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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

177 replies

Bikelema · 28/06/2018 09:56

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?

OP posts:
Bekstar · 29/06/2018 18:05

If you try perusing her for the cost first thing will crop up is the fact that you took it into the house before and pretended it was stolen. So she won't trust you. Secondly if it's not on your property and is I'm a shared area then it's your problem. You should store bikes etc in your own areas not communal. It would also void any kind of insurance you would have for it

Ippydippyskyblue · 29/06/2018 18:17

I would have taken extra security the first time and put bolts on the wall and bolted the bike to the wall. Front part of frame and back part. Then she wouldn’t have been able to move it without your knowledge and permission.
Too late this time, but there is next time. I’d put a post out asking if anyone had a free bike because your son's had been stolen and you’re not in a position to replace it.

Juells · 29/06/2018 18:23

@Ippydippyskyblue

I would have taken extra security the first time and put bolts on the wall and bolted the bike to the wall. Front part of frame and back part. Then she wouldn’t have been able to move it without your knowledge and permission.

Holy crap! It was in narrow shared access. What normal person would bolt a bike to a wall in a shared space, blocking other people's access.

onalongsabbatical · 29/06/2018 18:29

The fire service would take a dim view of any obstructions to escape routes being bolted into place.

Michellelovesizzy · 29/06/2018 18:44

if u asked me to pay u would get told were to go.... look after ur own shit

lauramaywharton · 29/06/2018 18:44

Sue her it's your save just as much as hers and she put you property in a unsafe place it would be like haveing a house share and someone taking someone's bike out the back and sticking it in the front. She took responsibility for it when she moved it out of a locked area. You wouldn't move a car from a shared drive and then leave it with the key in on the streets so why can she do it with a bike.

Rachie1973 · 29/06/2018 18:47

Ippydippyskyblue
I would have taken extra security the first time and put bolts on the wall and bolted the bike to the wall. Front part of frame and back part. Then she wouldn’t have been able to move it without your knowledge and permission.

At which point I should imagine permission to obstruct the shared space whilst using as storage would promptly have been withdraw.

Rachie1973 · 29/06/2018 18:50

lauramaywharton
You wouldn't move a car from a shared drive and then leave it with the key in on the streets so why can she do it with a bike.

So the neighbour should never be allowed to have her back lawn mowed? She kindly allows him to cause an obstruction.... something the emergency services would take a very dim view of btw. And you would throw her kindness back in her face?

You'd never win in a million years if you tried to sue.

PeakPants · 29/06/2018 18:54

No, I don't think you can ask her to pay. If her gardener only comes once a month, I also can't understand why your son cannot keep the bike in the back garden during that day or around that time. Pretty lazy to just put it unlocked in a shared access way.

Then again, I am biased and annoyed because my neighbours have just blocked my access-way through their garden (a legitimate one that is on my title deeds, I should specify).

Oldraver · 29/06/2018 19:05

It's a shared passageway for access...not storing unlocked bikes

No she shouldn't pay for your fecklessness.

An £800 bike should be locked in your own garden...yes I know you shouldn't have to go to such lengths..but you say you live in a not good area.

Beachmummy23 · 29/06/2018 21:06

My neighbours leave bikes in our shared passageway. This is extremely rude and prevents us getting our own bikes without moving theirs first. You should have kept in your own space and not been so rude

FairyFlake45 · 29/06/2018 22:42

Is this correct?....You share the passage and you have a right to leave your bike there? She is not the owner of the bike but moves the bike, which is not her property? Or was it the gardener that moved the bike? Whoever picked up your bike (not their bike) from your property and put it out front for anyone to steal is at fault and should feel guilty enough to pay but unfortunately you probably can’t enforce this. If it’s her gardener doing it, he doesn’t have to live next door to you and probably doesn’t care. If I was your neighbor, I’d feel guilty and get a new gardener.

lauramaywharton · 29/06/2018 22:43

It's still her property though, even if it's shared and you can not remove someone else's property without permission and if you do you have to take responsibility legally so she has to pay simple if you took it to court. She deamed herself responsible for the safety of the bike as soon as she moved it.

Follyfoot · 29/06/2018 22:46

Sue her

Grin Really, I'm sure that would go well.

lauramaywharton · 29/06/2018 22:54

It really would work to sue her. And really wish people would stop saying about the fire service its a locked gate they wouldn't be able to get through anyway even without a bike. And also you keep on saying that the writer of this post is inconsiderate she asked her if it was okay and she said yes. Which she didn't have to do anyway because its her property to, she was the considorate one to ask in the first place.

Follyfoot · 29/06/2018 23:20

Sue her for what exactly?

DilemmasAndDisasters · 30/06/2018 07:42

Ok poster, I’m not going to judge on whether you are BU or not, but what you really should do now is check all your local online community boards to see if it’s up for sale! Also if you haven’t already you should report to the police (explaining that you don’t know how someone got into locked communal passageway unless someone else left open) and alert neighbour (not in accusatory way) that bike has been stolen and police notified. Then you need to just hope that a) it turns up on a website for sale or b) that neighbour will assist financially without asking out of partial guilt!! Otherwise sorry to hear but yes I think it’s one of those life lessons!!! (I speak as someone who just had expensive bracelet stolen from locked, which they unlocked, luggage!!)

2018Already · 30/06/2018 08:40

She clearly didn’t want your bike blocking the passage and didn’t want the potential confrontation arising from admitting it. You should know it shouldn’t have been blocking a communal passage, it should have been in your garden. You shouldn’t have asked her.
My partner is a gardener and he’s always complaining about having to move other people’s stuff just to get access to do his job. You’re at fault here and furthermore you’ve been inconsiderate to your neighbours.

Ginger1982 · 30/06/2018 08:52

I don't see why you didn't just keep the bike in your own back garden? Was your son too lazy to lock and unlock the gates every day? Tough cheese.

FlyingMonkeys · 30/06/2018 09:15

@lauramaywharton who exactly would it pay to sue? Certainly not the OP! The cost of taking to small claims would be well more than the 50 quid she may be awarded for the bike IF she won... Stop talking nonsense

bunnyrabbit93 · 30/06/2018 09:22

YABU

SumerisIcumenin · 30/06/2018 09:31

I used to live in a shit area.
Always lock your bike, even if popping into a shop. Lock it to something immovable if possible. Postcode it. How will you id the bike if it surfaces for sale?
You had several warnings that your neighbour was unreliable, but took no heed.
Claim on your insurance.
Teach your son how to protect his kit.

FlyingMonkeys · 30/06/2018 09:35

And how on earth would the fire brigade not get through a locked gate? 😂 Oh look lads it's got a lock! Best go home then...

Limpopobongo · 30/06/2018 09:39

YABU.. the shared space is just that, shared space. It is a passage. A passage has only one function ,usually to provide pedestrian access to private individual areas ie you and your neighbours back gardens. The lock on the gate is presumably to prevent trespassers from entering.

In my view the passage should be unobstructed. Any private property should be kept on your own property.

That is simply how most people will see it and that simply is how it is.

Jimmers · 30/06/2018 12:50

**FlyingMonkeys

And how on earth would the fire brigade not get through a locked gate? 😂 Oh look lads it's got a lock! Best go home then...

Exactly what I thought Grin