Neighbors septic tank RANT

[disykat]

Some of you may recall my neighbor's septic tank is failing (Hmm I wonder if it could be the fact that they now have 12 people living there?!!). After suffering through the horrendous odors and watching them do nothing about it, I called the Health Department. The inspector called me after he'd been out and told me all the things that are wrong with their system. They supposedly have 30 days to get involved in a maintanance program. I haven't seen any one out and the odors continue. I'm getting so MAD!!!! I talked to the neighbor and he played total innocent with me "Oh yeah we had a little trouble but we had it pumped and it's all fixed". When I pointed out the smells he said they come from the open space back behind our house. Of course he didn't know I'm in contact with the health dept. - you'd think he'd have guessed that though. Pumping does not "fix" the problems he's got.

I'm so angry I could just stand outside and scream obscenities at them - I don't cuss but I'm at that point. I feel terrible because my kids know how mad I am. They play with some of the kids that are living over there now - which brings me to the really bad part. The kids from the 2nd family that moved in (homeless relatives?) are over here all the time and will be going to the school where I sub and am PTA President. I need to maintain a somewhat professional relationship with them, but although I realize none of this is their fault I find myself getting very annoyed with them. The 11 year old has been very upset by what he perceives to be racist behavior towards their family in the neighborhood. (They just are plain bad neighbors all around and evidently the police were called twice while we were on vacation.) He's been very upset. I tried to assure him it had nothing to do with the color of his skin and that the problems needed to be addressed by the adults, not worried about by him. I know he's getting fed all that stuff by the adults and teenagers in the house. We have a pretty diverse neighborhood so I think they're reaching - trying to play the race card.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant - it helps to just get it out. Meanwhile now the odors are sporadic instead of constant- we just seem to get another big cloud of odor everytime they use water or flush. We had company last night and you should have seen the look on my friends face - we were outside when it happened.

I've tried speaking to the neighbors, called the health department, and also the Home Owners Association. What can I do next? I worry that they won't comply since I know they are 13K behind in their mortgage payments and supposedly their house was to be auctioned off, yet somehow they're still there - acting as if everything is normal. So we're really stuck - we can't even move because with this problem it would be impossible to sell. If you have any words of wisdom, let me know. Thanks again for listening.

 

[disykat]

Oh, and the reason I'm writing this at almost 2 in the morning is because I can't sleep because my house stinks. GRRR!

 

[Ricola]

Quick, everyone! Send Yankee Candles!

 

[olena]

OMG!!!!! Keep on with the health department. The neighbors say everything's fixed, but does the health department. Also, having 12 people in some dwellings isn't very legal. If the health dept gets you nowhere, start notifying city and state reps. It's ridiculous for your family to have to live like that.

 

[Regina]

UGH! We have septic systems, and that smell is awful.

It's very hard when you have bad neighbors. I'm so glad that those years are behind us.

I don't have any advice, just a sympathetic shoulder to lean on.

 

[Mskanga]

Well, something very similar is happening with some of our neighbors here , they have 3 families living in the same house with a grand total of 11 people in the house plus they run a garage and use the road as a testing speedway for their business, needless to say they have been reported several times because of the tons of garbage they have in their yard.
The health department has told us they cannot have so many people living in that house legally but yet they won't do anything to revoke the certificate of occupancy.
As far as the septic is concerned, I know what you are going through , we recently had septic problems too but it was pumped and the problem is gone but the stink is gross. Good luck!

 

[bumcat]

If they're 13K behind in their payments, sounds like they will eventually be gone! hopefully

 

[JDH]

a new drain field. Very expensive. House will not sell unless it's fixed even if forclosed. The forclosure would work out best as the mortgage company would fix it to get rid of the property. Good luck and pray for a breeze to blow away the Ka-Ka smell.

 

[disykat]

Yep, it's their drainfield. Maybe I should be focusing on the positive - like the lush green grass they have growing in parts of their lawn. (They've recently started watering for the first time in three years - trying to camoflauge the fact that part of their lawn is obviously thriving on something. It's August, I doubt the dead part of their lawn is coming back!)

Thanks for the sympathy.

 

[cotye]

I agree with others advice... call the health unit (department). I work with many developments up here that use septic systems and I won't approve of any development where I know the septic system can't handle the pressures of a large household. Sounds like the health unit needs to do more to take care of this situation. Hope it gets resolved soon.

 

[gepetto]

I feel bad for you. Still, they couldn't sell if they wanted to without a working septic system.

We bought a new house a few years ago and ended up having to get $20K in septic work done. Our neighbor had to pay $20K for his too. We had the same slack builder. Very stressful.