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And if, havens forbid, they decide to do their business under your window - the smell can be just unbearable. What makes it worse is that once a spot was marked, it literally becomes a public toilet.

Of course talking to the neighbour should be your first choice. After all they don’t follow the cat around and may not know about the kitty litter issue. But sometimes that doesn’t solve the problem or you simply don’t know what neighbour the cat belongs to, in which case you can try something else.

A grandma recipe to get rid of that public toilet spot is mixing some tea-tree oil or eucalyptus oil with alcohol and water and spraying the spot generously. Cats hate that scent and will steer clear of that area.

Another good idea is removing the things cats are attracted to - such as mulch, which you can replace with gravel, and planting prickly plants, which cats dislike. You can even try plastic thorns, the same kind people use to keep birds off their fences.

As a last resort, if the problem persists, consider installing a cat trap and handing the cat over to the RSPCA. They sure will find the owner by reading cat’s microchip number and one hefty fine will be on its way - which can be more convincing than any of your negotiations. After all, sad as it sounds, some people value their money more than their neighbour’s peace of mind.

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Talking to the neighbours is something you could try first. They may not be aware you are annoyed to the extent of considering poison. Don’t make it all about you - speak in general as if it was a common concern: “It is very difficult for anyone to get any sleep when the barking is going on till 1am.”

You could ask about the reason why the dog barks. Note the hours when barking is at it’s peak (keep a diary) and ask the neighbour whether anything could be triggering it at that particular time. Perhaps if they allowed the dog in the house, barking would stop or at least become quieter.

When negotiation fails or the neighbour simply ignores your requests, the other option is, of course, complaining to the authorities. In that case you will need the diary with dates and times of barking as well, to prove your claim. But, as you know, anything that involves the local council is by nature a very lengthy process, and one needs to get some sleep every night.

If only there was an “off” switch for the barking, you think. And actually…. there is. Ever heard of an ultrasonic device called “Bark Off“? It’s a tiny battery powered box that has a wall mount (so can be mounted on the fence), and which is also bark activated. Once your neighbour’s dog begins barking it sets off the ultrasonic signals that human ears do not hear - but that capture the dog’s attention and interrupt otherwise uncontrollable and annoying barking. In terms of law this is completely legal because you can install anything you want on your property, plus it doesn’t harm the dog.

Ok, barking is out of the way now, but what do you do when a neighbour dog comes to your property often for just a visit or to leave a “deposit” on your lawn? Even though the law is on your side and the owner IS required to keep the dog on a leash or at their property at all times, but how do you enforce that law?

If asking the neighbor nicely doesn’t work, there’s no way for you to restrict dog’s access to your yard and you prefer to leave the cops out of it, it’s time to get creative and … hose the dog. Just keep the water restrictions in mind

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A) Race over there in your bathrobe and slippers and tell them to shut up.

B) Call the police.

C) Keep turning over in your bed, wishing them a nasty hangover tomorrow.

There are actually more options - provided you didn’t do anything hasty that night.

For one, you could go over and find out, whether that party was a one-time event, such as a house warming, or someone’s birthday. If it was, perhaps there is no need to worry about future disturbances of the same kind, especially if you let them know how you feel about that level of noisiness.

It pays to assume that people are inherently good. Yes, there are neighbours that take pleasure in destroying other people’s peace, and there are neighbours that don’t care much about anyone else, but most neighbours aren’t evil. Your neighbour could simply not think that his party or his stereo were THAT noisy. Once you raise the issue and they realize this behaviour disturbs you - it could stop once and for all.

But how do you complain to someone about something that he does that bothers you? Honestly and tactfully. It can make a world of difference if you say how you feel. Do you hate complaining? Well, say it: “I hate to complain, but that party you had till 2 am last night was really loud and neither of us could sleep. I’ve been so tired the whole day after.”

If the same neighbour insists on being annoyingly noisy (I would say 2 - 3 times a month qualify, after your initial warning), then you could use a different approach. Write down all the disturbances, the dates and the times, so that you would have all that information handy when you confront them or eventually talk to the authorities about it.

When you can’t talk to your neighbour in person, the next best thing is to leave them a note. Be it because they work late, or because you can’t bear the thought of a possible confrontation, it doesn’t matter - writing a note is also a very good step. If this is your first note - politely explain who you are, what you are writing about and what you would like them to do. If this is your second or third note to them, because the noise just won’t stop, you could include your log of their parties and the law (with the relevant pages photocopied and paragraphs highlighted).

Are you the only one who’s not happy about the noise? Talk to the other neighbours to see whether you have their support. If a group of people opposes to such behaviour, the guilty neighbour could cave in more easily.

Find out whether your neighbour is a tenant. If that is the case and he/she won’t cooperate, you could complain to the landlord about the noise. Any written evidence - such as the little diary we discussed - will help support your claim.

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The majority of problems with trees happen when your neighbour’s tree is shedding leaves, branches or fruit on your side of the fence, which means that you have more mess to clean, or when the roots of that tree are ruining your plumbing or driveway.

Some general rules about trees are that you can cut / remove whatever is on your side of the fence - provided that you don’t cause the whole tree to collapse on your neighbour’s property. But if you care about good neighbourly manners, the right thing is to discuss it with them first. He or she may not be aware of the problem - after all, people don’t look over their neighbour’s fence very often.

Now, discussing the problem with your neighbour… sometimes is easier said than done. In my case it was quite awkward - I didn’t even know my neighbour’s name, we’ve never spoke about anything (not even the weather!). Don’t let this happen to you - just say ‘Hello’ occasionally when you see them. Well before you have had any problems

With or without discussion, whenever you’ve removed parts of the tree that were on your property, you need to (don’t laugh!) return them to their rightful owner, your neighbour . Which is why the discussion part becomes even more important. Imagine the look on your neighbour’s face when you dump a pile of roots and branches on his driveway: “Here you go, buddy!”

And one last thing - damage to property is a big issue, but danger to health is a much more serious one. Sometimes people have poisonous trees growing near the fence with branches overhang your property or poisonous plants (you can see the full list of poisonous plants in Victoria here)

If you are worried about the safety of your children, know this: your neighbour is required by law to cut the overhanging branches of such trees / plants, and raising this issue with him could be the simplest solution to the problem.

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Can I be completely honest with you here? I have a couple of neighbours that I am not too crazy about myself. But until recently it never occurred to me I could actually DO SOMETHING about it. I just assumed that not much can be done about that barking dog, or the screaming kids or the ear-splitting rock concerts my neighbour is a huge fan of. Oh, and did I mention that he decided to become a famous guitarist lately? Which seems to come with mandatory deafening midnight practice sessions.

Since I’ve done quite a bit of research on this topic it’s only fair that I document it somewhere - and what would be better than my blog “Home I Own”? Any house comes with neighbours and anyone who is living anywhere at all could be sharing the same set of problems.

Without going into legal rights issues (which I can’t, because I am not a lawyer), this series will give you some ideas for potential solutions - or at least things to try to solve a dispute, before getting an actual lawyer and taking the ‘bastards’ to the court. Lawyers are expensive, court cases take years to settle and nobody needs the constant stress, so it makes sense to try and reach an agreement instead.

That’s all you get today folks - stay tuned for the articles on how to handle disputes with your neighbours over trees, fences, noise, cats and dogs and different forms of nuisance behaviour.

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This story began when my friend lost her dog. The silly thing escaped from their back yard and went to a park nearby, where it was picked up by the city council workers and transferred to a dog pound, before the owners realized the dog wasn’t in the yard. My friend was heartbroken, because a loved family pet they spent a small fortune on to import into Australia suddenly went missing. After hours of desperate search we eventually gave up, it was too dark and my friend cried so hard she couldn’t see any more.

In the morning after ringing numerous pets’ registry databases my friend traced the dog to the pound where it was kept. She was thrilled and rushed there to claim the silly-but-much-loved doggy back. A good thing she had some cash on her, as this ride to the pound was quite expensive - they charged her a release fee and on top of that she was told to expect fines from the city council.

This is how I got interested in the local dog laws, and it is pretty amazing how many of them one can break without even knowing

Apart from the most straight forward laws that require registration of each dog and limit the number of dogs to 2 per property, here are some bad and expensive mistakes you wouldn’t want to make:

Mistake # 1 … is to think that your dog’s barking is your neighbor’s problem. Not so! If they complain about the noise repeatedly city council may issue you fines or even worse - you could be prosecuted by the Magistrates Court.

Mistake # 2 … is to think that your property doesn’t need to have a way of confining the dog. Even if the dog has no desire whatsoever to leave your back yard, you could be fined just because he could, if he wanted to

Mistake #3 … is to think that if, God forbid, your dog is hit by a car, the driver is responsible for the dog’s medical expenses. In fact it’s the other way around - you are responsible for the damage to the car, and the driver can sue you for his/her injury as well.

Mistake #4 … is to think that you can let the dog walk outside your property after dark. The fines for dogs being off owner’s property after dark are even heavier than during the day.

Mistake #5 … is to walk your dog without a pooper-scooper or something else to pick up faeces. You could be fined on the spot - even if your dog does nothing that requires cleaning after!

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“A man’s home is his castle” is not just a saying. It is enough to affix a “Do Not Knock” sticker to your front door (which you can get from Consumer Action here) to warn traveling sales people that they are breaking the law if they dare knock on your door.

Those of you sick of door-to-door sales yet too busy to put a sticker on the door will be happy to know that there will be changes to hours when sales people can and can not knock on your door.

Right now sales people can knock seven days a week, 9am to 8pm. After the new laws come into effect, we get a whole day off, on Sunday, and the rest of the weekdays they can’t bother us after 6pm (or 5pm if it’s Saturday!)

I do realize that sales people are just doing their job. But the rest of us are just living our lives. I can’t speak for everyone else, but my own selfish nature doesn’t take it well when strangers intrude on that hard-earned free time that I get to spend with my family.

So the new laws get a big YAY from me! How about you?

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The dangers of Formaldehyde

Here Nelson Larrosa from The Demand Group explains why Formaldehyde - a toxic chemical - is especially dangerous: “FORMALDEHYDE is the next dirty word that should be on everyone’s lips and if you care anything about your health, your families health and our environment, you’ll say NO to this chemical!

What does that actually mean? In Australia, there are lots of products that will contain formaldehyde in very minute quantities. Our standards only allow for products to contain very small quantities of this very harsh substance. Bodies are embalmed using this fluid, it is a known carcinogen and detrimental to the health of those who are exposed to it. The level and length of exposure will determined the severity of the illness.

So why am I telling you this? Because there are lots of imported insulation products coming into the country that contain high levels of Formaldehyde and whilst we haven’t tested any samples, there are reports of installers being violently ill whilst installing imported batts. The Formaldehyde gives off a very strong odour and this is exacerbated in a confined space, like a roof cavity.

There are many countries, like the US and Canada that have banned certain products due to them containing Formaldehyde. We have Australian Standards and all imported products should meet these standards, however this is somewhat questionable give the products we’ve seen on shelves and being installed.

Again when choosing an installer for your insulation and the product that you’re about to purchase, beware! Choose an Australian made product, preferably one that doesn’t use formaldehyde in the process to manufacture or that is used as a bonding substance. Polyester batts manufactured in Australia do not contain formaldehyde and are by far the healthiest option available.

I hope you can use this information. I have never really worried about formaldehyde until the rush of imports and the distinct odour that is associated with it. However, I would just use my nose to let me be the judge. Formaldehyde is a silent killer and I don’t want to find out that my not so keen nose missed something.”

The dangers of foil insulation

And now let’s move on to another dangerous kind of insulation - foil insulation. According to Archicentre, use of foil insulation over ceiling joists or beneath rafters in homes can conceal structural faults and make it almost impossible for inspectors to find potential electrical, plumbing or termite problems.

While it is true that in new homes foil installed in the roof contributes to energy efficiency, we must know that retro-fitting it inside existing homes creates a whole set of issues with locating and fixing faults, and with safety.

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“The most recent report by the NSW Firebrigade is that there have been a little more than 60 fire caused by insulation installed in ceilings. All were attributed to Cellulose fibre insulation (CFI). Which is basically, recycled mulched up paper. This is treated with a harsh chemical known as Borax (Octoborate), which is a fire retardant. Wool was not a contributing factor in any fire where insulation has been the cause.

Halogen lighting is a concern and as long as you have professionals install the insulation along with appropriate light protectors or an adequate air space left around the light and transformers there shouldn’t be an issue.

The safest form of insulation available from both a fire and personal long term health perspective are Polyester batts made from 100% polyester fibre. This and ensuring that your chosen installer is using a reputable manufacturer, i.e., a local manufacturer that is manufacturing polyester batts in Australia to the AS/NZS4859.1 and AS1530.3.

Beware of importers that advertise that their products meets the relevant AS/NZS4859.1 These products may not necessarily have been tested as rigorously as a product manufactured in Australia.

However, having said all that, the number of fires in relation to number of houses that have been insulated are relatively small and the long term benefits to the occupants and the environment are well worth the Government’s financial support. Like all else that consumers are likely to purchase, it is always BUYER BEWARE.”

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Do we have a fire drill in our house? Yes, we do. Since yesterday So don’t feel bad if it didn’t occur to you that you, too, need to have a fire drill.

Jokes aside, here is how you family can be prepared for a house fire. You need to have certain equipment and get trained to escape.

Equipment

1. Install smoke alarms and test them as required. Have a chart that says when they were last tested.
2. Get a fire extinguisher and teach all the adults in the household how to use it.

Actions

1. Draw a floor plan of your house and mark 2 fire escape routes for each room.
2. Agree on a place outside your house for everybody to meet after they got out of the house.
3. Get out and stay out - don’t re-enter the house, call for help from a payphone, mobile phone or the neighbor’s house.
4. Everyone in the household should practice in crawling from their bedroom via the escape route outside. Make them do it blindfolded, because if there’s thick smoke people won’t be able to see much.
5. Only follow your escape route if it’s clear of smoke - otherwise use your other escape route. If you must go through smoke, don’t walk - crawl.
6. If there’s a closed door in your way, feel it before you open it. If it’s warm - don’t open it, go via another route.
7. Never take keys out of the locks. Any door or window that is locked and you don’t have the key can be your death sentence. Fumes are more dangerous than flames, people get disoriented in the thick smoke quickly and there won’t be time to look for the key.
8. Always keep a torch by the bed because most fires happen at night.
9. Have this fire drill at least twice a year, to keep all the members of your household “in a good shape”.

A special thanks goes to Rachel, a reader of Homeiown and my friend, for sharing her fire-safety tips.

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