Neighbour putting bins outside DM's door

[CanaBanana]

My DM lives in a tiny Victorian semi. None of them have front gardens or front doors because they're right on the main road. The only access is via a side door that opens from an alley between each pair of houses.

In recent years many residents have bricked up the side door and replaced it with a door into the back garden. It's much nicer to have a door you can leave open for fresh air and garden access, easier for kids and dogs to run in and out, etc. My DM however has never been able to afford to do this - her door is still in the alley. Next door (opposite side of the alley) has their door in the garden.

DM's neighbour has recently (since the hot weather) started putting her bins in the alley. It's wide enough so access isn't restricted but it isn't very nice for DM to have a bin within a couple of feet of her door with smells and clouds of flies.

DM has complained but the neighbour says she isn't willing to have a smelly bin and flies in her small garden. But it's ok to put it outside DM's door?! It's a shared alley so neighbour insists she has the right to store things there. Which she does, but putting her bin outside DM's door isn't the same as putting a bike there, for example.

We've put the bins back in her garden repeatedly. She keeps putting them back in the alley. AIBU to ask some of the local teens to make sure her bins go "missing" if she leaves them in the alley where anyone can nick them?

Tough one as the neighbour has a point, isn’t not her fault that your DM can’t afford to change the position of her door and from the diagram the recess actually looks like a really sensible place to keep the bin (as demonstrated by the fact all the other neighbors are keeping their bins there.

Similarly I can understand your DM wanting the bin to be away from her front door as it would be smell in this heat!

As a compromise could your DM pay to have neighbours bin cleaned- thus ensuring that the bin itself is clean and fresh, and then ask the neighbour to make sure she only puts properly bagged and sealed rubbish in the bin and see how they get on with that? Perhaps even putting some odour neutralising stuff in the bin- it would be worth a shot as if the neighbour has a dirty bin and isn’t bagging properly, resolving those two issues may resolve the problem for the most part.

Bin cleaning is only about £20-30 (or if you’re that bothered a broom and fairy liquid and you could do it).

I think yabu.

The alley must be at least three feet wide (same as a door) so the bins are not directly outside your mum’s door.

We don’t get flies in our bins anyway. Perhaps ask the neighbour to give them a wash out if flies are an issue?

Sorry but I don't think the neighbour is doing anything wrong. I think you're the one being a CF moving her bins into her back garden repeatedly.

Great diagram. I don’t think the neighbour is a CF, bricking up the door left a handy recess and they are not obstructing access. Your mum has a garden to sit in so she is hardly obliged to stare at the bins all day.

Outstanding diagram OP.
However, it reveals that YABU.
Sorry.

We don’t get flies either, not even in this weather. Maybe the council would replace her bin, if you don’t want to wash it? (‘Orrible job). I think it usually costs about £20.

Why would the council replace a bin that isn't damaged?

Could you help your mum change her property to the way the others are? Sounds like the only permanent solution tbh.

I wouldn't be happy about having someone's bin outside my door. I'd check with the local council's environmental health dept. I once viewed a charming mews and was very keen to buy until I noticed that the bins of the main house were all stored against the back wall of the mews, under bedroom windows.

Hard lines for your DM but I don't think the neighbour is being a CF.

I would try to appeal to her better nature and ask if, because of the proximity to little, old DM's back door, she can make sure it doesn't stink and harbour flies.

I definitely don't think your DM should pay to have the neighbour's bin cleaned, that is something the neighbour should do since she's the one that changed the status quo.

My council replaces bins for £20.
They are repaired, cleaned and reused.

YANBU to be bothered by it, it doesn't sound nice.

Yes, the neighbour has been a bit inconsiderate but you may have lost any bargaining power with her by repeatedly entering her garden with her bins. She's hardly going to feel like doing your Mum a favour after that. Until someone established whether the alley is allowed for bin storage, then she hasn't done anything wrong at all.

Looking at the diagram I think YABU the neighbour is putting her bins in her recess same as everyone else. I thought you meant she was moving them away from her house right outside your mothers door? Its not her fault that your mothers door is still there so the bins are opposite her but across the alley not right outside.

Sorry but there is no way you can move her bins from there into her garden without you trespassing and being a CF. Out of interest has this just started to happen where were the bins before?

Check what the deeds say. It may well specifically say that the alleys cannot be used for storage.

Even if YABU, it is still horrible for someone to have a bin right outside their door. We live in a ground floor flat with one person upstairs. We have access for taking the bins past his outside steps down the side of the house but as there are more steps onto the road I can't really keep my bin out the back and move it out for bin day (too heavy) so I keep it in the corner of my front garden. Neighbour has to walk past it even though it's by my fence, on my own property. I told him that if he didn't like it there or he could smell it to just let me know and we would find a new place to keep it or have a bin store installed.

Why are so many people quite happy to piss off their neighbours rather than compromise and keep everyone happy? A bin store would be idea for your DM's neighbour. Leave the bin there but locked up and stink/fly free.

I doubt that recess is classed as shared space. Boundary line more likely to follow the straight line of property.

I would use it for bin storage too. They don't block access. Perfect size.

If neighbour cleaned bins regularly and rubbish bagged up properly there should be no flies/stink.

Could you maybe afford to pay for doors to be installed as a kind of bin store? It's not really very Co sideraye of the neighbour to keep them there but she is not blocking access and they are on her property by the looks of it. I don't really this she is being a Cf. Creating a bin store would be a good compromise.

Nanna50
Looking at the diagram I think YABU the neighbour is putting her bins in her recess same as everyone else. I thought you meant she was moving them away from her house right outside your mothers door? Its not her fault that your mothers door is still there so the bins are opposite her but across the alley not right outside.

I have to agree with Nanna50 on this one. Before your diagram I pictured it differently from how it is. It looks more like a recess area that's part of her property rather than being the alley. Stinky bins are not pleasant. Maybe apologize for moving her bins into her yard repeatedly as you've crossed a boundary there and probably offended her. Then explain about how the unpleasant smell is affecting your mum. See if you can negotiate a compromise where she'll clean the bins and minimize the smell and you'll accept that this is where she keeps the bins.

Yes it has just started to happen. Originally everyone kept bins in the back garden. Over the years as each pair of neighbours has moved their doors they've started to put bins in the alley. I agree it's a sensible place if both neighbours have moved their doors.

Neighbour has always kept bins in their original place in the garden, presumably so as not to put them right outside DM's door. However in the recent hot weather the bin stinks and is crawling with flies so neighbour obviously wanted rid and put in the alley outside DM's door. DM now can't open her door for ventilation or while cooking because the flies and smells come in.

Neighbour doesn't see why she should continue to be deprived of a convenient storage place just because it's unpleasant for DM. Personally I don't see why it's acceptable to be thoughtless and mean to a pensioner next door. I can't force the neighbour to keep her bins away from DM's door but I can ensure they go missing every time she puts them there.

I thought you meant she was moving them away from her house right outside your mothers door?
She has done exactly that. Moved them away from her own door and put them about 5ft from DM's door.

I can't force the neighbour to keep her bins away from DM's door but I can ensure they go missing every time she puts them there.

You are a massive CF.

If neighbour is putting her bins in the recess area of her own house you cannot steal them, enter her garden without permission or accidentally have them stolen. If they are in the shared access area that may be something you need to discuss with a solicitor, your dm and neighbour need to check their house deeds which will say who owns what and what can be stored. If the bins go missing what will that achieve, she will either just buy another one or use black bags instead which would be worse. Where exactly is she storing her bin, in her recess or in the alley next door to dm door. If there are smells and flies call environment health, suggest to neighbour smell and flies are coming in would she buy a bin store, put up a door, clean the bin, double bag rubbish. . The other neighbours are using their recesses.

How much for the door to be moved? Does DM own her house? Could she offset a small loan against the property to pay for the modifications? It'd probably increase the house value in the long run. Could you get a few quotes and chip in on the costs?

What do the deeds say?

Id keep moving her bins, tell her that your agreement has always been to keep bins in gardens and just because other neighbours are now doing different doesnt mean she can as its your dm who is being made to suffer.

And tge dirty cow should clean her bin. Mine dont stink or have flies. Do you have separate food waste collection?

I don't think the fact your mother is a pensioner has anything to do with it to be honest! But the fact the bins smell and have flies is an issue, perhaps ask for them to be cleaned?

But why would she store bins in her small garden when she has this recess?

If it's the smell and flies bothering your mum and every time you move the bins the neighbor just puts them back then just ask the neighbor to clean them. If neighbor refuses to clean them then clean the bin yourself. You shouldn't have to clean her bin. But if you want a solution to the stink affecting your mum rather than a long running feud with the neighbor then just do it. I cleaned a neighbor's bin once coz I could smell it from my unit no matter which window I opened. I didn't want a battle of wills so right after the garbage truck emptied it I filled the bin with the hose added strong cleaner (can't remember what) then tipped it over to empty then sprayed it with disinfectant. I didn't scrub it, wasn't a huge effort, solved the problem for me, easy solution. I didn't care that people should clean their own bins especially in summer (I do care but not enough to stop me from cleaning it myself). I've always felt glad that I did it because it solved my problem which made me happy. Just clean the bin, solve the problem, don't worry about who is right and who is wrong. At the end of the day it's your mums quality of living that is the issue. Improve your mums quality of living by cleaning the bin yourself even though you shouldn't have to.