Neighbours let their dog shit in our garden

[Glowbuggy]

We have a house that we don't live in, we are abroad. There are two flats in the house but the garden is ours (on deeds) although we give the access to their bins which is right outside the back communal door.
The problem is they let their dog into the garden and it's making a mess. We are obviously not there so can't tell them off. We've been sent photos and it's terrible.
What can we do? Can we board up the garden so they only have access to the bins? They rent, they're landlord won't bother with us. We are trying to sell and this is causing a huge issue!!!

Eughhh. That's vile. Yes if it were me I would fence the garden in so only access is accessible.

I'm not really understanding how your house has flats in it. A diagram would help 😉

The main front door has a long corridor and there are two flat doors on left and right. Downstairs in the left and then the right leads to our flat upstairs which is 3 floors and huge. The end of the hall from the
Main entrance leads straight to garden. So no flat has direct access to garden you have to go through main hall. But it's our garden. It's on the deeds.
The tiny downstairs flat shouldn't even have a dog.

Diagram

I'd put up the proposed fence on your diagram make sure it is tall enough (claim for privacy) and put a padlock on the gate. Cheeky beggers.

The situation is that there are two flats in the building, one owned by you but you do not live there, and one owned by someone else who rents it out. You own the garden but allow access from the downstairs flat to the bins that are located in the garden.

Build a high fence and keep the gate locked. A clearly private garden would be a selling point for your flat anyway.

There is however a danger that the non-fenced area outside the back door where the bins are would then be seen as communal whereas in fact it is all yours. So I would see a solicitor to figure out a good way to put up a barrier without implying that the non-fenced area is common.

Are there any terms of the lease that permit the right of way or use of the garden for the dog or any other uses (BBQing for instance) by the downstairs tenant? A solicitor would have to see all paperwork/lease terms and see a history of how the garden has been used up to now and by whom.

Hire someone to clean up the poo that is in the garden. It should be done anyway as it will attract rats.

Do the downstairs flat renters actually KNOW they don't have use of the garden? Other landlord might be pulling a fast one and have rented it out to them under the premise it is a communal garden, since you aren't there to put renter straight and because it has the same point of access as your flat.

I would absolutely put up a fence if you're permitted.

Do you have a solicitor?

Can you move their bins so they don't have to access your garden?
Then put a gate with a lock so the area is secure

Put up a fence but send the landlord of the other flat an email with picture evidence and tell him what your doing

Hmm. See your prob. So the bins. Are they kept in your garden? Or is there a small communal area out back? Should their bins be there? Could theirs be on the front? Could you lock back door or o's it a fire exit?