The UK version of swatting, huh? As long as no one catches you trashing their yard, you can cause a lot of damage quickly.
Does this mean people arenāt allowed to keep potentially bitey dogs in their backyards either?
Right up there with HOAās being able to keep you from having a clothes line. Or mandating you paint your lawn green when we all run out of water. Or whatever.
Housing associations (and Home Owners Associations) are the devilās work and Iāll never be part of one. Fuck that noise.
I feel like weāre missing some important details here. The picture on the BBC article doesnāt show a āpond,ā it shows what looks like a huge, above-ground, shoddily constructed, straight-walled cinderblock vat.
The only person claiming that trespasser safety is the chief concern is the old guy who built the thing. Iām all for questioning foolish HOA regulations, but that monstrosity almost certainly violates any number of conventional building codes.
EDIT: The more I know about this whole thing, the stupider the faux-libertarian outrage is. This guy is trying to build a permanent, commercial fish breeding facility, in the backyard of a property he rents but doesnāt own, for which he has not sought permission from the property owner.
Iāll make sure to replace my glass windows with crystallized sugar so a burglar doesnāt cut themselves breaking in. Of course, Iāll probably need to put a nutrition label on them, just to make sure any diabetic thieves arenāt unintentionally harmed.
At first I was "well, thatās silly"
then seeing the picture, it looks like a commercial breeding facility.
A spokesman for Sovereign Housing said: āThis is not about burglars, this is about making sure our homes are safe places for our residents and any visitors to the property. Weāre also liable if someone does trespass on the property.ā
Ah, so another exaggerated post headline, soup rice, soup rice.
I guess though given the topic, itās appropriate that I was baited into clicking. ba dum fisshh
The UK has āfish pond policeā, America is jealous.
Yeah! Oh I forgot Iām the President of our HOA, sorry over caffeinated today.
Doesnāt seem any different from laws that require a homeowner to have their swimming pool fenced, even if there are no children in the home. Mentally replace āpondā with ābear trapsā, and image there are small children and pets in the neighborhood.
Like anything: 1% dickheads cause 99% problem.
I just canāt stand the idea of people telling me what I can and canāt do with my property- and yes, I know my town has zoning and ordinances and whatever. But if I want to paint huge pink polka dots on my house (and I donāt want to, notthattheresanythingwrongwiththat) I donāt want some neighbor with an opinion telling me I canāt.
Itās not a very practical thing for me, in many ways- Iām deeply unlikely to do something outside the ordinary with such a large investment on the line- but I like knowing that if I wanted to I could.
Maybe itās my own version of Walter Mitty?
Requirements to fence pools etc are quite common in some European countries, there were deaths involved.
As to this Gentlemen, Heās spinning a line that our crappy press have picked up. The real details are in paragraph 19, as usual.
Heās built a crappy pond thing (That blockwork is really bad), on property he doesnāt own, and appeared to be using it for business purposes.
A quote from the housing association (who own the property, itās āpublicā housing):
Debbie Down, spokeswoman for Sovereign, said: āWe donāt want to prevent anyone enjoying hobbies which may include fish keeping in a garden pond, but as the landlord we ask residents to get our permission if they intend running a business from their home or building a permanent structure.ā
I imagine something like this: They tell him that the thing is unsafe and has to go. He argues that it doesnāt matter because nobody except him has any business being there. They say thatās not good enough. Then in his version that morphs into him being forced to bend over backwards to accommodate burglars.
Not at all, I used to own a 7 acre ranchette in Nor Cal, and I did as I wanted. I have great people as HOA Members and not so great. So depending on the Planetary positions, itās a crap shoot every month. I did recently have to slap the wrist of a Member with a 10 barrel beer brewing system in his garage. Had he just disposed of the brewing slag properly, weād never had known. The up-shot is he now he is composting with a local vegi grower and all is happy in our Hamlet, plus he it turns out he likes to share the brewing spoils with the HOA Members. Not a bad dayās workā¦
Itās still being constructed. Since itās not complete itās hard to say what the end result would really look like, though the result would be at a minimum hideous. The councilās complaint really is that he built a large permanent structure without permits, and I can see why theyād have wanted building permits for something that scale. Also heās building it on a rental and according to the Telegraph article the landlord is also pissed.
I wouldnāt call that shoddy. A fish pond for fun should be beautiful, but a fish pond for profit should be functional. He may claim to be a fish lover, but itās likely heās in business. Here in the US, running an industrial business in your backyard is generally a no-no.
I think it may instead be your version of Mr. Plumbean from The Big Orange Spot by Daniel Pinkwater.
