Domestic refuse problem from neighbours.

T

Tormented

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Hi

over last couple of weeks I became aware of an escalating rat infestation in my garden. I live in a large town. We are always very careful with our refuse bins and never put out food for birds ect and we own no animals.

On investigating further, I have discovered that the occupiers of a house which borders my property have over the last few months been throwing their domestic rubbish (in black refuse bags) over the boundary wall (6 ' high) into my property. I did not notice this until yesterday as this is a part of the property that is unused, overgrown and quite inaccessable.

I was shocked to see the extent of the dumping, and it is very obvious which house it is coming from, I think that the house ( new) is being rented. I am going to find out more today. These people have wheelie bins etc, it looks like they are too lazy or are not willing to pay to have the bins emptied. These are aged between 20 - 30 years old and seem to be working, car owners etc.

I have not approached the tenants yet as I am trying to determine the best course of action to take here, who should I see first to complain, The Garda, Enviornmental Health Officer Co Council, HSE. Health Officer.

I would appreciate any help in dealing with this one,


Tormented..................
 
HI
I would contact the local county council as they will send someone out to go through the rubbish. They might find something in the bags that could prove who put it there
 
Hi Mumof3angels

thanks for that, I did not realise that the council would send someone out to go through the bags, I am also going to take photos of rubbish today.

Thanks again for suggestion

Tormented
 
I'd be very sorely tempted to throw the rubbish back. You could try complaining to a) the environmental health officer b) the landlord c) the tenants. Be careful, people who do this may not be pleasant to deal with and be sure it's them before you accuse them?
 
Hi Tormented,

As far as I am aware, the HSE is the body to contact as they employ environmental health officers. Here is a link to their leaflet on [broken link removed]. According to this document "under existing legislation the control of rodents is the responsibility of the occupier of the premises in which rodent infestation is evident".

Personally I wouldn't attempt to go near the people you believe are responsible but hopefully you will find the authorities able to help you very quickly. This link about the Environmental Protection Agency's [broken link removed] may be helpful. The callsave number given there is 1850 365 121.

From citizensinformation.ie: "If your local authority finds material that is illegally dumped and establishes the identity of the owner of the material, that person will have a case to answer without necessarily having to be caught in the act. In addition, extra powers are also available to your local authority to require a householder or business operator to indicate how and where they are disposing of their waste. This is particularly relevant if the householder or business owner is not availing of a refuse collection service or is not bringing their waste to an authorised disposal facility."

I hope this helps.
 
Hi all

thank you all for your help with my problem. I called in the council litter warden, an extremely kind and helpful man, who went through the rubbish by hand and asertained where the rubbish was coming from, however I was advised that as the rubbish was on private property and cannot be seen , viewed from a public road, its basically my problem. The warden did say, that if I cleaned up the rubbish and put it back into bags he would have it collected for me. This is fair enough, its a days dirty hard work clearing up someones rubbish while they laugh at me from the window.

What happens next day when they throw another bag in ? drove past this house today after the inspection by the litter warden and at least 5 nasty looking guys were smirking across. The litter warden said he was powerless, and the Guards could do nothing except refer the matter back to the litter warden. The house is rented and I discovered the name of the agency renting it, I will contact them tomorrow.

Sad carryon, is it not ?


Tormented
 
It's probably in your favour that the house is rented, as I imagine any lease from an agency could be terminated early if the tenants are engaging in anti-social activities.

We had a problem on our road with tenants blaring music all the time and several of us took to phoning the letting agent daily to complain and after a while I think they got so sick of the complaints they dealt with the problem properly. So don't give up too easily!

Good luck. Let us know how you're getting on.

Edit to ask:
Did the Gardai say why all they could do was refer it back to the litter warden? I don't think that is acceptable. Dumping is illegal, so basically a crime has been committed against you. At the least, I believe offenders can be fined - if I find a link I'll post it for you.
Perhaps a chat with your local councillors might be helpful, local elections coming up and they're all looking for votes.
 
Tormented said:
What happens next day when they throw another bag in ? drove past this house today after the inspection by the litter warden and at least 5 nasty looking guys were smirking across.
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You need to be very careful if you think they are dangerous. If you are friendly with a guard they may be able to confirm to you if they are dangerous or just annoying. Do everything by the book. Make a written complaint to the agency, the gardai and the council, send them by registered post. Registered post gets a different response to over the phone etc. and this means they have to reply or do something. I don't believe the fact the rubbish is not in public view means that it's your problem. If dumping is illegal it's illegal.
 
Bronte said:
I'd be very sorely tempted to throw the rubbish back.
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I would get in touch with the landlord and explain to him or her that you are throwing all the rubbish back over the wall and that you will be billing him for

1. the days work.

2. protective clothes, gloves and masks

3. billing him for getting a rat exterminator out.

4. billing him for putting a 12' fence up over your wall

Send it by registered post and wait for the response.
 
That's made me think if both the gardai and the environmental officer say nothing the tenants have done is wrong, therefore you throwing it back is also ok as you would be doing nothing wrong too?
 
There must be some law to stop people dumping on your property.

If not the next time my kitchen bin needs to emptied I'll bring it down to the nearest politicians home and dump it in his garden.
I wonder how long it will be before a law is passed to stop that behaviour.
 
Bronte said:
That's made me think if both the gardai and the environmental officer say nothing the tenants have done is wrong, therefore you throwing it back is also ok as you would be doing nothing wrong too?
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That's not exactly a solution to the problem, is it?
 
You're right DavidDublin, but I hate state bodies basically being nice but telling you to deal with it yourself. This from a landlord who has done the disgusting mucky work of filling tenant's househhold waste left in the garden into binbags because they couldn't be bother to put out the bins on time even though it was paid for by me. I did tell the OP to stay within the law. Most important.
 
Hi all ,

thank you all for your help

I apologise for my misleading text regarding my comment on the Gardai, the suggestion that the Guards would actually pass it back to the Litter warden was from the Litter warden himself, I have to take the man at his word as he deals with this every day. I was putting off contacting the Gardai to see how the Litter warden got on.

However the good news is:

I spoke to the warden today and he has been in contact with the letting agency of the house in question, he has assured me that the tenants will be visited by the agency in the company of the litter warden and tackled about the problem. The warden said that the impression he got from the agency was that these are problem clients and were on their way soon .
He is of the opinion that the agency will clean up the mess. Seemingly the house is becoming vacant from the 20 th of this month.

Lets see what what happens today

If no action, I will clean up mess, and bill the agency accordingly.

Thanks again all, I will keep you updated
 
Tormented said:
Hi all
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This is brilliant news Are we all fools, I have been paying a fortune to have my rubbish collected for so many years even this year its come down to €399 and all I had to do is throw it into some private property away from the road and someone else would gather it up or leave it and nothing can be done to me, I don't believe what this warden said to you. You could get a big fine for throwing a cig butt out, God its funny the law works in mysterious ways !!!
 
So let me get this straight - you can dump you rubbish on other peoples private property, and there is nothing anyone can do about it as long as it's out of sight? Remarkable. You should definitely bring this up with Joe.
 
shnaek said:
So let me get this straight - you can dump you rubbish on other peoples private property, and there is nothing anyone can do about it as long as it's out of sight? Remarkable. You should definitely bring this up with Joe.
Click to expand...
Did you read the rest of the thread? It seems the litter warden has been working away regarding the situation as the OP posted a further update:

 
The problem really for the litter warden is that it is private property so he should have no say whatsoever on what things go on there.

Those lads don't have to listen to a single thing he says.

Imagine a situation where the litter warden comes to your house about the pile of bricks you have in your garden and says you have been littering.

Or you call to your friend calls to your house with a bag of shopping and forgets its is there 2 months later it becomes rubbish does the warden have the right to come to your house then.
 
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