Latest news with #neighbour
Irish Times
a day ago
- General
- Irish Times
My neighbour has been dumping their rubbish in my back garden and trespassing. What can I do?
I have recently inherited my parents' property, which includes some land bordering the west and south sides of a neighbour's property . The land has grown wild over time and a lot of it, particularly the boundary area with this neighbour, is obscured from vision. In the past couple of months, I have worked my way through the overgrowth to inspect the boundary and found a number of issues relating to the neighbour. They have been actively dumping over the boundary wall for some time. This includes loose ashes, loose organic waste and plastic bags of same, as well as old gutter pipes, other building and gardening scrap items. Additionally, I noticed that a Ring camera with a very wide viewing angle is installed on the neighbour's gable end. The camera is obviously directed over the boundary wall into my property. I have evidence that this camera is actively detecting motion on my property from quite a distance away. At some point, the neighbour also employed someone to go onto my property and cut away a large swathe of the overgrowth. Presumably they felt they had a right because a hedge may have been growing over to their side, but the cleared area is approximately seven metres back from the boundary and is easily more than 10 metres in length. The neighbour also has a long-standing shed built up against the boundary which has, more recently, had a waste pipe extended out the back wall across the boundary. It is hanging in mid-air within my property, excreting what I presume is water vapour from an oil burner in the shed. READ MORE I have approached the neighbour directly, but she doesn't really seem to care. The waste pipe has been cut and is now downturned on to the boundary. There are now a large number of waste bags piled on the corner of her site, ready to tip over into mine. I will not be surprised if local wildlife tear these bags to bits. I have approached the council, which has 'suggested' to her that she use the local waste collection service, which she shares with a sibling a few houses over. She has not shown any inclination to do this. I'm worried that the only way I can force her hand into rectifying these issues is to contact a solicitor to take a civil case against her. If at all possible, I do not want to go down this road. Are there any other actions I can take that might motivate this neighbour to get herself back into a legally correct position regarding these issues? Thank you. The dumping of domestic waste on adjoining properties is, unfortunately, quite a widespread practice, but one which is generally confined to locations that are overgrown or out of sight of the property owner concerned. The perpetrators can dump conveniently and undetected for some time. This is what has happened in your case. You are fortunate that the boundary is clearly defined by a wall, otherwise a contentious dumping issue could develop into a boundary location dispute. You are right to be concerned about taking a civil case. However, it is prudent to deal with it as if you were preparing the groundwork for a civil case. This means you should document all relevant data, including the nature of the dumping, trespassing, damage and dates of events including details of conversations etc. Check to see if the dumped material contains any item that directly links your neighbour to it. Your evidence should include photographs. You should also monitor the situation as frequently as possible. Patrick Shine is a chartered geomatics surveyor, a chartered civil engineer and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland Your best course of action would be to approach your neighbour again, restate your concerns and, without accusing her directly, put the situation in context by explaining to her that the dumping is in breach of the 1996 Waste Management Act and that you will be obliged to make a formal report to the local council. You should also point out that the cutting of overgrowth on your land is an issue of trespass and damage that you will have to report to the gardai. You should explain that the Ring camera position is in breach of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and is a matter for the Data Protection Commissioner. Despite the seriousness of the situation, your approach should be conciliatory and expressed in a tone that seeks an amicable resolution. In effect, you would be asking her to consider the situation and giving her an opportunity to see what she can do to resolve the issue. As your land borders the west and south sides of her property, your overgrown hedge is likely to be preventing direct sunshine to her property from late morning to late evening. This may be an issue and if so, you could consider offering to cut back or reduce the height of some of the hedge, as part of building a cooperative relationship with her. [ I'm worried about our home being devalued because our neighbour's trees block light. What can we do? Opens in new window ] [ My son lives abroad and wants to sell his house here but the tenant won't move out. What can he do? Opens in new window ] You may feel that this approach is too conciliatory, but this issue can go one of two ways. Either your neighbour is persuaded to cooperate and remove the dumped material, or she ignores you and leaves you with little option but to get legal advice, which risks escalating the situation into litigation. This is the route you said you want to avoid. Another reason for avoiding litigation is that your evidence is largely circumstantial. You do not have direct evidence of her dumping, trespassing or damaging your hedge. An option you could consider, if your neighbour refuses to cooperate, is to clear the overgrowth. This action is undesirable from an environmental perspective and subject to seasonal restrictions. However, as people are unlikely to dump waste across their boundary on property that is open to view and well maintained, it may transpire to be your only option. Patrick Shine is a chartered geomatics surveyor, a chartered civil engineer and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland Do you have a query? Email propertyquestions@ This column is a readers' service. The content of the Property Clinic is provided for general information only. It is not intended as advice on which readers should rely. Professional or specialist advice should be obtained before persons take or refrain from any action on the basis of the content. The Irish Times and its contributors will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on any content.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Nadine O'Regan: An only child is a lonely child? We're sure about our decision not to try again
The other day our little boy had his first trial run at Montessori with me in tow to encourage him. He picked out a doll from a selection in a cart in the middle of the toy-filled room, dressed her in some snazzy going-out gear, waved his fellow toddlers goodbye and promptly tried to leave with her. As far as he was concerned, that morning he didn't attend Montessori. He went to the 'baby shop', as he called it. The following weekend, in case he hadn't made his feelings clear enough, he pointed to our neighbour's child in their buggy. 'Mom, baby!' he said, turning to jab his finger in the direction of our house. There are lots of questions you wrestle with as a couple doing IVF . But one thing you never think of – or at least I didn't during that tough period – was how it might feel to have a baby, and then wake up one day to discover that your baby, now a sturdy, funny and determined toddler, thinks that you having a second child would be a great idea. I met my now husband just weeks before my 40th birthday. Everything we have been given since then has felt like a gift. I didn't necessarily expect to become a mother – I'd never spent much time thinking about having children before meeting my husband – but once it happened, it was life-changing. I miss aspects of my old life – the freedom to casually choose to go to a gig, read a book or travel chief among them – but as a friend said, 'There will be time for all of that again', and they're right. I am 100 per cent in my mom era and most of the time absolutely loving it. So it's been a surprise – and not of the good kind – to find that even when you think you've won, there are still losses on the way. An only child is a lonely child? I'd never heard that expression before having our baby. But it rings in my head now: the fear of what it means for him that he will be denied a sibling. Even though we're sure about our decision not to try again, with age as a determining factor, it remains a complex choice and a hard one. I'm one of five children, and I grew up taking the idea of having tons of siblings for granted. I know we're part of a trend. People are having children later and they are faced with more stressors than before: high mortgages or rents, the question of how to care for ageing parents, and far greater job insecurity. Small wonder that from being a rarity a generation ago, we one-child families are becoming a practical answer to the impossible question of how to live well in these times. And besides, we're lucky. We have the benefit of a large extended family, and for all that our little fellow might miss having a sibling, he has undivided attention from his parents (and by undivided I mean we're ridiculous), more possibilities financially and the space to develop at his own pace, without the potentially controlling effect of siblings. READ MORE [ Brianna Parkins: Growing up without siblings, I knew I was on to a good thing Opens in new window ] Our little boy also happens to live on a street in Dublin where the sense of community is enormous. Already he has friends – aged from a sparky two right up to a wise old 11 – knocking on the door every evening to ask if he can come out to play. Looking for me at 6pm? I'm often to be found marshalling a colourful squad of pint-sized balance bikers on the avenue in our cul-de-sac. I'm surprised by how much it reminds me of how I grew up in the 1980s, where, in our small clearing of houses in the countryside outside Skibbereen in west Cork, we'd spend long summer days kicking a ball around, fashioning goalposts from jumpers, playing hopscotch, picking blackberries, cycling bikes and going on exciting adventures, daring each other to climb up trees and jump from walls, and coming in at the end of the day sweaty and happy and thoroughly spent. [ June Shannon: Having children is expensive. Having them in Ireland is incredibly expensive Opens in new window ] At our neighbourhood street party in Dublin recently, flower decorations were wound around the trees, there were trestle tables heaped with platters of salad and cream cakes supplied by the neighbours, there was giant Jenga for the kids, a petting zoo and a bagpipes-led parade. There was an egg-and-spoon race, street bowling, a barbecue, a dog show and competition (all charges of favouritism hotly disputed) and a tug-of-war between odd and evenly-numbered houses. There was no kid there who didn't have a smile on their face at the end of the day. For the adults, a singsong went on well into the night. [ Why we need to bring back 'risky play' for children Opens in new window ] John McGahern has a line in one of his books, that happiness is best recognised in retrospect. That may be true. But it's also worth trying to recognise happiness in the present moment. There are many ways to find ties that bind. Sarah Moss returns next week
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
No jail term for ‘neighbour from hell' who lay in wait to pull out woman's hair
A 'neighbour from hell' caught on CCTV attacking a woman by pulling out her hair has avoided a jail term. Belinda Daly (60) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of assault causing harm to her neighbour in the front garden of her home on Windmill Avenue in Crumlin, Dublin, on February 28th, 2021. The court heard there was a long-standing disagreement between the neighbours over a minor falling-out between other members of their families. In CCTV footage taken from Daly's home on the day in question, she can be seen reaching over the garden wall and grabbing her neighbour's hair. READ MORE Daly has no previous convictions, prosecuting barrister Marc Thompson told the court. In a victim-impact statement, read out previously, the injured party told the court Daly was 'a neighbour from hell'. 'Even today, I'm still terrified, afraid of being attacked again,' she said, adding that she had frequent thoughts of 'the evil unleashed on me.' The woman suffered alopecia of the scalp, with hair loss extending to seven centimetres across her head due to 'the ferocity of the attack', her GP wrote in a letter to the court. She has to have regular nerve-blocking injections to her neck and is on daily pain medication, the court heard. She suffers frequent migraines, has post-traumatic stress disorder, severe anxiety and intermittent nose bleeds. Defence counsel Brian Storan said his client regrets and takes full responsibility for her behaviour. The court heard Daly had two adult children and a grandchild. She has spent time working in domestic violence shelters. Defence counsel said Daly was struggling with anxiety issues related to her work at the time of the assault. Sentencing Daly on Friday, Judge Orla Crowe said there was clearly a long history between the parties with 'a lot of bad blood'. This was a very significant outbreak of violence, and, no matter what was going on, nothing justified Daly's shameful behaviour. The judge said Daly had 'lain in wait' for her neighbour, and the level of force used was noteworthy. She noted the parties were no longer neighbours, as the victim's house went on the market before the assault. Judge Crowe imposed a sentence of two years but suspended it in full for three years. The judge ordered Daly not to have contact with her former neighbour.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Family sues over deadly landslide
The family of a Lions Bay couple killed in a massive landslide last winter has filed a lawsuit against the province, the municipality and a neighbour.
CBC
21-05-2025
- CBC
#TheMoment a Michigan family got an elderly neighbour to safety during tornado
Riley McKillen-Dean, a resident of Spring Lake, Mich., recounts the moment she and her son rushed to help a 93-year-old neighbour to safety during a recent tornado alert.
