GLENROI residents say social housing tenants in Maxwell Avenue show a lack of respect for the their homes by leaving discarded rubbish outside their properties and trashing their front lawns.
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One woman, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said the Housing Plus complex looked “derelict”.
“There’s an old fridge, garbage bags and rubbish dumped out the front,” she said.
“All the turf out the front has had cars parked on it.”
According to the woman, rubbish has sat at the front of the complex for more than a month and no attempt has been made to clear it up.
“I’m sick of this, the government provides these facilities for people and they’re not respecting them,” she said.
“I don’t think ratepayers should have to pay for cleaning it up.”
Housing Plus executive officer Karen Andrew said her organisation had not received any complaints about a build up of rubbish outside 40-44 and 45-49 Maxwell Avenue.
“A senior member of my staff lives in the area and drives past the units every day and has not observed any rubbish issues with the exception being on occasions when the [Orange City] council do their large items rubbish collection days when our clients do put their items out but this would be expected,” she said.
“We take nuisance and annoyance very seriously and commit to proceedings through the NCAT (NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal) for continual breaches.
“Housing Plus has in the past terminated tenancies based on continual nuisance and annoyance, however we have not had a complaint about these housing complexes for about four months.”
Mrs Andrew said she encouraged concerned residents and neighbours to contact the police and Housing Plus staff “when there are episodes of nuisance and annoyance so that a record of the event can be established and used in formal proceedings if necessary”.
“We are required to follow the law in these matters which is quite a long and drawn-out process and is based on provision of actual evidence,” she said.
“All our properties are regularly inspected and property care remains a priority of our tenancy management approaches.”
Mrs Andrew said Housing Plus was aware there was an issue with clients parking on the grassed areas.
“We are currently discussing this issue with council to see if we can strategically place bollards to prevent this issue,” she said.
“Clients are constantly told where they can and cannot park.”
tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au