Pensioner is SO fed up with his neighbour’s unkempt bungalow he’d welcome SQUATTERS

A pensioner who is ‘frustrated’ with his neighbour’s ‘messy’ bungalow said he’d rather squatters moved in next door because ‘at least they’d look after it’.

Peter Chidgey, 69, has been living in the semi-detached bungalow on Anstey Crescent in Tiverton, Devon with his wife for 34 years and says problems with the adjoining property started years ago.

The privately owned property has been taken over by overgrown bushes and shrubs in the garden after its absentee owner moved out around eight years ago.  

Mr Chidgey says the bungalow has been left empty since its owner, thought to be in his 70s, moved to Okehampton in South Devon. 

Mr Chidgey (pictured) has been living in the semi-detached bungalow on Anstey Crescent in Tiverton, Devon with his wife for 34 years and says problems with the adjoining property started years ago

Mr Chidgey said he would buy the property himself if he ‘had the money’. He added: ‘Now I’m hoping the enforcement team at the council will get their finger out’

Mr Chidgey claimed there are ‘holes’ in the property’s roof and is calling on the local authority for action despite them previously saying back in 2014 that there was nothing untoward with the site in question

The former service engineer has even offered to help out with maintenance and keeping the property tidy in the owners absence but was refused.

Mr Chidgey said: ‘[The owner is] about 70 and lives on Okehampton. The house is a mess – nothing is ever done to it.

‘I don’t know why he hasn’t just sold up. He last visited around two years ago. I offered to do maintenance for him but he didn’t want to know.

‘There are holes in its roof – it especially affects me when I’m in my back garden.

‘Neighbours here too are also getting fed up. The council have put an enforcement notice in to the owner around three years ago asking them to get it up to standard and they haven’t done a thing.

‘It’s very frustrating to see. I don’t know what to do next.’

He said that he was thankful to not have to face onto the front garden and felt sorry for neighbours who lived opposite him.

‘If I had the money I’d buy it myself. Now I’m hoping the enforcement team at the council will get their finger out. I’ve just had enough of seeing this mess.

‘I’d sooner have squatters in there than this because at least they’d show some effort to look after it. It’s a bloody great mess.’

Mr Chidgey said the property has been god for ‘blackberries and birdsong’ however he is calling on local authorities for urgent action to tidy the bungalow up. 

The privately owned property has been taken over by overgrown bushes and shrubs in the garden after its absentee owner moved out around eight years ago to Okehampton in South Devon

The former service engineer has even offered to help out with maintenance and keeping the property tidy in the owners absence but was refused

A Mid Devon District Council spokesman said: ‘Our enforcement team dealt with a complaint at Anstey Crescent, Tiverton in 2014 previously advising that there was nothing untoward with the site in question and that its condition did not warrant a S215 (not being judged as harmful to the area).

‘The team have received no further complaints since then.

‘For further information and to report an alleged breach, please visit our website: https://http://www.middevon.gov.uk/residents/planning/reporting-alleged-breaches/.’