Sqwark2000
21st Sep 2003, 16:23
Sunday-Star Times
Woman's life of grime tips her neighbours, council over the edge
21 September 2003
Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours . . . but many home owners have a story about a neighbour from hell. Rachel Grunwell reports.
Neighbours are sick of Lois Lenaghan's life of grime.
They have been complaining for years about her rubbish-riddled backyard on Ormiston Rd, in the south Auckland suburb of Flat Bush.
They claim Lenaghan's backyard is a health hazard, sometimes infested with cockroaches and rats the size of small cats, and the stench is sometimes unbearable. In summer, mosquitoes swarm around rotting fruit and bite locals.
The neighbours believe the Manukau City Council has ignored their endless complaints and are fed up.
But things could be looking up. Council spokesman Gary Stephenson revealed it was about to take legal action against Lenaghan. He will seek sanction from council heads to start proceedings at the council's next meeting.
"I would have to say there's been a long relationship (with Lenaghan) . . . we get a degree of compliance for an amount of time and then the problem comes back again."
Lenaghan could be fined $200,000 for not complying with the Resource Management Act.
The Sunday Star-Times visited the property last week and found rubbish waist-deep in areas. Toilet seats, broken prams, boxes, bottles and old shoes were piled high.
But 60-year-old Lenaghan - whose son Kevin has been in the media recently on charges of impersonating a Saudi Arabian to pass his flying exams - defends her property, saying the rubbish is regularly recycled, for which she is paid $200 "pocket money" a month. She said there were no rodents or cockroaches: "I would see them mate, if I had them."
However, she admitted her property sometimes got out of control and there had been years of conflict with some neighbours and the council.
"I've told them I will clean up . . . but then it gets bad again," she said.
The houseowner of 30 years, who lives with two of her grown sons, said she wished the council would leave her alone "because I pay my rates".
Neighbour Michelle Hughes said she had complained to the council for years, hoping it would force a clean up.
"The stench you get is bad. It's just dirty. She doesn't see it as a mess. She just doesn't see it," said Hughes. "Out of respect I don't get too nasty with her, but it is absolutely disgusting."
She said council officers visited the Lenaghan house often and were there only two weeks ago. But nothing seemed to be done.
She said the council had asked neighbours to organise a petition as well as keep the rats they find as evidence. But Hughes refuses to do this as she does not want to keep the rodents any longer than she has to, saying there was no guarantee when the council would collect them.
She said the rubbish was a danger to passing motorists. She fears the plastic bags, which fly off the property on windy days, will one day end up on a car's windscreen and cause a crash.
But the rats are the worst problem.
"I see rats. Absolutely heaps. She cops it back though as I throw them back over. My partner had to throw a rat over last week. It was this big (about 30cm long). We put on a glove and biffed it back over the fence," said Hughes.
"Trust me. You wouldn't want to go inside (the house). What usually comes over here running is usually inside the house."
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, saw rats at the house quite often and was sick of the rubbish overflowing on to his property.
Another issue was mosquitoes, said Hughes. She can use a can of flyspray in an hour in summer trying to fend them off. "My kids have been bitten badly by all the mosquitoes that swarm around the rotting fruit. I've offered to show her (Lenaghan) the bite marks on my children."
Lenaghan said she had problems with mosquitoes in the past because her sons had failed to bring the fruit from her trees inside "so I could cook it up".
Kevin said his mother was always in trouble with the council and "she tells them where to go. She doesn't like being told what to do".
Lenaghan was unhappy to learn she could face legal action. "That's bloody terrible. I will fight it if they do. I do think it's unreasonable because I should be able to do what I like on my bloody property."
"That's bloody terrible. I will fight it if they do. I do think it's unreasonable because I should be able to do what I like on my bloody property."
hmmmm, I wonder where Kevy got his attitude from?
S2K
Woman's life of grime tips her neighbours, council over the edge
21 September 2003
Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours . . . but many home owners have a story about a neighbour from hell. Rachel Grunwell reports.
Neighbours are sick of Lois Lenaghan's life of grime.
They have been complaining for years about her rubbish-riddled backyard on Ormiston Rd, in the south Auckland suburb of Flat Bush.
They claim Lenaghan's backyard is a health hazard, sometimes infested with cockroaches and rats the size of small cats, and the stench is sometimes unbearable. In summer, mosquitoes swarm around rotting fruit and bite locals.
The neighbours believe the Manukau City Council has ignored their endless complaints and are fed up.
But things could be looking up. Council spokesman Gary Stephenson revealed it was about to take legal action against Lenaghan. He will seek sanction from council heads to start proceedings at the council's next meeting.
"I would have to say there's been a long relationship (with Lenaghan) . . . we get a degree of compliance for an amount of time and then the problem comes back again."
Lenaghan could be fined $200,000 for not complying with the Resource Management Act.
The Sunday Star-Times visited the property last week and found rubbish waist-deep in areas. Toilet seats, broken prams, boxes, bottles and old shoes were piled high.
But 60-year-old Lenaghan - whose son Kevin has been in the media recently on charges of impersonating a Saudi Arabian to pass his flying exams - defends her property, saying the rubbish is regularly recycled, for which she is paid $200 "pocket money" a month. She said there were no rodents or cockroaches: "I would see them mate, if I had them."
However, she admitted her property sometimes got out of control and there had been years of conflict with some neighbours and the council.
"I've told them I will clean up . . . but then it gets bad again," she said.
The houseowner of 30 years, who lives with two of her grown sons, said she wished the council would leave her alone "because I pay my rates".
Neighbour Michelle Hughes said she had complained to the council for years, hoping it would force a clean up.
"The stench you get is bad. It's just dirty. She doesn't see it as a mess. She just doesn't see it," said Hughes. "Out of respect I don't get too nasty with her, but it is absolutely disgusting."
She said council officers visited the Lenaghan house often and were there only two weeks ago. But nothing seemed to be done.
She said the council had asked neighbours to organise a petition as well as keep the rats they find as evidence. But Hughes refuses to do this as she does not want to keep the rodents any longer than she has to, saying there was no guarantee when the council would collect them.
She said the rubbish was a danger to passing motorists. She fears the plastic bags, which fly off the property on windy days, will one day end up on a car's windscreen and cause a crash.
But the rats are the worst problem.
"I see rats. Absolutely heaps. She cops it back though as I throw them back over. My partner had to throw a rat over last week. It was this big (about 30cm long). We put on a glove and biffed it back over the fence," said Hughes.
"Trust me. You wouldn't want to go inside (the house). What usually comes over here running is usually inside the house."
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, saw rats at the house quite often and was sick of the rubbish overflowing on to his property.
Another issue was mosquitoes, said Hughes. She can use a can of flyspray in an hour in summer trying to fend them off. "My kids have been bitten badly by all the mosquitoes that swarm around the rotting fruit. I've offered to show her (Lenaghan) the bite marks on my children."
Lenaghan said she had problems with mosquitoes in the past because her sons had failed to bring the fruit from her trees inside "so I could cook it up".
Kevin said his mother was always in trouble with the council and "she tells them where to go. She doesn't like being told what to do".
Lenaghan was unhappy to learn she could face legal action. "That's bloody terrible. I will fight it if they do. I do think it's unreasonable because I should be able to do what I like on my bloody property."
"That's bloody terrible. I will fight it if they do. I do think it's unreasonable because I should be able to do what I like on my bloody property."
hmmmm, I wonder where Kevy got his attitude from?
S2K