Neighbour has complained about Portaloo

[Helenwalker2]

We are having some work done on our house which has required a portaloo to be placed at the front. This was a requirement of both parties who quoted if we weren’t to allow access to a toilet indoors for the various trades who will be on site (absolutely no chance with the horror stories I’ve read on here and from a couple of friends).

Our property is at the end of our street so we have only one direct neighbour. When it was first delivered the woman who lives next door made a comment about it being unsightly and hoping it won’t be there for too long - I confirmed the works are going to take up to 3-4 weeks but would keep her updated.

We are 2 weeks on, and this morning our neighbours husband knocked. He said they are unhappy with the smell and want us to move it to the back of our house in the garden. I confirmed we had previously asked and this wasn’t possible. Note we don’t believe there to be any smell albeit were away this weekend.

The woman then knocked this afternoon. Moaning about how bad it smelt at the weekend and how we are unreasonable to have placed it outside the front of our house and so close to their windows.

I said the work is still on plan and it will be gone in the next week or two. She then said she is going to complain to the council as they’ve had ‘advice’ that it isn’t permissible to place portaloos at the front of houses where there’s an attached house (as both ours is being semi detached).

AIBU to stand firm? We don’t believe there’s any truth in what she’s said and by the time the council get round to doing anything, it should be gone.

They smell once you're in them, but I meant when you're walking past or standing even quite near them.

I find it weird too, that as soon as they get on the job they need to do that.

I mean, why not get up an hour earlier, go for a brisk walk & a coffee, and empty one's bowels before leaving home, if the pattern is that they need to do so X hours after rising/having breakfast? Don't just get up and out in the nick of time to be ready to evacuate in someone else's home.

And it's nothing to do with tradesmen or social status; I'd feel the same if anyone who routinely was in my house did that. But for most of us, the only people spending an entire day in our home, for sometimes weeks on end, are tradespersons.

Tell her to take it up with the builder who put it there. Likely by the time the council get around to doing anything they will be long gone.

Absolutely this.

Go ahead ignore them. You will have neighbours who dislike you. Had you been a little more considerate and put the loo out of the way of their front window you may have grown wonderful neighbours.

I've worked with men all my life. They take much longer than we do (I've number got to the bottom of why that is) and they'd much rather do it on someone else's time!

Office men are just the same a builders in this regard.

God this is giving me PTSD. I had workers using my loo for 6 weeks while bathrooms were being renovated, one by one. I had to clean the most disgusting skidmarks off the toilet pans EVERY SINGLE DAY for weeks (except the weekends). This was over a decade ago and I still retch thinking about it. Utterly, utterly disgusting and I really resented that I had to clean up someone else's shit, someone who couldn't show a minimum amount of respect cleaning up after themselves in someone else's house, someone I was paying money to. Disgusting men.

YANBU OP. Just ignore her.

No, I wouldn’t I afraid, it’s not worth her kicking up a fuss about something that’s not going to be there for much longer longer. She’s just going to have to suck
it up. It’s November, not mid-summer. This is on the (unreasonable) neighbour.
Why would the OP lie about the aroma? If it stank she’d get it emptied 🤷‍♀️

Oh Helen! The smell is going to be the last of your worries when they come to collect it! If you look at guideline a portfoloo on average will hold enough sewage to last 10 men 40 gours. It is good practice to empty weekly. If that is not done you risk it overflowing the tank and coming out of the tip, your whole drive will be awash!

I was thinking the same!

Put a Christmas wreath on it, perhap with some garland and blinking lights. Drape it in a tartan tablecloth. Or a Santa/elf theme with a wide red ribbon and giant candy canes. Turn it into a decoration. "Santa's Workshop." Put one of those artificial reindeer next it.

Why wouldn’t you just let the workmen use your indoor toilet? It just feels like a lot of drama over a complete non issue.

Maybe she can’t smell it? Maybe it would cost her more to get it emptied 1 extra time? 4 weeks to empty a portaloo is pretty grim

Why didn’t you tell the site manager to get the dirty bastards back in to clean the toilet themselves and show some respect to the householder??

I get that the neighbour complained about the smell but not clear on how the OP can empty it given that she seems to have bought the "service" on the basis that it would be emptied at the end when they pick it up? I've never had one of those, so don't know if there an optional payment you can make to have those things emptied more often? There is 2 more weeks to go, so I guess if there is an option like that, then maybe @Helenwalker2 you could consider it?

We can pay extra to have it emptied, but we won’t be wasting money on that now.

I would pay to have it emptied weekly if it kept neighbour relations onside - surely in the grand scheme of things with the renovations etc it isn’t a massive deal? Having friends who live on canal boats they definitely empty their loos at regulated stop off points more than once a month. I just think why piss off neighbours more than is necessary but it seems these days more and more people aren’t about community relations and just get the arse when it really isn’t needed. Give and take people, give and take. Our family motto is don’t be a knob if you don’t have to be, sometimes take the moral high ground. Not everything has to be a fight.

It’s quite normal to have a portaloo for building works round here, I have often seen them.
I am surprised at the amount of people horrified by this.
We had building works which took about 2 months and the building company said they wanted a portaloo, we didn’t insist on it. I think the builders don’t want to be having to take their work boots off etc. and they also said it would spread the dust if they were going upstairs.

It was better for us though as our loo is in the bathroom and it would have been difficult in the mornings with everyone getting ready if the builders were using the loo. Plus I didn’t want all the extra cleaning!

It was out the front and it definitely didn’t smell, but then it was emptied weekly. Thats why it has to be at the front, how else does the lorry empty it??

Quite funny though we did have delivery drivers asking to use it! It was kept padlocked though.

None of our neighbours have complained but then I don’t live in an area with Hyacinth Bucket types 😀

Just noticed that OP has said it’s only being emptied at the end of the project, which is surprising, there is a possibility it could smell in that case.

But you had yours emptied weekly not at the end of 4 weeks so maybe that’s why you had no complaints.
FWIW I don’t think there should be a problem having a portaloo in your front garden but I think there should be give and take with neighbours and I don’t think it is ok for multiple (how many workmen?) people using the toilet every day and it not being emptied regularly. Apart from that I am on op’s side - just get it emptied weekly!

I agree with others, I think if your neighbour is complaining about a smell then just ask the building company to get it emptied.

Ah I missed that update from the op. I think it’s a shame they won’t pay extra to get it emptied and instead will leave it for 4 weeks.

Yabu It’s not a building site. There's working toilets the property so yabu to subject your neighbors to the smell of a portals that benefits you.

If there was an option, I'd pay. Given that they cost c. £40 per week to rent, I wouldn't have thought that the additional cost of emptying can be much higher than that. With 2 weeks left to go until the end of this work, you'd probably only have to empty it just once before they come to pick it up.

Having said this, I don't know the neighbour. They could then start complaining about something else if they are just generally the complaining type. @Helenwalker2 knows them best 😊

You’re right - the neighbours may moan about something else e.g the sight of the portaloo but at least they (the op) could show they were taking concerns seriously rather than ‘my main contact validated there is no smell’ which lets be honest is subjective. If the neighbours continue to complain after the portaloo is emptied then, well, it’s only a couple of weeks to go and what can they do in that time? But to deliberately be an arse by saying ‘I am not paying now’ is just unnecessary but then I don’t look for rows everywhere I turn and nor do I ignore other people’s opinions

My DSIL also verified no issue with smell.