An angry vegan has taken her neighbors to court, claiming they deliberately waft their barbecue meat smells into her yard.
Massage therapist Cilla Carden from Girrawheen, north of Perth, has been locked in a battle with Toan Vu, who lives next door with his wife and children, since late 2018.
She claims she can’t go outside and enjoy her own garden because all she can smell is fish.
Ms. Carden also complained about Mr. and Mrs. Vu’s cigarette smoke and said their children slam basketballs into their shared fence at all hours of the day.
According to documents seen by Daily Mail Australia, she also demanded Mr. and Mrs. Vu control the weeds in their garden, repaint common fences and repay the cost of plants damaged on common property.
Ms. Carden’s claims were heard at a tribunal in January this year – but the tribunal dismissed every single one of them.
She then applied to the Supreme Court for the right to appeal the decision and was also turned down in July. But she has vowed to keep fighting.
Ms. Carden told 9 News that the barbecue smells were devastating.
‘They’ve put it there so I smell fish, all I can smell is fish. I can’t enjoy my backyard, I can’t go out there,’ she said.
‘It’s deliberate, that’s what I told the courts, it’s deliberate,’ she said.
‘It’s been devastating, it’s been turmoil, it’s been unrest I haven’t been able to sleep.’
Mr. Vu said he had removed his barbecue from his yard and had banned his children from playing basketball.
The tribunal heard that Ms. Carmen and Mr. Vu had reached an agreement out of court over the barbecue issue.
‘The applicant has reached an agreement with Mr. Vu that positioning his barbecue on Unit B over away from [Ms. Carmen’s] Unit C, closer to unit 18A, is acceptable to the applicant,’ a court document read.
Regarding noise, the tribunal said the Vu family did not make enough to make them a nuisance and that no other neighbors had complained.
‘What they are doing is living in their backyard and their home as a family,’ the tribunal ruled.
Ms Carden also officially complained about another neighbour, Carmel Vallelonga, a landlord who owns the house on the other side of the Vu family.
She demanded Ms Vallelonga stop floodlights on her unit emanating onto the common property outside the other units.
Ms Carden also insisted Ms Vallelonga repair and paint a fence, paint front entry steps, repay the costs of plants, and maintain her tenants’ dogs on leads on the common property.
Again, these demands were dismissed by the tribunal.
‘Ms Carden’s demands were proven to be not reasonable and indeed were to the detriment of the other owners’ ability to enjoy their lots in a reasonable and acceptable manner,’ Ms Vallelonga said in a statement.
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