Apartment Building Next Door and What to Do

coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 10:30

Home owner with an adjacent apartment building (not part of the same complex or strata) has a few issues that are concerning since it's creating an environment that is less than desirable:

1) one of the top level apartment tenants constantly throws rubbish onto the common garden. This includes bike helmets, clothes, painting easels and fruit.

2) One of the garages has had someone living in it for at least a few months. Now a second one has someone living in it and they have an extension cable going from the window of the garage, through common property, into an apartment.

Who do I report these things to ? Council ? It's concerning because this would affect our property value living next to an apartment complex that is becoming slum like.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • 87percent on 09/01/2022 - 10:32
    +8

    check for a body corporate sign on the property, and contact them?

  • cookie2 on 09/01/2022 - 10:37
    +5

    Rubbish, I'd contact council first. Then have a chat to the cops and check if can assist. Obviously proof would assist you. Then I'd try and contact strata etc or check if property is a rental. If rental, just contact the property management agency. The unfortunate part of houses getting smaller and not everyone having the same "standards" for common spaces and keeping things clean.

    • Melb69 on 09/01/2022 - 11:04
      +4

      Police wouldn't be able to do anything. Try Council as the planning permit would only allow accommodation number to the allocated beds. The garages would be required car spaces for permit. At a guess the unit holders are subletting space. As for rubbish, just see if you can have a word with that occupant. Politely mention their rubbish is falling into your yard. Can I just say IMO some of these unit occupants don't give an f about what they do. So don't expect anything to change. Ying and yang. Some day they may want help and you can just say to them. GetFd

      • Nugs on 09/01/2022 - 11:23
        +2

        Retaliation is a concern based on already poor care levels. Next step they might tip their chamber pot out…..
        .

        • hueylewis on 10/01/2022 - 08:18

          'chamber pot' lol i love it. might end up on the horse and carriage…

      • Quantumcat on 09/01/2022 - 11:30
        +6

        Talking to neighbours about things they do that concern you may not often have a good effect. If it is a genuine misunderstanding or accident it can help but not when it is deliberate (ie doing something that they clearly know will annoy somebody or is a wrong thing to do). If they are capable of doing something antisocial then just asking them not to is not going to deter them as they already know it's wrong. And if they are antisocial enough to do these things, they also might be antisocial enough to retaliate eg key your car, knock over your letterbox, smash a window.

      • coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 12:25
        +3

        Thanks.

        As the other replies have said, talking to them would escalate it definitely. The occupant has a history of screaming on his phone and general behaviour that 100% leads me to believe that discussing with him would lead to a fight (And i'm not a small guy, i'm 6ft and stocky) that I don't want to entertain.

        • Daabido on 09/01/2022 - 15:49
          +8

          Never bring a working brain to a junkie fight.

        • HeadTheWall on 10/01/2022 - 15:19

          Yeah, you don't accidentally throw your rubbish off your balcony multiple times. These scumbags know what they are doing and they don't give a F so discussing it with them is an idiotic idea

  • El cheepo on 09/01/2022 - 11:27

    1) report the litter if you have proof.
    Wa makes it fairly easy, https://www.kabc.wa.gov.au/report-littering
    Not sure if it’s Australia wide?

    2) how do you know they are living there if it’s not your building?
    An extension cord doesn’t prove a lot.

    3) how many bike helmets?

    • coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 12:23
      +1

      1) cheers. I'll check relevant Sydney site.
      2) Curtains on the garage door, sofa bed inside, bordered up windows.
      3) One, from last night. The rest of the rubbish is quite an eyesore.

      • El cheepo on 09/01/2022 - 13:08

        Report the littering with proof, might not stop it but might make you feel like its at least getting dealt with slowly.

        Still not a great deal of proof of someone living there, could be furniture getting stored in there or used for a mancave etc
        Maybe secretly report it to the strata or building management by letter if it really bothers you.

        Depending on the building they may escalate it. (My mums building in Sydney put a picture of her up on the wall and shamed her for not breaking up boxes correctly before putting them in recycling 😂)

      • Chandler on 10/01/2022 - 08:39

        2) Curtains on the garage door, sofa bed inside, bordered up windows.

        Boarded, for future reference 😊

  • brotherfranciz on 09/01/2022 - 11:28
    +7

    I actually had something similar happen where a neighbour in a multi-unit development would throw their bags of dog shit over their balcony into our property. Yes, you read that right - bags of dog poop. Their balcony was screened but we could occasionally see the silhouette of the person and a dog so we were pretty confident it was them.

    We actually first had to install security cameras to see where these shitbags were even coming from. Once we had the footage, we slowly figured out the rest (it took ages to figure out wtf was going on - it seemed like these bags of poop were dropping from the sky or something…).

    The poopbags would land everywhere - on our common driveway (we live in a row of six units ourselves), in another neighbour's backyard, even on their own carport roof, as well as our garage roof, which made a loud massive bang noise whenever a bag of shit hit the roof…

    We contacted their body corp and also did a letter drop to all units within that multi-unit development, which resolved the situation.

    Some people are f'ing weirdos.

    • mbck on 09/01/2022 - 11:39

      Wtf?? You must must stuffed in the head to think doing that is ok.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 12:22
      +2

      I want to say that it's mental illness but some people are just lazy/entitled. that sounds horrible.

    • Sweetnsour on 10/01/2022 - 22:30

      You should've returned the poop bags in a package marked from Amazon.

      But seriously throwing objects out of high rise apartments are deemed criminal offence in China.

  • Quantumcat on 09/01/2022 - 11:32

    Extension cord doesn't mean someone is living there, they might be running a washing machine or dryer that doesn't fit in their apartment, or charging an electric vehicle (not necessarily a car, could be a scooter or bike).

    • coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 12:21

      In this instance, yes, there are drapes over the garage entrance and the window has been covered with stuff. I saw in once and there's a sofa in there.

    • yippy on 09/01/2022 - 13:19
      +2

      Running a washer and dryer in the garage is a bit hard to believe. Where is the water coming from and where is it draining to?

      • Quantumcat on 09/01/2022 - 13:22

        Good point there will be no water for a washing machine. A dryer though.

        • ihbh on 09/01/2022 - 16:17
          +5

          Could be mining in the garage.

  • rektrading on 09/01/2022 - 11:33

    Home owner with an adjacent apartment building (not part of the same complex or strata)

    Does this mean on a different block of land? If yes, then why does it have to do with the homeowner?

    • coffeeinmyveins on 09/01/2022 - 12:21

      Yep

      then why does it have to do with the homeowner?

      Balcony overlooks this common area with rubbish all over it, and the garages that are being lived in. Regardless of the visual impact of looking at this, it is starting to turn that apartment block into a bit of a slum.

      • rektrading on 09/01/2022 - 14:21
        -3

        Slums don't suddenly appear out of nowhere.

        They're more common in disadvantaged suburbs than affluent suburbs. It would be reasonable to assume that the suburb is on lower end of town or that it's trending in that direction.

    • dcep on 09/01/2022 - 12:38

      just saying op is not a renter , can't complain to landlord/agent

      or tenant complained to op

  • SF3 on 09/01/2022 - 12:26
    +1

    It the long run, hope they rezone your land (sell for more?) and move to a new place.

    • hellousyd on 09/01/2022 - 12:29
      +1

      If OP is a neighbour, there is a large chance their property is already zoned for higher capacity residential development. Maybe they don’t want to sell yet, or maybe their lot isn’t large enough. (Might need to combine 2 seperate blocks together to build apartments).

      • dcep on 09/01/2022 - 12:40

        maybe they want to harass op to move / sell

  • thatonethere on 09/01/2022 - 13:35

    All body corporate issues.

    The extension cable could be a fire hazard.

    The body corporate insurance may not cover for people living in the garage.

  • kiitos on 10/01/2022 - 08:33

    Sounds like you're in an apartment, what do other tenants of your block think?

    • 82norm on 10/01/2022 - 12:16

      He’s the neighbour, adjoining the property, outside of that there is no other association. The tenants or whoever they are are just douchebags and need a beat down.

      • kiitos on 10/01/2022 - 21:42

        But it sounded like from this:

        an adjacent apartment building (not part of the same complex or strata)

        that OP was also in an apartment building.

  • OzHunterNSW on 10/01/2022 - 13:41

    Been there… don't say anything to them… they will toss their shit down onto your property… you can not reason with these sort of people… I would say they are part of a "housing service"…

    It is occurring on private property. You complain to your realestate hand have them deal with it. It is their responsibility, not your responsibility, even if they are not on the RE portfolio.

    Council has no jurisdiction.

    • morse on 15/01/2022 - 08:49

      Council does has jurisdiction. There are zoning and building rules. It’s not actually legal to live in a garage, under most circumstances - though usually if it’s safe and not bothering anyone nobody cares. Same way in some areas you can’t just have someone living in a caravan at your house, or open a bar in your garage.

  • morse on 15/01/2022 - 08:44

    1) throwing bikes of balconies is dangerous that’s a police issue.

    2) person living in garage is a council issue.

    Is the building next door public housing? That might also an option.

    Generally you can also make reports anonymously, but you may be more successful if you’re not anonymous.

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