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Gnomes get marching orders
June 07, 2007
A GRANDMOTHER from Aldershot has been ordered to remove the flowers and gnomes from outside her flat after nearby residents complained she was breaking the rules.
Lynda Smith, of Bell Chase, spent months making the garden outside her flat look more welcoming – only to be told by the management company that tends to the flats’ communal gardens she had to remove everything.
Mrs Smith, 57, said she wrote to all her neighbours to inform them that she planned to put in the tubs, flowers and garden ornaments, and no one objected.
She said: “I’ve had a lot of verbal support, plus I’ve had two or three letters of support.”
“I wanted to put the garden in because I’m partially disabled and it’s the only thing I’m able to do. And, obviously, to enhance the property.”
If Mrs Smith does not remove the garden items, the company is threatening charge her for their removal.
Mrs Smith, above, said she is upset that she is being treated this way when her immediate neighbours do not mind that the flowers are there.
“It doesn’t affect anyone else,” she said.
Duncan Foster, partner in Alan Foster and Associates, the management company that looks after the flats, said the gardens do not belong to individual homeowners and are therefore not supposed to be altered.
“There are no private landscaping areas. What we have is what’s called communal landscaping gardens,” he said.
“We’ve had a number of complaints about changes to the external appearance of the building.”
He said all flat owners in Bell Chase signed a lease with a specific clause in it which indicated they would not change the external appearance of their property. “There’s a precise clause in the contract,” he said.
Mr Foster said the company has now written to the flat’s owner to ask her to remove the added flowers and garden ornaments.
He added: “It’s unfortunate people on the ground floor do not have private areas.”
Mrs Smith, whose daughter Maria owns the flat, said she spent almost three months tending to the garden.
“It has annoyed me,” she said.
Lynda Smith, of Bell Chase, spent months making the garden outside her flat look more welcoming – only to be told by the management company that tends to the flats’ communal gardens she had to remove everything.
Mrs Smith, 57, said she wrote to all her neighbours to inform them that she planned to put in the tubs, flowers and garden ornaments, and no one objected.
She said: “I’ve had a lot of verbal support, plus I’ve had two or three letters of support.”
“I wanted to put the garden in because I’m partially disabled and it’s the only thing I’m able to do. And, obviously, to enhance the property.”
If Mrs Smith does not remove the garden items, the company is threatening charge her for their removal.
Mrs Smith, above, said she is upset that she is being treated this way when her immediate neighbours do not mind that the flowers are there.
“It doesn’t affect anyone else,” she said.
Duncan Foster, partner in Alan Foster and Associates, the management company that looks after the flats, said the gardens do not belong to individual homeowners and are therefore not supposed to be altered.
“There are no private landscaping areas. What we have is what’s called communal landscaping gardens,” he said.
“We’ve had a number of complaints about changes to the external appearance of the building.”
He said all flat owners in Bell Chase signed a lease with a specific clause in it which indicated they would not change the external appearance of their property. “There’s a precise clause in the contract,” he said.
Mr Foster said the company has now written to the flat’s owner to ask her to remove the added flowers and garden ornaments.
He added: “It’s unfortunate people on the ground floor do not have private areas.”
Mrs Smith, whose daughter Maria owns the flat, said she spent almost three months tending to the garden.
“It has annoyed me,” she said.
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