Neighbours garden is horrendous

[Ladyof]

My next door neighbours garden is horrendous, it has always been bad but for the last 6 months its become worse and it now resembles a tip.

She has thrown a wardrobe, washing basket, broken toys, scooters etc all in a heap at the top of the garden and it is such an eyesore.

We might gave to put our house back on the market soon and I worry it will put people off buying it.

Any ideas she is lovely and I dont want to fall out with her so I don't feel like I could mention it to her. Argh.

Are you having a clear out before putting the house on the market? Do you need a skip or Hippo bag or have room in your car when you’re off to the recycling centre?

Can you get a skip? Then casually ask her if she has anything she wants to put in it?

My NDN likes to store junk up. Problem is, it's kind of blocking my bin access. I can get by but it's difficult as I keep getting the bin tangled on the crap.

Last week I was doing some tip runs and kindly offered to take some stuff up if she had anything she needed rid of.

It's shit but it's probably your only option. Unless hers is a rented or council owned property. Landlords and housing associations can make tenants tidy trash up.

I literally have nothing for the tip or a skip as we are really house proud and I literally would get rid of it straight away as soon as we do a project so no need to clearout etc. To be honest her garden is one of the reasons we started to think about moving.

She does rent but her landlord usnt great and wouldnt bother if we reported it anyway. It is such a difficult position.

Report rats to the council? Or to her? Even if there aren’t many, the thoughts of rats may make her take action.

You can contact environmental health and they will contact your neighbour and the landlord (will also be anonymous) they will be given support to help clear it but enforcement action can then be taken if they don't comply

Be honest-ish & blame estate agent?

‘neighbour, we’re putting our house on the market soon - the estate suggested the stuff in your garden might be an issue, so we’re really happy to do some tip runs & strim the grass if you like? I know your landlord is awful, and it would benefit me. Hope you’re not offended?’

Put your big girl pants on and chat to her nicely about putting the house on the market and say your doing some tip runs beforehand and would like to clear out the rubbish in her garden too if that’s ok. Tell her it’s really easy for you to do and you’re having a big sort out yourself.

Might just be me but we moved into a house next to a hoarder and honestly made no difference to our decision and there was plenty of other interest in the house too.
He’s a perfectly nice bloke and good for a chat but his front and back gardens are a dumping ground for all sorts (vehicles / bikes / chairs / general boxes etc etc).
If she’s not a terrible person then maybe people won’t be so bothered about the rubbish. If our neighbour had been antisocial that would have been different but I can cope with an overgrown garden full of stuff.

Just offer to take it to the tip for her?

Is she on her own or do you have a bigger car - both reasons you could offer to help out with it.

Summer is coming would she like help to shift them now she'll be using the garden more?

@Zandathepanda

Report rats to the council? Or to her? Even if there aren’t many, the thoughts of rats may make her take action.

That's a really selfish thing to do when there aren't any rats.

To be fair to your neighbour mine is similar. Had a lock down clear out then the tips shut, then I was promised parents use of trailer, then they went into shielding. I'm constantly apologising! I'll have to get man with a van I think. Just say to em you can find man with van cheap on Facebook. My neighbours don't hold back and I'm thoroughly embarrassed!

I honestly don't think that it is any of your business unless there's a health and safety aspect.

The trouble is on a low income and if you dont drive it is difficult to get rid of stuff, a wardrobe would cost £25 quid for the council to pick up in my area , some of the other stuff probably won't fit in the bin if its full every week .

Why do people always assert that you can contact "the landlord" if a neighbour is doing something you dont approve of?

Real anti social behaviour (noise/drugs/violence etc) is one thing but an untidy garden - unless you can prove it is attractive to vermin - is something that private landlords are probably not going to get involved in so long as the rent is rolling in. Landlords have to be very very careful not to be seen to involve themselves in neighbor differences or they could be accused of harassment. Way back I had a whiney NDN who several times snitched to my LL about matters which had nothing to do with the lease. Both LL and myself threatened her with legal action in order to scare her off.

Landlords CANNOT make tenants tidy up. Landlords have no control over tenant behaviour, nor should they. MN would be quick to scream if that was the case.

the only remedy available for a landlord is eviction, always long and costly and now not happening.

tenants can live in a shit tip if they want, it is their home.

Does she have DC? Maybe she's trying to encourage their creativity...junkyard playgrounds are a big thing these days, you know !

it has fuck all to do with rent payment or otherwise. Repeat for the hard of reading - landlords cannot control tenant behaviour and have no rights to do so.

apparently they are responsible for tenant behaviour in Scotland, but still have no powers. Amazed there are any rentals in Scotland!

My DC would absolutely love an overturned wardrobe to play in!

She probably cannot afford to have it removed. Does she have a vehicle that would fit the waste in? If so you could bring up in conversation how you booked an appointment recently in case she isn't aware (I would guess its more that she can't get them there though). It's expensive to have someone collect stuff like that, perhaps she is saving or waiting to have enough to warrant getting a skip which can be cheaper. If it bothers you that much offer to pay, but I guess it doesn't annoy you enough to do that.

@Ladyof
I'd literally hire a skip and have it delivered to her drive and go and help her fill it then get house on market ASAP before she clutters up again

My friend had this issue only her neighbour wasn't so nice. She managed to sell to an investor but right before exchange they suddenly dropped their offer unless my friend could get the rubbish cleared up- she couldn't, because it wasn't her property and the woman was awful to deal with so they took the revised offer. They never reported to the council because they didn't want to have to declare it when they sold, I don't know if that's accurate or not but worth bearing in mind. I'd probably have a chat with her, but you might well still sell depending what demand in your area is like.

If she's lovely I think that makes it easier as opposed to someone you're scared of or don't get on with.

I'd talk to her openly like other people are suggesting - just explain about the house and how it would help. Offer to do it! Maybe she wants it all gone too but hasn't been able to move it.

People have the right to have junk in their gardens if they like. I object to my neighbours pristine manicured lawns, hideously disciplined tulips and shrubs, and bizarre overuse of pesticides and herbicides, but I realise there is nothing I can do about it.

Is it really that bad?

I must admit I have some rubbish piled up at the side of the house waiting to go to the tip. It doesn’t look great but hopefully I’ll get round to it next week. There’s no point in going for just a few things.