About neighbours? Or a bit precious?

[NickyEds]

We rent a lovely house in a great village. I love it here and I absolutely don't want to fall out with my neighbours. The house has a garden and at the bottom a drive and garage. We don't have a car so the drive is only really used when we have family to visit. A few months ago one of our neighbours asked if he could leave some stuff on our drive for a couple of days. I said it was fine- the drive gives slightly easier access for them and we weren't using it that weekend.

So a couple of weeks ago we bumped into a different neighbour and he told us he'd be using our drive. His actual words were " we'll be using your drive for some building work. We've checked with your land lady and she says it's fine". I just feel like this is a bit out of line tbh but didn't say anything at the time as we were with friends. This morning huge amounts of building materials have been delivered onto the drive and there are builders mixing concrete etc there. As it happens we are having family to stay so would have used the drive. We would have probably said yes anyway but AIBU to think this is just a bit rude? Dp thinks I'm being precious.

You're being completely walked over.

LL has no authority to give other people access to your poetry. Call her, ask her about it, and end with a resolution you are happy with (I would suggest either instant removal of the builders stuff, or a reduction in rent).

How rude! That is not ok - you're paying rent for a house, not a building site office.

I think I would go out to the builders and ask them to remove the materials from your drive.

YANBU. I would contact the landlady. She caused this, she should sort it.

If you do not deal with this now, your drive will become community property and you will find them all storing stuff on it, parking on it and treating you without any consideration.
^This, and in fact it seems like it has already started.

I suspect if he actually did ask the LL she probs said something like "Its ok with me, but you need to check with NickyEds" and that was his way of checking with you. He kinda forced your hand but may be able to convince himself he gave you the opportunity to say "no". He may dislike asking for favours and just be that kind of person, or he may have decided that he could so he would.

Its not nice to be forced to challenge it, but Arfar is right.

I would be asking your landlady if she did this first of all. Then point out she doesn't have rights to do that.

So the land lady knows about it. Or at least to some degree. I messaged her and she said "oh X, yes he mentioned he'd need to use the bottom drive. I didn't think it would be a problem as you don't use it. Did he not call round?". So it sounds like she's given sort of the go ahead, assuming he would also check with me. I don't think she knew when it was to be used or for how long for, why would she care?

I don't think she's a brand new ll as we've been here a year and someone rented it before us but she isn't a professional ll IFYSWIM. We did have some concerns last year when we came home to find her picking gooseberries from the bushes in the garden! We over looked it as we love the house and she's been very accommodating about us fitting baby gates and stuff.

I'd be raging in your position, I must say. And looking for a new house.

Totally unacceptable!

Oh dear, I think your landlady still think she lives in her family home. And neighbour has pulled a fast one.

You need to construct a clear message reminding her that the drive and gooseberry bushes are covered by your tenancy and she cannot consent to other people using them.

If someone asked me if they could use my drive while work was being doe, I would assume they mean a van might need access to drop stuff of etc. Actually leaving building materials on your drive is something else entirely and I wouldn't be happy with it. Have they no room on their own land for it?

I agree with others, I bet he didn't ask landlady at all. I would call landlady and say 'did you know' and 'are you charging him because it's very inconvenient for us'

I suspect the guy said that to 'remind' you of what he percieves as lower status..and this could well be the start of more 'I've spoken to your landlady' excuses.

Once you know, if there is no permission get ll on your side. And then I would find out who dropped it off, or go out with hands on hips saying this is on the land we rent without permission, so move it.

So she knows about it but it sounds like he didn't actually ask anyone, he told her he'd ask you, and told you he'd already asked her!
Cheeky bastard.

I'd piss on his concrete, tbh.

Put a fence round his building materials mwahaha. .

Cheeky feckers both of them. I would mostly keep quiet for the sake of good relations though. Maybe a gentle mention of next time would you mind checking with me first?

Who is he expecting to be responsible if his building materials are stolen? Or if someone injures themselves on them? I'd be wanting rid of them as soon as possible and to be honest I'd be looking around for a less clueless landlord.

I would be taking pictures and sending them to the landlady and the letting agent if you have one, showing that he's using (and presumably damaging) the drive by mixing cement on it etc.

I would message back your LandLord "I wish someone had asked if I was ok with it, we had people visiting who wanted to use the drive. Can you get it all moved by Monday? I have guests for the day and want to use the drive. For future reference, we'd rather not have anyone else use it."

Also that you will not be liable for any damage done to the drive. Can just imagine a skip breaking the surface and her wanting to deduct from your deposit at some point!

Due to the layout of the gardens (it's work on his garden he's doing) it would be massively inconvenient for him to do anything other than use our drive for this amount of stuff. You know those metre squared bags of stones delivered by mini crane things off the back of low loaders? There's about 8 of them! Plus concrete bags and mixer! He would have had to either park all of that on the street and load it in by wheel Barrow or dump it at the front and wheel it through his house. Either way it would be a nightmare for him. I'm guessing he didn't get proper permission in case we said no.

I would take photographs and send them to LL so she can see the inconvenience it has caused, and also for future reference in case there are any problems with the driveway when you move out. What a liberty.

Thing is, however difficult it makes it for him, it's not your problem - you pay rent for that drive, he didn't ask your permission, so your landlord needs to either get him to remove it or give you a discount. I'd send her a message saying you want it gone, if she says no as it's too much effort for him, send her another one asking what will be your discount on your rent to cover that you no longer have use of the drive and can she confirm you won't be responsible for any damage to the drive caused by his work. (Don't ask her if she will give you a discount, ask her how much she is offering, make it clear it's assumed you'll get something for the inconvience.)

Possibly your landlady thought you had already agreed this with the neighbour. Maybe the neighbour even told her that. Check her side of the story.