To tell my neighbour she has to pay for my son's bike?

[Bikelema]

We are terraced houses and we share a passage to back gardens.

It has a gate on with a padlock.

We have a few bikes that are in the back garden (ours) but my son uses his daily so it usually stays in the locked passage.

She had a gardener come once in a while to mow her back garden.

Last time a friend was visiting he locked his bike in the passage and my neighbour had taken his bike and left it in the front garden.

I came out and moved it into my back garden. I asked the gardener not to take property from the locked passage and leave it unattended in the front, he said neighbour had told him to put it in front garden.

We live in a shit area.

I also knocked on the door and said this to neighbour

She apologised.

It happened again. Only this time I took the bike into my house whilst they were both in the back.

Sue her knocking on door panicking that bike was gone.

I told her I had it but not to leave the bike in the front.

So guess what.

It happened again but only this time it was stolen for real :(

It was a £800 bike that we got 2nd hand for £150

AIBU to ask she pays for it?

Utterly unreasonable.

You need to keep things in your own garden, not shared areas.

YANBU.
But will she actually pay?

What on earth was her explanation when you confronted her and told her not to move your things (and leave unattended in the front)? Was the bike some how in the way? Not that it matters at all. She should def pay but I somehow doubt you will see any money.....

How is a locked bike being moved?

You won’t see any money. Neighbour is very rude though. Do they leave anything in the passage you can helpfully leave on the street?

She should definitely pay. If she doesn't then explain that you will call the police as essentially the bike was locked away and she took it away from that area.
It doesn't matter where she took it to, for all you know she sold it on eBay and is claiming it was stolen.
You don't take other people's property without asking as that is theft.

The thing is, knowing that on two occasions before, she had left the bike outside, you continued to put it in the passage. So it is partly your own fault. However, I do think she should pay. But I don't think she will and there's not much you can do about it.

You need to keep things in your own garden, not shared areas.

If the neighbour wasn't happy for the bike to be kept in the shared area, she should have said that, not agreed with the OP not to do it again and then carried on moving it.

As a long standing expensive bike owner I would never have left any of mine in a communal area. Not a chance! I think this is a live and learn moment. You want your bike to be safe, don't leave it where others can access it. You know who your neighbours are but you never know when they have visitors, workers etc, who may not be too trustworthy.

I understand why you ask the question, but I'd have to say YABU... really, you should have taken the hint from the fact that the bike got moved a couple of times and not left it in a commonly accessible area, particularly if you weren't securing it to something but just locking it so it could be picked up, which is what I assume from your thread.

Then again, I live in London where you wouldn't dream of leaving a bike anywhere where it could be moved. DS and DH have to wheel their bikes through the house to the back garden because we're in a terraced house. That's the reality.

She doesn't have a problem with the bike being in the passage.

We talked when she moved in and she said it was fine for us to put a bike or 2 in the passage over night.

She doesn't use the side passage at all apart from about once a month when gardener comes.

Plus after the 2nd time she assured me that from now on she would just move the bike to the back garden. Why wouldn't I believe her?

So why is she moving it? 🤔

YABU. Your son's bike, should have been stored in your garden just like all your other bikes. Don't see why his using it daily means he couldn't have kept it in the garden rather than the passage? Save an extra 30 seconds?

She only moves it so he can take the lawn mower down the side passage.

It's the only access to the back garden.

She is happy for bike to be there but just needs to move it once in a blue moon to take the lawnmower down there.

She agreed to put it in the back garden for the 30 mins it takes to do the gardening but once again it got put in the front

And taken.

Is the gardener moving the bike everytime because your son is blocking the access path?

I'd have extremely limited sympathy if that were the case:

How has she been moving it if it’s locked up? That doesn’t seem right.

I don't understand why she needs to move the bikes at all, is it just to leave free access to the gardener?

I think you are both at fault, if someone needs access you should not block it with your bike. You should keep your valuables in your own back garden. I can't see your neighbour paying for the stolen bike, you can always ask.

Was the bike locked? Even in the shared area or garden it is at risk and you should have kept it locked. Also if the gardener only comes once a month you should move it in advance as it must be causing issues for him to bring in his equipment or something.
It's shit that she left it out where it was vulnerable but you need to take some responsibility here as well.

I don't know why people are saying IBU for keeping the bike in the passage when the neighbour agreed it's absolutely fine to do so? If she had a problem with it I wouldn't.
Or if she refused to take it in the back I wouldn't.

The point is we talked and ageed on something and she's done the opposite resulting in the bikes theft.

I cant believe that after it being moved twice because it was blocking the passage, none of you had the wit to lock in your own garden

The bike isn't locked. The passage is locked. Both front and back.

Sorry but this was totally foreseeable, you can't expect her gardener to be responsible for your property. YABU.