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Bins and converted terrace houses... Sigh..

gatsbyNZ
Posts: 17 Forumite

Am I being a pr ck? So we own the ground floor and all the land in front and at the rear. There is a narrow strip of land beside the path. The path goes to front porch with 2 door ways. The general and the recycling bins of the upstairs neighbour who rents via a housing association sit on that thin strip of land as there is no where else to put them. No problem with that. The rest of the strip is pla ented.
The neighbour does not recycle properly and forgets to take their bins to the street on collection day. Hence often overflowing. Grey bins collected every 2 weeks. Recycling once a week. The neighbour ordered a new grey bin and has plonked it on our land without asking, then when I mentioned the bin was on our land squeezed it next to others and squashed plants. She gets very defensive quickly so instead of having a discussion I realised it was becoming an arguement.
I looked at the deeds and the land is ours. No question. Bins must have been stored in that strip for 30 years, initial just a single bin. Council says 1 bin if each per household.
Do I just let her store the 3rd bin on my land or can I say hold on, my land.. the problem is that next time it LL be an extra recycling bin. As she puts food in the general bin and doesn't use the food waste, it stinks in summer.... Every other house seems to cope with 1 bin of each...
Am I being a pr ck if I called her landlord and said she cannot have another bin.... BTW she never asked, just assumed she could do it, even though we had the same talk a year ago...
The neighbour does not recycle properly and forgets to take their bins to the street on collection day. Hence often overflowing. Grey bins collected every 2 weeks. Recycling once a week. The neighbour ordered a new grey bin and has plonked it on our land without asking, then when I mentioned the bin was on our land squeezed it next to others and squashed plants. She gets very defensive quickly so instead of having a discussion I realised it was becoming an arguement.
I looked at the deeds and the land is ours. No question. Bins must have been stored in that strip for 30 years, initial just a single bin. Council says 1 bin if each per household.
Do I just let her store the 3rd bin on my land or can I say hold on, my land.. the problem is that next time it LL be an extra recycling bin. As she puts food in the general bin and doesn't use the food waste, it stinks in summer.... Every other house seems to cope with 1 bin of each...
Am I being a pr ck if I called her landlord and said she cannot have another bin.... BTW she never asked, just assumed she could do it, even though we had the same talk a year ago...
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gatsbyNZ said:Am I being a pr ck? So we own the ground floor and all the land in front and at the rear. There is a narrow strip of land beside the path. The path goes to front porch with 2 door ways. The general and the recycling bins of the upstairs neighbour who rents via a housing association sit on that thin strip of land as there is no where else to put them. No problem with that. The rest of the strip is pla ented.
The neighbour does not recycle properly and forgets to take their bins to the street on collection day. Hence often overflowing. Grey bins collected every 2 weeks. Recycling once a week. The neighbour ordered a new grey bin and has plonked it on our land without asking, then when I mentioned the bin was on our land squeezed it next to others and squashed plants. She gets very defensive quickly so instead of having a discussion I realised it was becoming an arguement.
I looked at the deeds and the land is ours. No question. Bins must have been stored in that strip for 30 years, initial just a single bin. Council says 1 bin if each per household.
Do I just let her store the 3rd bin on my land or can I say hold on, my land.. the problem is that next time it LL be an extra recycling bin. As she puts food in the general bin and doesn't use the food waste, it stinks in summer.... Every other house seems to cope with 1 bin of each...
Am I being a pr ck if I called her landlord and said she cannot have another bin.... BTW she never asked, just assumed she could do it, even though we had the same talk a year ago...No, if people can't be bothered to manage their waste properly then IMV they need reminding of their responsibilities.However, rather than contacting the landlord I'd probably contact the council's waste service and tell them about yoor concerns - a) because they can take enforcement action and b) you can deny it was you that contacted the council, whereas the landlord may share what you send them with the neighbour so you won't be able to deny it was you.If the land is yours and there is nothing in the deeds giving them the right to keep bins there then there is a small chance a technical offence is being committed by her keeping her bins on your land. The householder exemption from the offence of depositing controlled waste on land applies to the curtilage of the property - so it may be her leaving her waste within your curtilage is technically unlawful. Something to think about if the issue gets worse.1 -
I forgot to mention we own the lease of the land and ground floor. The freehold is owned by the housing association.
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Picture would help a lot, but it sounds like a battle that you cannot win - due to the bad design - not enough land for constantly growing number of bins.
Even if somehow you managed to teach them the right way, they will be replaced with someone else and the story will repeat itself, and what you don't want is a annoying neighbour that gets even more annoyed.
So either fence some of the front garden that they have no choice where to put bins, take their stinky bins out on collection day (yes I know..) or have a chat with owner - maybe there is a solution - like for certain yearly fee you could allocate some of your front garden for their bins?0 -
If it was me I might be dragging their bins all the way to 2 streets over to get them off your property.....but that would be un-neighbourly.
This is one of the difficulties with policies that don't take into account what properties people actually have (as well as the fact that some people are complete idiots....). Our previous house had no option but to keep our bins at the front of the house. We had 3 bins that took up nearly the entire front area - which was basically a 6 x 12 foot space which initially had a nice planted portion. The council introduced a 4th bin for food waste and I asked them to take it away as we had not place to keep it. They refused to collect it so I ended up "recycling" it as it was just small enough to fit in our paper and plastic recycle bin. I felt no guilt about this as it was an acknowledged fact that the food bins were simply emptied in with the regular garbage.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Debt Free Wannabe and Old Style Money Saving boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
"Never retract, never explain, never apologise; get things done and let them howl.” Nellie McClung1 -
Newbie_John said:.... - maybe there is a solution - like for certain yearly fee you could allocate some of your front garden for their bins?
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As @Brie says, a part of the problem is that everyone has so many flaming bins now. It's fine where we currently live because we have plenty of space but when we were in a mid-terrace it was a right pain.OP, you're not being unreasonable but I don't think there's an easy solution unfortunately.0
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I used to live in a row of three with no front gardens and in which the middle property had no access to their back garden other than through the house. The council gave them bags for all their rubbish, whereas the two end properties kept their bins at the back/side. You could suggest to the council that as the upstairs property has nowhere to store bins she is given bags. Might encourage her to put her rubbish out properly, and you get rid of all her bins on your land.0
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Perhaps a question for the freeholder.. how do they plan to provide waste disposal facilities for their 2 leases, using the land they have the use of? Do they want to lease back / amend the footprint of your lease (for a fee)?
I'd double check your lease that there's no allowance for the upstairs property's bins there first..1 -
Thanks all. My issue is that they want to be two of the same bins because they cannot comprehend what is recyclable. If they needed 3 bins for 3 different types of waste, I would have no problem. I can just see summer coming up two full bins of food bin rotting in the sun.... Sigh... Spoke with the landlord who will remind them that the strip of land is owned by me and they cannot just do what they want... Let's see how that goes down.. 🤣0
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If nothing improves, you could always see some rats and inform Environmental Health.
"Money will only make you more of what you already are." T. Harv Eker0
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