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If you've got a history of difficulty
with your neighbour
and approaching them is feeling like
that's going to be very difficult,
you might choose to use a neutral third party
so, for example,
the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria,
have dispute assessment officers
who could actually make that approach on your behalf,
if you have a history where it makes it too uncomfortable
to approach that person.
If previous discussions with your neighbour
haven't gone as to plan
and things have ended in a negative way, always...
You know, there a few options that you can look at,
and whether that be just to put something in writing,
maybe apologise for the conversation
if things did get a bit heated.
There is also the avenue
of possibly going to a third party
to bring your neighbour together
in a controlled environment
and discuss the issue so it doesn't get heated
or things don't get out of hand.
What you want to do is,
if you are having a problem with your neighbour,
you want to try and defuse the situation.
So what you want to do is try and not be aggressive.
Don't come across as
trying to start up a fight about something.
If you're finding they are getting a bit short with you
and they're not very happy,
then try and explain to them
why it is that you need this problem fixed.
So if they can see it from your point of view,
there's much greater chance that they will understand it
from your point of view
and therefore agree with you and help you out.
If you find that your neighbour
is unresponsive to your requests,
it might be because
you're not communicating them appropriately
or clear enough.
It also might be because there's already
a relationship problem with you and your neighbour,
where this sort of issue has happened before
and it's been neglected and mismanaged.
So what you might want to do firstly is clear the air.