foot.   Mows half the lawn front and back (leaving the other half to wilderness - getting higher and higher by the year).  His house is slowly turning derelict, rising damp, blocked and collapsing gutters, slipped tiles, blown brickwork, missing mortar lines etc etc.  Each time a storm comes in I expect some serious damage to the roof, but so far he's gotten away with it.  I know he has another two houses, which I fully expect are in the same state with similarly frustrated neighbours.  I know he has a mortgage, and he must be paying a fortune in council tax and bills, and just can't afford the upkeep (or has gone blind to it).  I've previously offered to help with the garden (cutting back, taking stuff to the tip), but he declined it saying he'd do it - and then didn't.

Naturelover22

@Catonthemoon that was my thought too. You don't like to think it but it does happen.

Cairnpapple

Inspired by this post, I just re-listened to the 'Ghost Houses' episode of File on 4 Investigates on BBC Sounds which covers the Empty Homes Network and follows a council empty homes officer. 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020xst

Amongst other things, the empty homes officer in that programme says that they can get a genealogist to search for the owner and/or for their relatives. 

I was also interested in his theory that empty homes can have owners that are either too poor or too rich to put them up for sale or rent. Too poor = haven't been able to do necessary repairs to rent out.  Too rich = can't be bothered with the hassle for a small return,  keep putting it off. 

droopsnoot

I wonder whether there could be an anonymous phone call tipping off the local police that there might be a body buried in the back garden, or proceeds from a robbery or something a bit less unpleasant. OPs colleagues might then come in and have to cut down all the undergrowth in order to do a proper search. What could possibly go wrong, apart from OP losing their job and pension of course.