Aussie blindsided by neighbour's scary dog threat: 'I'm shaking'

An Aussie single mum-of-three has shared the moment she was left "shaking with anger" after a neighbour threatened to report her to her real estate agent over where she left out dry food for her dogs. Experts say the dispute highlights a bigger issue many tenants struggle with.

Renter Lisa Biscoff said she fed her pets – eight-year-old husky Charlie and three-year-old cavoodle Cedric – their “mushy food” at night but left dry dog biscuits and water for them in her backyard during day while she was at work.

The neighbour claimed the wild birds which poop on their shared fence, were attracted to the spot by her dogs’ uneaten biscuits.

Biscoff told Yahoo News Australia she’d been living in her western Sydney home for more than a year without issue, until this week her neighbour threatened to complain to her real estate agent about the bird poo unless she moved the food indoors.

“My dogs are on my lease with my real estate agency,” Biscoff said in a video online. “I'm shaking because I'm angry and upset. Am I in the wrong here?"

Tenant Union NSW CEO Leo Patterson Ross told Yahoo News that Biscoff's reaction illustrates how stressed many tenants feel about disputes as they can be evicted "for any reason at any time", leaving them in a vulnerable position.

If the agent gets repeated complaints "it might be easier for them to say, ‘You are evicted'," Patterson Ross said. "If they don’t want to keep taking the calls, they can just turf you out."

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Real estate agent rules on neighbour dispute

Tackling the issue head on, Biscoff spoke to her property manager who “had a chuckle” about the situation before stating “as per my tenancy agreement, I should be feeding my dogs outside”.

“And that’s what I’ve been doing,” she told Yahoo News. “He did say that if she calls him, he will be telling her that I have been doing the correct thing and that I’m not in any way breaking any contract.

“I also wash out their bowls and the small outdoor pergola area. I live in a clean home but I can’t control what birds do or where they decide to poop. They’re birds after all.

“Being a single mum with three young children, working two jobs, I was fortunate enough to have found this place which is close to my children’s school and my work places.

“My question is though – how would she have known that I feed my dogs outside unless she’s been looking over the fence? So my privacy is being invaded I think.”

Biscoff said “for now” she’s moved the dog biscuits inside, but added her neighbour could install spikes on the fence if she wished.

Tenants most at risk in neighbourhood battles

Patterson Ross said people renting were at real risk in disputes like this in Australia's competitive rental market as "roughly 30,000 tenants each year in NSW are subject to no grounds evictions".

“The tenant doesn’t get to have a reasonable adult conversation with the agent or neighbour.”

While tenants can take the matter to a tribunal, it quite often sided with the real estate agency, Patterson Ross said.

Legislation to prevent no grounds evictions was due to be put to the NSW Parliament next month, Patterson Ross added.

“Tenants under contract have a responsibility not to disturb other neighbours so there could be a breach of lease through that.

“We do need to make sure we’re not disturbing neighbours with too much noise. That’s just part of being a good neighbour. In this situation, it’s a little bit more questionable – what’s reasonable and so on.”

“I think the agent here has made the right call. Are the birds pooping on the fence because of the food or were they going to anyway? Is it just a good place to have a poop?”

Install a backyard bird feeder, joked social media users

Most fellow Ausises responding to Biscoff's video sympathised with her and many were appalled that her neighbour had been “peeping" into the mum's yard.

Some suggested the mum install “bird feeders” to rile up the neighbour even more, while many others advised her to call her real estate agent first to pre-empt the situation.

“You can put food inside but it won’t stop birds coming into the yard or pooping on the fence,” one said.

Some others suggested that the mum should find a way to compromise with the neighbour, with one sharing that "we stopped leaving kibble outside because it does attract birds".

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