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Original poster

Wheelie bins next to neighbour's house

81 replies

catblanket · 05/12/2021 17:43

Not sure if I am in the right or wrong here, so I am canvassing opinion!

We have a double driveway on the side of our house, with a double garage at the end of it.

One side of the driveway is bordered by our own detached house and the other side of the driveway is bordered by the side of the neighbour's detached house (with no windows looking out onto our side).

It's a bit of a funny angle and I can't get the car into the garage if the wheelie bins are along the side of our own house. So I've been putting them across the other side of the drive from our house, so they are alongside the neighbour's house walls.

She just came round and told me to move them and that she didn't want them touching her house. I've just taken a look outside, and she's moved them about 3' from her house wall, so they're now in the middle of my drive.

I'm really confused as to why this has upset her - if I could understand her reasoning I'd feel more understanding. But I'm a bit flummoxed as to why this is an issue. I would have asked her, but I've just had surgery and she woke me up and caught me off guard a bit and I wasn't thinking straight and the request threw me a bit.

Can anyone explain why this might be wrong, so that I can understand this more?! It will affect how I deal with it, because at the moment I am failing to see the issue and feel like putting them back along her wall.

OP posts:
McKesson · 05/12/2021 18:42

Why do you need to put them in that exact spot? Can't you take them round the back of your house?
It'll be the noise of the lid banging against her bricks, that's probably annoying your neighbours. No need for it. Just move them elsewhere.

TSSDNCOP · 05/12/2021 18:42

Presumably she has a room the other side of the bin wall. Which means she may hear every time you swing the kid up and chuck in your rubbish.

Is this a hill you want to die on with a new, rather sensitive neighbour? I'd go path of least resistance and move them.

TSSDNCOP · 05/12/2021 18:43

Obviously don't swing your kid against her wall either. That would be bad form.

TheLovelinessOfBaublyDemons · 05/12/2021 18:47

Not to mention give the kid concussion.

Santahatesbraisedcabbage · 05/12/2021 18:50

Wheelie bin a great place for a dc

.
Some days anyway!!

Kshhuxnxk · 05/12/2021 18:54

I can see why they'd be p'd off - from the outside it'll look like it's their bins - they're unslightly at the best of time far less someone elses looking like they belong to your house. You also can sort the garage differently so YABU.

Ozanj · 05/12/2021 18:54

I would be getting a fence and gate put up so she can’t move anything into your property without effort

CovidCorvid · 05/12/2021 18:57

@HeddaGarbled

We have only just moved in

Then don’t get off on the wrong foot. Scratchy relationships with neighbours could spoil your enjoyment of your new home.

Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?

To be honest maybe the OP’s neighbour could also have thought along these lines…..it’s obvious she doesn’t give a shit. Problem is you give an inch now and they’ll be making crazy demands for ever. They’ve shown themselves to be arseholes so I’d just outdo them and make it clear if she ever touches your bins again there will be trouble. I’d also put it in writing that you expect two weeks written notice of a request to access the meters. Fuck them.
DillDanding · 05/12/2021 19:02

I am trying to see why this would be an issue, but can't.

We need a diagram.

We have a bin store on our drive which is right against the boundary.

junglejane66 · 05/12/2021 19:06

@Doomscrolling

A diagram would help.

Are they still on your property?

Diagram? Really? Sounds straight forward TBF
Chloemol · 05/12/2021 19:07

It might be the noise of the bins being used? Or them banging against the house in the wind?

I would just move them back, but a few inches from her house so they are not touching

Do you use both garages! If not could they go in front of there?

SequinnedShawl · 05/12/2021 19:17

I would hazard a guess that the previous people who lived there did the same and were possibly less than considerate about the bin lid whacking against the wall etc.

SequinnedShawl · 05/12/2021 19:19

I would check your boundaries in case the neighbour's land starts where she moved your bins to. Just so you're playing with the full deck of cards. You don't really want a neighbour dispute as soon as you've moved in.

GertietheGherkin · 05/12/2021 19:20

@1concernedmummy

Yeah, putting your bins up against someone's house is rude and entitled.
Even though they are on her property?

That's like saying she can't park her car on her driveway at a certain angle, or tarmac instead of block paving. It's her driveway and her property and she can put her bins where she chooses. Especially to park easier on her driveway.

People seem to think because they buy a house, it gives them rights to dictate how people should live in/use their property.

Unless it's a planning permission or noise/ nuisance/ antisocial issue what people do in/ with their property is their business.

I think we need a diagram though! 😁

QuillBill · 05/12/2021 19:24

It might be because it's common as muck to have your bins where people can see them. She might be worried that passers by might think they are her bins and that would be socially unacceptable to her. Where does she keep her bins?

Doggydoodah123 · 05/12/2021 19:27

My neighbours put their bins in front of my house every week, pisses me off big style. I know its not really a big deal but I just think it's bad manners.

NotBabiesForLong · 05/12/2021 19:27

From your description of land registry boundaries, if her meters are on your drive side, they would stick out from her house a couple of inches or more, into your land. This would seem unlikely. (Eg, you can't put a gutter up that protrudes into next door garden etc)

So double check if she does actually own the strip at the side of her detached house.

If she doesn't, what are the arrangements for fencing off and the neighbour accessing to read meters?

BeyondMyWits · 05/12/2021 19:29

We live in a detached house, the actual driveway surface goes up to our neighbour's wall, our ownership of that driveway goes up to a nominal non-existent line level with the overhang of the neighbour's eaves, so around 12 to 18 inches from his wall. We would be trespassing on his property if we put our bins against his wall.

Detached houses with driveways between are often done in this way to provide legal access to the side of the house for things like meter cupboards, or maintenance.

NotBabiesForLong · 05/12/2021 19:30

If you are entitled to place your bins there, it isn't nice for your neighbour if you lift lids up and bang on their wall, particularly if you can relocate the bins elsewhere.

Reminds me of kids playing football against a house wall, and nobody wants that.

gogohm · 05/12/2021 19:41

I wouldn't lean them against the house as they could encourage damp, moss etc, 1ft out is fine though

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/12/2021 19:41

That does sound weird with the meters - very odd to put meters on the side of somebody's house that protrude into the neighbour's land and which cannot be read or maintained without going on to the neighbour's land.

godmum56 · 05/12/2021 19:43

@BeyondMyWits

We live in a detached house, the actual driveway surface goes up to our neighbour's wall, our ownership of that driveway goes up to a nominal non-existent line level with the overhang of the neighbour's eaves, so around 12 to 18 inches from his wall. We would be trespassing on his property if we put our bins against his wall.

Detached houses with driveways between are often done in this way to provide legal access to the side of the house for things like meter cupboards, or maintenance.

same here. My front garden looks like its all mine but actually about a 2ft strip of it belongs to my neighbour because her side wall is at right angles to the front of my house. I cultivate it with her permission and had to discuss when we block paved it whether she wanted it block paved too or left as bare earth. Its very rare for the actual house wall to be at the edge of the curtilage.
FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack · 05/12/2021 19:46

It'll probably be the noise, if it's touching or close to her wall then the bin lids opening and closing will be reverberating around her room. My parents neighbour has her against their garden wall and you wouldn't believe the noise when she drops the lid, the wall is much higher than the garden so you've no idea it's going to happen and it really makes you jump. It's noisier than doing it to your own bin somehow.

Lemonlady22 · 05/12/2021 21:07

My neighbours leave theirs on their path, (no driveway) as close as they can to my wall, right by my front room bay window. They stink, in the summer had maggots crawling on them and to be quite honest look horrible. I have raised my wall with trellis and have hung at the top of the trellis a fly catcher which has a horrible odour (I've heard them say its disgusting) my windows are shut now so can't smell it, they've moved the offending bins to the front of the house by the pavement now. Looks so attractive, manky bins out front but not affecting me now

Schoolchoicesucks · 05/12/2021 21:31

Do they smell? Or are they overflowing, so when it's windy rubbish blows into their garden? Or do the lids bang?

Our neighbour's bins are on their front drive, next to our front path. All the above. We have to walk past them every time we go into or leave our house. Their path is the other side, so they escape the worst of the smells (in summer I literally have to hold my breath walking past). It's really inconsiderate. Unfortunately he's a twat so I can't approach him for a neighbourly conversation about it.

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