Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Grrrrrrrrrr bloody housing officer!!!

215 replies

holdenmcgroin1979 · 31/10/2011 15:08

Came round today saying i have two weeks to sort my front and back garden out and tidy it up or else! He knows i have been suffering with severe anxiety after having a bad miscariage last year and being pg again has made me a nervous wreck, the neighbours bloody cat has shit on the gravel in my front garden, wouldnt be so bad but he had the cheek to blame my moggies even thought he knows i keep them inside due to said neighbours cat attacking them everytime they are outside. I am expected to clear up fag butts that people have thrown over my hedge as well. My back garden isnt that bad to be honest it's just a few kids toys a bit of weeding and the grass that needs cutting but it's all stuff that involves heavy lifting or being in contact with soil which could have cat poo in it!! So cheesed off right now so this isn't so much an AIBU but a good old rant. Not expecting sympathy just wanted to get it off my chest!

OP posts:
worraliberty · 31/10/2011 15:51

How does the poo and fag butts affect you when you wear gloves?

Original poster
holdenmcgroin1979 · 31/10/2011 15:53

Didn't say ILoveTIFFANY,

OP posts:
GypsyMoth · 31/10/2011 15:56

It should be followed up on writing if it's so important. But I would just do it anyway.

Spray the weeds with weedkiller and leave to die. Easier to pull up. Wear gloves and wash hands afterwards. Grass should be having last cut now if not done yet. Just do it. Not worth the hassle is it?

worraliberty · 31/10/2011 15:58

Salt works well on weeds too. It's cheap and mine haven't grown back for 2 years since I salted them.

GarrottingItLaldy · 31/10/2011 16:01

Quoted from your first post: I am expected to clear up fag butts that people have thrown over my hedge as well. My back garden isnt that bad to be honest it's just a few kids toys a bit of weeding and the grass that needs cutting but it's all stuff that involves heavy lifting or being in contact with soil which could have cat poo in it!!

So which is it? There are cat shit and fag butts or there aren't. You don't seem to know for sure.

There might be car shit in the soil. There definitely will be cat shit in your house if you have indoor cats. I fail to see why cleaning up one is any more dangerous than the other if you take the appropriate precautions.

GarrottingItLaldy · 31/10/2011 16:07

Anyway, if it's not that bad (as you say) surely it's just better to get it done and keep the LA off your back. You will have signed a tenancy agreement which states that you will keep the property in a tidy state, report repairs promptly etc. It really is at the LAs discretion what level of tidiness they expect from their tenants. And an elderly/disabled person is likely to be cut more slack than someone able bodied.

Original poster
holdenmcgroin1979 · 31/10/2011 16:12

Just so people know i have a front garden at the front of my house which is where the cat poo and fag butts are and a back garden at the back of my house which even though there is a passage that conects the two the back garden is cut off from the front due to a 4 and a half foot gate that has a padlock on the inside so as to stop my two SN kids escaping onto the road. As regards my cats i do have a litter tray yes but i use liners and do use gloves when i change it . I guess i'm just like a lot of people and object to having to clean up animal mess that isnt from my animals.

Worra, is it any salt i can use like table or lo salt. do i have to wet the weeds beforehand so it sticks or just put it on however, how long does it take to work?

OP posts:
SpringHeeledJack · 31/10/2011 16:17

for fucks sake! what does it have to do with anyone where your ex partner is?

your HO sounds a bit heavy handed. I used to be a HO, and we did get a lot of pressure from busybodies and stickybeaks with nothing better to do the Tenants' Association to lean on people to bring the outside of their homes up to scratch.

We didn't do it, though. Occasionally if a garden (usually of an elderly/disabled tenant) was really overgrown, we'd get it cleared- otherwise the view was that the tenant's home was the tenant's business, and as long as there was no nuisance and the rent was paid, we'd let em get on with it

things do seem to have changed in the last couple of years, though- social housing is seen as a privilege, and tenants have got to keep their noses (and windows) clean. It gets right on my tits, it does- it's all going back to the Olden Days...

sorry, OP, looks like you'll have to get stuck in. You wouldn't if I was your HO, though Wink

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 16:18

I'd love to live in a proper house and not this flat and have gardens to look after!

You are being completely unreasonable. It's a condition of your tenancy agreement that you have to keep the gardens in good order.

I wish our HOs were as strict as well. The downstairs chav has littered the communal area with fag packets, fag butts and all manner of shite.

Other people would love to have a garden to look after, why don't you swap for a flat if you don't want the responsibility of a garden?

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 16:20

' social housing is seen as a privilege, and tenants have got to keep their noses (and windows) clean.'

I'm a social housing tenant. It is a privilege. I don't care to live around people who don't keep their homes looking okay, tbh, even when I was private renting. This person isn't disabled or elderly.

thefirstMrsDeVeerie · 31/10/2011 16:23

What the hell is going on.
Someone comes on for a bit of a whinge the housing officer telling her the garden is untidy and MNs comes over like a branch of some 1950s welfare society.

And who is the baby's father young lady?
Pregnancy isnt an illness
It must be a simply frightful mess because Mr Housing Officer says it is.

Come on, someone ask her how much rent she pays and if she has ever had a job, you know you want to.

worraliberty · 31/10/2011 16:26

Worra, is it any salt i can use like table or lo salt. do i have to wet the weeds beforehand so it sticks or just put it on however, how long does it take to work?

Yes I just bought a couple of bags of table salt (normal...not LO)

I didn't wet the weeds...just poured it liberally at the base. Even if it rains, that's a good thing as it washes the salt deeper into the roots.

I think it took about 5 - 7 days for them to turn brown and die.

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 16:29

I actually don't care about the baby's father or any of that.

I do care when I have to live next to people whose home looks like a tip on the outside.

MrsOzz · 31/10/2011 16:32

What's a housing officer? Is it the same as a landlord?

thefirstMrsDeVeerie · 31/10/2011 16:32

doesnt sound that bad to me.

I am sure there are plenty worse.

Hard to tell without photos but that hasnt stopped people deciding on its Jerry Springer rating.

thefirstMrsDeVeerie · 31/10/2011 16:33

I lived in a flat for years and longed for a garden.
Wasnt until I got one I realised how much work it takes to keep them nice.

I dont think people do until they have one.

cjbartlett · 31/10/2011 16:34

I think it's gross having cat shit all over your garden
poor you
I couldn't cope with that

thefirstMrsDeVeerie · 31/10/2011 16:34

No a landlord owns the property.
A housing officer works for the council or housing assoc.

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 17:07

'I dont think people do until they have one.'

I've had one, several times. I know how much work it is, thanks muchly. Loved it. And if you can't keep one up then move to a flat, they're 2p a dozen and it's very easy to swap one for a house.

ZERO sympathy for people in a house who let their garden go to weed and shite when they are able-bodied.

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 17:08

The HO around here regularly inspects the stair and sends letters accordingly. So clean it up! It's a condition of your tenancy that gardens and communal areas have to be kept clean by the tenants unless the HA or council has a contractor to do it, in which case your rent will increase.

oldraver · 31/10/2011 17:11

I'm surprised that the OP is getting so much stick. Is your garden really that much of a mess or do you think the HO is being heavy handed and sees you as an easy target ? You say there are other gardens worse than yours, maybe they are being too officious or jobsworthy

Or maybe you just don't see it as the mess it is. Get the gloves on and tidy up as much as you can and dont give them anything to moan about. We all at some time have to clear up stuff that wasnt of our making especially recycling men who left the bag of flyaway plastics on my garden, when we have been given strict instructions how to recycle them if we want to live in pleasant surroundings

scarlettsmummy2 · 31/10/2011 17:11

haven't read all the posts, but you are being unreasonable. Who do you expect to sort it out, and it is probably pissing your neighbours off.

Swankyswishing · 31/10/2011 17:13

YABU; many council/HA homes in my area are in a terrible state; bags of rubbish dumped out the front and left for months on end, rusty cars, weeds 5ft tall, mattresses and sofas in the gardens. I agree with whoever said having social housing is a priviledge, and you should keep it in good order.

SansaLannister · 31/10/2011 17:18

Oh, I'll get to to pick up all this girl's fag packets, butts and crap once she finally clears off and takes her damn stereo and feral mates with her to hell or wherever it is she's going. Or we'll all be forced to pay for hte clearance of the communal area.

Angry
onadifferentplanettoday · 31/10/2011 17:37

When we moved here the garden was totally overgrown weeds long grass and plenty of rubbish and cat poo. Looked in the local parish magazine and found a local bloke who cut the grass cleared the rubbish and weeds and took it all away. he only charged me twenty quid. once its done it doesn't take much effort to keep on top of it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread