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.

But your neighbours say there is a smell - smell is subjective so why not just have the portaloo emptied after 2 weeks?

The smell from my point of view was chemical and like very strong air freshener. It was sickly and v unpleasant.

My objection was my neighbours put it next to my door and not theirs... But then they're v inconsiderate in general.

Portaloos these days come with water and soap for handwashing, and should be serviced and emptied every week or fortnight depending on number of people using so that they don't run out. Tradespeople are used to using them - what do you think they use on building sites before toilets are plumbed in, for example? My husband is a tradesman, and he really doesn't mind using a portaloo, as it's much quicker than taking his boots off to go into the householder's bathroom everytime he needs to pee.

But OP has stated they aren’t willing to pay for it to be emptied after 2 weeks and instead it will wait until the work is done or 4 weeks. I know I keep banging on about this 🙈 but OP just get it emptied so you can say to your neighbours it has been cleaned and there is only a couple of weeks left. It seems like you won’t do it to prove a point because a couple of people have ‘verified’ there is no smell (can one verify a lack of smell?) yet your neighbours have said they can smell something. So get the portaloo emptied and cleaned and any other issues your neighbours have then tell them to jog on because it will be gone before you know it.

I'm amazed that so many Mumsnetters appear to have such an incredibly keen sense of smell. Are you all secretly bears who can smell a fart from a mile away, downwind, in a rainstorm? 😄

Oh, the Mumsnet bloodhounds are a classic. My favourite used to the ones who didn't much care for scented sanitary towels, which on the surface is fair enough. But they didn't just dislike them, they claimed to be overpowered by "the stench"... of unopened ones in other women's handbags in the room, or of ones being worn by a woman several feet away, underneath multiple layers of clothing. The stench prevented them from working and gave them headaches and nausea. McDonalds brings up some gems too.

I think there may be a bit of princess and the pea mentality going on.

I hope the money you save is worth spoiling neighbourly relations for. Although you sound like your head is so far up your own behind you won’t care about that anyway.

I may be in the minority but I think you sound like a very selfish, inconsiderate neighbour and a bit of a snob.

@lucylox I agree with you but most people are selfish these days and only care about their immediate family. It's always tell your neighbours to put up with it, tell them to wear ear plugs, tell them to do this or that so the main character OP doesn't have to inconvenience themselves listening to their grievances.

surely empty it as it will smell
if its left for 4 weeks, ,others on here who have had them said they have been emptied weekly/ fortnightly. Why would you want 4 weeks of crap parked up
on your lawn- what if it were to overflow ?
also if causes major fault out with neighbour is it worth it- if you ever sell you have to declare that sort of thing don’t you ? Surely saying to neighbour we haven’t noticed a smell but we are paying to have it emptied early as we have taken your concerns onboard but it has to stay until the works are finished , is just easier ?

We had a portaloo outside our house that we AND (shock horror) the builders used during building work, for about a month. I can't remember it being emptied at all, and the only smell was inside the loo, not outside. I think your neighbours are trying it on.

yet if you look it up it says should be emptied regularly, maybe yours was as unless you were there all the time.
surely a loo being used for 4 weeks is going to fill up when being used multiple times a day

And it’s November, so it shouldn’t be festering away, and people tend not to use their gardens as much in the colder months 🙂

The neighbours must have loved dd2! She lives in a semi and the portaloo was outside for over a year! They weren't living there at the time and the bathrooms and kitchen were being renovated so sometimes there was no usable loo. Dd2 is certainly not a snob but a lot of contracts insist on a portaloo now.

Depends - we had our garden landscaped and the way from the back door upstairs to our only toilet crosses a couple of carpets.

We didn’t get a portaloo but I can see why people do. I needed my carpets professionally cleaned afterwards, tonnes of mud trodden in.

That can't be helped though. I can just imagine the bemusement of the neighbours that the OP has a fully functioning toilet available but finds it "inconvenient" to let any workmen use it!