Adjoining house infested with Pigeons

[heroic]

I live in a semi-detached house and my neighbour has pigeons nested in their solar panels - I reckon about 50.

This is causing issues with mess (aka poo) on the roof which is also blocking the gutters regularly. When it rains, like today, the gutters overflow. Basically they are blocked with poo.

I now have to go up a ladder which is tricky as I am not very mobile and clear my side of the gutters which is not a nice experience at all! Even then, theirs are still blocked. I have spoken politely to my neighbour but they have done nothing (e.g. making the solar panels pigeon proof). We share gutters and the fall pipes are on their side (front and back) so my rain water cannot flow away.

It's getting very difficult to deal with this as they 'control' the situation. I cannot 'force them to do anything' can I? Do they have responsibilities? Any suggestions?

Thank you.

[echat11]

Hi HEROIC

I think you should consider writing to your neighbor, put your position across, but be courteous (send it with certificate of posting). Tell them what the issue is (see link), tell them they need to do something about the problem or you will consider further action. See what their response is, if you aren't happy with it, contact Environmental Health at your local council, who will come out and inspect (send pictures to them). You need to keep your neighbors onboard because you live next door to them.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ho...here-you-live/

https://bpca.org.uk/News-and-Blog/pu...ird-management

[heroic]

Hi HEROIC

I think you should consider writing to your neighbor, put your position across, but be courteous (send it with certificate of posting). Tell them what the issue is (see link), tell them they need to do something about the problem or you will consider further action. See what their response is, if you aren't happy with it, contact Environmental Health at your local council, who will come out and inspect (send pictures to them). You need to keep your neighbors onboard because you live next door to them.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ho...here-you-live/

https://bpca.org.uk/News-and-Blog/pu...ird-management

Thank you for the advice, I must admit I hadn't thought of it as an environmental / health issue but upon reading up you might be right!....

"All of these have their own problems associated with them. Particularly in the summer months, bird guano is very bad for people with respiratory problems and can create health problems for more susceptible people. Even in winter, this is a disgusting and unwanted addition to your home, garden, car etc that just gets worse every week.

The final major issue, and potentially the worst of all is that all pigeons carry one or the other of the following bird mites: the northern fowl mite (Ornithonyssus Sylvarium) or more problematically the red fowl mite (Dermanyssus Calinae). These are effectively microscopic bedbugs. If the birds are left for longer periods of time, the mites tend to crawl through the roof and invade the house below.

These mites are very difficult to treat but are also an extremely uncomfortable and upsetting pest to have. As the first signs that you have bird mites is that your skin starts to crawl every time you are in an area. They often go unnoticed in homes for months. This is very bad for the residents as then by the time they notice them, they will almost definitely have a full infestation of the house". - from 'DirectSolarCare' website

Yuck, just yuck.