Neighbour has complained about Portaloo

As if.

He did tidy the general rubbish after himself (e.g. packaging etc) but it's not realistic to have asked him to mop the floor in the toilet for example. And to be honest I wasn't that keen on asking him to open the window after his number 2. Yes, I can be judged for that but I am just not comfortable having the conversation, and I can see why others just would feel the same about asking adult s to clean the toilet after themselves etc. Especially, if there isn't an established habit to do that and you may have to repeat yourself more than once. It would have been worse if there are multiple people working on your house.

decorate it with bunting and fairy lights... and one of them battery-operated air freshners that poof when you walk past.

Forgive me if this is written already and I missed it, but you say the portaloo is where it is because of a work van and a skip. These things may be able to be manoeuvred so the work van is by the wall, then skip, then portaloo.

Also, does the portaloo need emptying?

you’re not unreasonable to have a portaloo. We had for our building works. We too have a wall between house but also huge hedges and the portaloo was towards the end of the driveway so as far away as possible from our neighbour’s home/windows. You can imagine a few weeks worth of sewage is going to smell.

But you could have just asked him to tidy up after himself. It’s not that difficult. I always ask that my contractors tidy the site at the end of every day. Decent ones don’t even need to be asked.

According to you and your contact (who obviously has skin in the game to say it doesn’t smell and your neighbours are just trying it on). But for good neighbourly relations (and for the benefit of those who use the portaloo) why wouldn’t you ask for it to be emptied after a couple of weeks? We all have different strength senses and maybe your neighbours can genuinely smell something - why not make life nicer by getting the portaloo emptied and give your neighbours a bunch of flowers?

So are you saying its not been emptied since the start of the job as will only be emptied when job is finished ? Thats gross and be very surprised if no smell if been in use for 2-3 weeks and not emptied ? The neighbour is entitled to talk to you about it if she can smell it and as you were not there at weekend , you can’t say for certain it didn’t smell.
sod being poor workmen using it as well. If not been emptied for a few weeks.
personally would rather they used a toilet in my house that flushed that have a plastic container of crap in my garden. But reality is neighbour doesn’t like it, you want it so neighbourly relations will change and chances are in future they won’t consider you either in something they do . Actions have consequences but sometimes you just have to accept that.

Except it does. You know this because your neighbour has told you. A quick google suggests they should be emptied once a week at minimum.

I'm afraid YABU then, op. Have a google to check what's normal re emptying. It really isn't normal to leave it for 4 weeks and my sympathies are now with your neighbour.

I would still request the loo to be emptied before the works have finished

It wouldn’t bother me workmen using our downstairs toilet but that’s beside the point.

The point is your neighbour has said there is a smell.
It’s been there 2 weeks, unemptied of wee etc … a warm day, a bit of wind in the right direction and I’m sure there must be a bit of a smell.

Ask yourself, why would they lie?

If they knock again are you going to say ‘well my DSIS says there isn’t a smell.’?

Why can’t it go out the back garden?

Perhaps she would allow the builders to use hers? 🫤

She doesn’t HAVE a downstairs loo!! They would have to go upstairs walking mud all over her carpets to the one toilet in the house!! For £40 a week I know what I’d choose!

If it doesn't smell, why would she open up her indoor loo to the tradies?

Can't you give your council a call? At least you'll know she's talking rubbish next time she door steps you.

You are very adamant that it doesn’t smell so maybe in future you’d consider allowing tradesmen to use the indoor toilet? I’m 12 months (on and off) into major renovations and wouldn’t dream of denying anyone use of my loo! The only time I’d consider a portaloo is if there was no alternative, eg the bathroom being fitted/no running water etc.

Maybe suggest that the workmen knock on her door every time they need to void their bowels or bladders and see how much she hates it then…

Thanks. Unemptied for 4 weeks is grim and I bet it smells after 2. Ask to have it emptied.

Re builders using the normal loo- I think this depends on the project. If you have 20 blokes on site doing messy outdoor work it's not practical for them to use the indoor loo for all sorts of reasons and they would not want to. It's not like having some chap in to do a bit of tiling.

A month without being emptied/changed. Ewwwwwwww.

No wonder they are complaining. Probably thought it would be changed every week and are gobsmacked that there's effectively a deepening bucket of crap in a shed by their window.

My neighbour had one in his front yard for nearly 1 year when he had work done. It was emptied monthly.
It didn’t smell.
I found that the radio & swearing were far worse than the portals.

Didn’t you know? Contractors are good enough to work for you but not to use your facilities 🙄

In the current climate, all work is likely to be completed before the council even looks at the complaint!