A neighbourhood war has erupted over a chronic hoarder’s home that’s filled with so much junk it stretches out ‘onto the road’.
The front yard, carport and footpath of the property in Berkeley Vale, on the NSW Central Coast, is overflowing with unregistered cars, ladders, building materials and all manner of discarded clutter.
Those living on the street are fed up with the unsightly mess and are ‘begging’ the council to intervene, calling the home ‘toxic’ and ‘dangerous’.
But Jess who lives at the address in question sees things very differently.
‘This is just how we live. Everyone has a different way of how they’re gonna live. And I don’t want to be judged by that just because I’m out here living,’ she told A Current Affair from her balcony.
‘It’s not junk, it’s actually worth money and it’s our business. We make money off it. It has no rodents, no snakes in it, my cat goes all within the stuff.’
The woman, who has a large tattoo on her left arm, claimed many of the items littering the property are worth thousands of dollars.
‘It’s not rubbish, so that dog thing right there, that’s worth three grand,’ she said.
‘Look, one, two, three, four, five, six friggin whipper snippers hanging up here on the fence. That’s money.
‘Lego. Worth money. Collectables,’ she said, holding up a bag of Lego bricks.
Neighbour and father-of-two Llewellyn tries to ignore the mess and looks the other way when he sits on his veranda.
But living next-door to the eyesore has taken its toll.
‘I call it the junkyard… it’s like living next to a dump. You’ve got the rats, you’ve got the mess,’ Llewellyn said.
‘But when I see the ute pull up with more stuff, I get anxious, I get angry. But I’m particularly angry at the council because really they are the only ones who can do anything about it.’
Llewellyn is backed by other neighbours on the street, Leanne and Robert.
‘You can’t park on the street because of all the unregistered cars that they have. It’s a big eyesore,’ Leanne said.
The front yard, carport and footpath of the property in Berkeley Vale on the NSW Central Coast is overflowing with unregistered cars, ladders, building materials and all manner of discarded clutter
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It’s been 13 years since Llewellyn bought his house, but his quiet life has changed dramatically in the two years since the new neighbours moved in.
And the problem keeps getting worse. ‘It’s just grown and grown and grown as they’ve run out of space … and now it’s just to the road,’ he said.
‘I just want to move out. I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I would like to move out and just be done with this.’
But he believes the price of his home has now plummeted because of the hoarders.
‘With the amount I owe on the property, I can’t sell it for less than what it’s worth,’ he said.
Leanne and Robert think Jess and her family should clean up their property.
‘It’s just unhealthy. I mean, I feel sorry for them,’ Leanne said.
Jess said Central Coast Council ordered them to take down the car port but that it hasn’t told them to clean anything up.
‘We’ve talked to the council members, they come around nearly every week,’ she said.
‘Our properties have been like this for the last 10 properties we’ve lived in. We’ve been hassled by a council at every property we’ve been in.’
Llewellyn said he has literally begged the council to fix the situation. ‘I’ve actually written the words, I am begging you to do something about this.’
Jess see things very differently, saying ‘This is just how we live. Everyone has a different way of how they’re gonna live … It’s a business, it’s not junk’
Jess gave some indication of the reasons behind the hoarding, saying ‘Our family is dysfunctional. We’re trying to freaking get to it, we have to put up with each other.
‘So, yeah, the neighbours can put up with us. Why can’t you just go “Oh, cool. That’s not your house. It’s the neighbours”, and ignore it.’
Central Coast Council said nothing it has tried has worked so far and it’s now considering enforcement options.
In the meantime, Llewellyn is trying to get a fence put in so he doesn’t have to look at the mess next door.
