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What authority do the council hold over me as a freeholder?
Hello everybody,
As some context to my query, I have a mortgage on my property and am the freeholder, and my neighbours are council tenants. One of our neighbours is also currently under bail conditions not to contact us following a barrage of unprovoked abuse and threats we received one evening when he was under the influence of what seemed like rocket fuel.
Now, with the above in mind, I’ve had a letter through from my local council titled ‘Alleged accumulation of rubbish in the back garden’ - in a nutshell, one of our neighbours has put a complaint in (I’m 99.99% it’s monsieur rocket fuel - but that’s my own opinion). It is an allegation of storing household rubbish in my garden, which I don’t - I put it out for collection once a week like most folk.
Now, before you start picturing scenes from the TV show ‘Shameless’, it’s actually building debris (brick, timber, old kitchen tiles etc) which I’ve been clearing over the past few weekends as we are currently renovating our house - and it isn’t even that bad. I predict another weekend and it will be gone.
So coming back to this letter I’ve received from the council, I’m wondering what authority they actually have over me as a freeholder of the land? In their letter they have reference two pieces of legislation, but have not referenced a section or sub-section that I could possibly have contravened. I’m going to call the council tomorrow as I want to discuss the letter. Now, hypothetically, if I had a garden full of rubbish, what could they actually do, under what grounds?
Sorry for rambling, I’m just a bit incredulous that this letter has come through for a few bricks and joists, from a neighbour on bail who is clearly trying to play political tennis over our fence. The old, ‘You get the CPS to prosecute me; I’ll complain to the council about your garden. Two can play that game!’
Thanks everybody
Danny
As some context to my query, I have a mortgage on my property and am the freeholder, and my neighbours are council tenants. One of our neighbours is also currently under bail conditions not to contact us following a barrage of unprovoked abuse and threats we received one evening when he was under the influence of what seemed like rocket fuel.
Now, with the above in mind, I’ve had a letter through from my local council titled ‘Alleged accumulation of rubbish in the back garden’ - in a nutshell, one of our neighbours has put a complaint in (I’m 99.99% it’s monsieur rocket fuel - but that’s my own opinion). It is an allegation of storing household rubbish in my garden, which I don’t - I put it out for collection once a week like most folk.
Now, before you start picturing scenes from the TV show ‘Shameless’, it’s actually building debris (brick, timber, old kitchen tiles etc) which I’ve been clearing over the past few weekends as we are currently renovating our house - and it isn’t even that bad. I predict another weekend and it will be gone.
So coming back to this letter I’ve received from the council, I’m wondering what authority they actually have over me as a freeholder of the land? In their letter they have reference two pieces of legislation, but have not referenced a section or sub-section that I could possibly have contravened. I’m going to call the council tomorrow as I want to discuss the letter. Now, hypothetically, if I had a garden full of rubbish, what could they actually do, under what grounds?
Sorry for rambling, I’m just a bit incredulous that this letter has come through for a few bricks and joists, from a neighbour on bail who is clearly trying to play political tennis over our fence. The old, ‘You get the CPS to prosecute me; I’ll complain to the council about your garden. Two can play that game!’
Thanks everybody
Danny
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