Advice on neighbours

Hi, our neighbour was recently laying some new turf on their land. We watched them losen their subsoil and since they recently built, the soil was filled with builder's waste eg broken tiles, pvc pipes etc. We came home a few hours later and we found the same soil/rubbish they were scraping earlier on our land. We let our neighbours know. Our neighbour called the landscapers back. They were at our place less than 5 mins and basically said it was not their rubbish and left. Now, one week later, the same landscaper sent us a bill for $45!!!! He wrote


How ridiculous! We know it was their rubbish. We were willing to leave it as we are yet to do our landscaping. But I am cheesed off at this bill!! Not only that, the landscaper is from the same street as us. He could have told the neighbour it wasn't his and that's it. But the fact that he charged US for it is unethical and unfair.

My question is, is there any governing body out there that we can complain to?

By the way, this is the same neighbour who built a retaining wall 1 metre into our land, who also dumped their excavated soil during their build onto our land, who also used our land as access way for their bobcat without permission, just to name a few!

Just ignore the bill and run the landscaper over next time you see him. I'm not a vengeful person, just fair.

Considering the landscaper is from your street, place the rubbish on his front lawn and then deny that it came from your place.

What's good for the goose.....

thanks mikkyG. I'm not sure about running the guy over though! But maybe curse his nursery store!!

Mel&Em, the landscaper owns the nursey on our street. I just don't understand why he is doing this!!\? I would never step into his store. I wish I can name them and tell people don't use him for landscaping. Imagine $45 for 5 mins!

Oooh both good answers mikkyg and Mel&Em!

I would just ignore the bill. Why not name & shame sammy?

Here is the key.

As you did not engage the landscaper to move the rubbish, I would suggest you are not liable

ok, its The North Rock$ Greenery in North rocks NSW! Apparently they are part of some accreditations- which include ethical conduct. Called their association and he pretty much said don't pay them but they don't have any power to investigate. At least this nursery is on their radar! I would be very careful dealing with these guys especially the owner.

I agree Adrian. The reason he doesn't charge our neighbour was because they are old friends.

Maybe I'm getting confused here, but the sequence seems to be:

- Neighbour lays turf, discovers rubbish in soil
- Neighbour dumps rubbish on your land

Isn't the crucial point here that your neighbour dumped crap on your block ?

Send it back to the landscaper with a "NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS" on the front.

What a delicious idea - good one !!

I like this one!!

But Cabinfever has a good point.

I would do absolutely nothing - ignore the bill and any subsequent reminders - are they really going to chase up a bill like this when they must know they don't have a leg to stand on?
If you feel really nice, return the bill with a simple objective explanation and leave it at that.

We once recieved a bill for a pornographic download service, at the time we didn't even have the internet, we refused to pay it and they threatened to take us to court - OK, we know we are in the right, you can do that.

Never heard from them again.

I doubt if you will hear from this lot again either.

I would actually go and see them, I know what I said, but really it would be too tempting not to go and front them, and laugh at the suggestion you owe them money for doing nothing. Maybe they are being smart ar*es and don't expect payment, just stirring the pot.

OR......get a funny card, one with a laughing cat on the front, I have seen them....and put the bill in it and send it back...with no words

Just bad mouth them whenever you can. And DON'T pay the bill.

A letter to your local newspaper might help too, but be careful about naming names.

How RUDE! Not a great way to start out your relationship with the neighbours. I wouldn't pay it, and as tempting as vengence is, probably better in the long run to let it go. Wait and see if they bother sending a reminder, doubt they'd bother though. What an arrogant clown. He obviously has a lot of time on his hands - probably indicative of how his business is going hehe!

Just send a letter back (including his bill) in the envelope.telling him that you are prepared to defend yourself in court. Any small claims court will laugh at this. Oh and tell him youll be making a counter claim for time spent preparing for court and for the removal of his trash.

What a joke!......It's a shame that a fair number of people these days just dump the rubbish wherever they can. It's even more frustrating when you KNOW who it was!!! I wouldn't pay the bill.........and now I will make sure i never use their services

thanks everyone. We have discussed all our options and decided to leave it alone and ignore the bill. I just don't understand why some people are like that. In fact, we were there first, then this new neighbour moved in.

Absolutely, we confronted them and they said they were not home, it was their contractor. And that is why they called the landscaper back. And hence the BILL! But excellent point.




Great idea, except we don't want to spend more time on their crap!

Helyn, SuH I think the landscaper is trying to cause trouble. He built our neighbour's retaining wall 1 metre into ours and refused to cut it until we threaten to sue them. They finally cut (not the full 1 metre off) the section after numerous letters and angst between the neighbours. Which our neighbour accused us of NOT being neighbourly and sexual discrimination (as she is a woman!). What the ????



Thanks Jellylegs, it is my thoughts exactly! Spoke to him on the phone and he was very rude and arrogant. I have a feeling they (neighbour and landscaper are old friends) are trying to bully us as we are quite young, I also have a feeling they are a bit racist (this is the first time I said this about anyone in my whole life).

His business must be very quiet if he has time to print an invoice, hand written a few choice words, buy a stamp and post it! No wonder, if you treat other people like this!

Stu, DH wanted to invoice the guy as well, for the time we wasted getting them to remove their rubbish! But we didn't want this to get messy. We have never encountered anybody that would sink so low to cause so much unhappiness!

Don't even go there Flissfloss!! Tell friends, neighbours, whatever, don't go near them!

We decide not to pursue this further and hope that it will go away. Or neighbours move away This will be my xmas wish.