Find out when we can help with problems on private land or property, including rubbish, vermin, unsafe buildings, and filthy conditions.
If there is rubbish on private land, it is the landowner’s job to remove it.
If the rubbish is dangerous, smells bad, or is attracting rats, we may step in to help.
Before involving us however, you should raise your concern with the owner or occupier of the land. This often solves the problem quickly. If this fails report it to us.
We can’t step in just because land looks messy, overgrown, or has things like rubble or old appliances on it.
We only take action if the rubbish could harm people’s health — for example, if there’s a lot of rotting food that could attract rats.
We can’t take legal action in these cases because it’s hard to prove who is responsible and to recover any costs.
In Torbay, many back alleys are unadopted. This means all the households along the alley share responsibility for keeping it clear.
If we think the rubbish is a risk to health, we’ll contact the landowner and ask them to clean it up. If our request is ignored, we may use enforcement powers. We may then take legal action — but this can take weeks or even months.
People in control of buildings and other structures are responsible for ensuring that they are maintained in a structurally safe condition, even if they are unoccupied. Vacant buildings and structures must also be kept secure, to prevent unauthorised entry, or to prevent them becoming a danger to public health.
Filthy or verminous premises are properties that are infested by vermin, such as rats, mice, insects or parasites, or in such a filthy or unwholesome condition as to be prejudicial to health, for example where there is a large amount of rotting food and/or human or animal excrement.
If a problem requires our intervention, we will contact the owner or occupier of the land. These kinds of problems are often complex and take a considerable amount of time to resolve.
Our parks, open spaces and the public highway are managed by SWISCo.