Neighbours rubbish problems.

[ReginaaPhalange]

Hi all. Not sure what we can do about my next door neighbour. We live in a mortgaged semi detached with my neighbour who is also in a mortgaged property. No house in our estate is council owned or maintained so we can't ask for their help.

She is a recent single parent (child is 3). From day one nappies have been chucked out the windows into the back garden, along with general black bag waste. Her garden grass hasn't been cut in a year and is like a jungle now. The weeds are all poking through the slabs and I'm sick of pulling the weeds which poke through our fence.

Today, I've come home and there is a cot bed, complete with mattress and bed sheet still attached just dumped in the front garden. Our council isn't doing pick ups for non council house tenants at the moment, and she's said before she ain't paying someone to take her stuff away as "that gives me a red neck". The bed base is all snapped off, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's thrown it out the double window upstairs.

Is there anything we can do about this? The council aren't interested, she isn't interested. We have offered to cut the grass but she says no, she will do it later. I can't go onto her property to cut the grass if she does out as that's trespassing. I don't want to do anything that will get me in trouble.

Other neighbours are getting sick of it, but no one is saying anything to her as they know she makes a scene then promises to do something but never does.

Any advice would be appreciated x

Have you tried Environmental Health about the nappy waste?

@Bringmewineandcake no point now as she's toilet training her now, so that probably won't be an issue much longer, the rubbish however - I could try environmental health I suppose.

Don't stress about the grass, it may not look neat but does no harm

But you could talk to Environmental about the rubbish

Do you have some fit family members. I would offer to remove it as you are worried about rats.
Be pushy.
Then perhaps cut her lawn.
She is lazy/ not coping/ has agorophobia - whatever, it is annoying you so you would be happier if it was gone, so I would deal with it.

@Bluemoooon I've offered but she says no thanks and she will do it her self. No word of a lie, the grass is knee length! (Adult).

I'm worried about ticks being in the grass, as are other neighbours.

I'm worried about ticks being in the grass, as are other neighbours. There'll only be ticks if animals have brought them in. Is she getting visiting deer?

If you don't walk in her grass, you won't get ticks (from the visiting deer. Or sheep).

It sounds revolting, but apart from looking horrible, it isn't actually doing you any harm by the sound of it. And the wildlife will love it.

You could just cut the weeds off as they poke through.

the grass is knee length! that's because it's flowering. It'll die back down during winter, maybe be a bit tussocky. It's not going to go on getting taller.

She just isn't interested in keeping her garden in the same style as the rest of you, and it's her garden. Different people have different priorities.

Long grass is fantastic for wildlife. Lots of people are letting their grass grow, and it's amazing what else can grow when you don't keep it cut within an inch of its life.
The rubbish is another matter. We have a few neighbours on our road, thankfully not too close but we still have to walk past their houses, and the rubbish is awful. Some of them do try to keep on top of it and it looks good for a while but then it gets bad again.
I think a chat with environmental health would be the first step and see what they suggest. As she is newly single, maybe she isn't coping and could do with some help.

Sounds like she isn’t coping very well.

We lived next door to a derelict plot for years. It was great for wildlife but we did change the fence which stopped weeds coming through.

The rubbish is another problem. Maybe mention to her that you are going to the tip anyway and could take her stuff? I know she should sort it out but realistically this would get the problem solved and be the kindest option. Obviously if she doesn’t engage then you can escalate with environmental health etc.