One woman was left less than impressed when she bought a house, only to realise her next-door neighbours were renting and letting their property get into disrepair, which was affecting her.
She explained that she’d “finally” bought her own place, but had noticed that her neighbours live a “very easy-going lifestyle” and they’ve “neglected their garden to the point where it’s become an inaccessible forest”. However, this wasn’t all bad, as she’d managed to “clear all the overhanging trees”.
But one distressing issue was her neighbour’s dog. She fumed: “However, they have a large dog, and it’s made a mess of their patio with its excrement.
“I don’t mean a little bit; there are enormous piles of dog mess all over, some right next to the fence that divides our gardens. About 10 piles large enough that you’d think a horse made them”.
She was repulsed by this, pointing out that she was unable to use her garden to its full potential, because “the smell is horrid”.
In fact, she even said she couldn’t even have her back door open because the smell seeps into her home when she has it open.
“I can’t even open my back door because there’s so much of it that I can smell it from inside when the door is open. They must not have a sense of smell,” she fumed on Reddit‘s ‘Neighbours from Hell’ forum.
“How they can live like that is beyond me,” she pointed out, but she wanted to confront the issue, but didn’t have a clue about how to approach it with them, as she didn’t want to cause drama.
She said that she didn’t want to “get off on the wrong foot” with them, as she’s only just moved, and doesn’t “have a partner” for backup.
“How should I approach this? Just politely ask them to clear up their dog’s mess? I can’t think of a way to hide the smell on my side,” she wrote.
Thankfully for the resident, there’s a solution to the problem. Many encouraged her to speak to them directly and escalate to the landlord if the matter isn’t resolved.
One wrote: “They’re upsetting you by living in filth. There’s already tension on your end. Who cares if they take it personally? That’s disgusting. Get some cameras before you report them if you think they’ll retaliate. Or. Or! OR! Just go talk to them”.
Another recommended: “Contact their landlord. I’m sure they wouldn’t like them doing that.” A third agreed, commenting: “They don’t need to know anyone reported them. Landlord is just dropping by, normal practice, to check on their property. Sees it being used as a canine latrine.”
And a fourth added: “You can report that to your local code enforcement and or health department as not cleaning up dog waste is a health/code violation.”