CF garden related

[yolofish]

For background, we have a huge garden, part of which is actually a field, where we keep our chickens (no, the chickens are nothing to do with it).

The far corner, where I planted a shrubbery 20 years ago, got very overgrown, full of brambles etc. It was the corner behind the chicken run so difficult to access. Neighbour installed a gate into the field from her garden, we asked her not to use it.

Now, we've moved the chicken run and I'm clearing the area - hacking down brambles etc. Neighbour has continued to use her gate to dump all her garden rubbish in this previously unseen corner.

Having used a machete to get there, I asked her to get it moved, and advised that technically she was trespassing and please not to do it again.

She then decided she'd like to get some of our trees lopped, she was happy to pay for it, while getting her rubbish cleared.

Fine I said, and as a gesture of kindness, said her workmen could put the debris on our bonfire, thus saving them trailing it through her house.

Now, the workmen have gone, job not finished - maybe they are coming back? - bonfire is massive and they failed to light it and get the pile down as asked, and they havent cleared the rubbish.

And she's saying £150 is a bit steep in a not particularly subtle hint that she'd like a contribution.

Who is the CF here?

(sorry, long!)

She's the CF. Tell her to shift the stuff and certainly don't offer to pay.

Your neighbour is the CF. If the field is your private property then they had no right creating access in to it and you should ask them to remove it. With regard to the tree lopping, you are under no obligation to pay and if they didn't have the sense to get a quote then that's their problem.

Speak to the neighbour to ask if the workmen are returning to complete the job. Give them a date by which you'd like the rubbish removed and let them know if it isn't gone by then you'll be dumping it all back on their property.

Nail the gate shut. Big nails. Possibly a metal plate.

Can you put up a fence on your side of the gate blocking her access through it? Dump it all in her garden then make it impossible for her to gain access to yours again or report her for flytipping

Nail the gate shut and tell her to move her rubbish or else you’ll be dumping it into her garden to shift. What a CF!

said her workmen could put the debris on our bonfire, You can't then be angry that they have done that - just light the bonfire.

But she is a CF for the rest - block the gate up and don't give her a penny.

Wait, your neighbour put a gate into your garden/field?

Does she have/think she has a right of way or easement over your land? If the gate remains in place for long enough she may be entitled to access/easement (bit like adverse possession allows someone to take land they’ve been using and enclosed for a period of time). I’d be getting proper legal advice to stop this going further tbh (and don’t block the gate in the meantime as that could cause more problems than it will solve)

Sorry should have said: I'm not angry they put the stuff on the bonfire, but they havent lit it, or appeared to have tried and now it's massive! Plus they've left a pile next to the bonfire which they must assume I'm going to shift.

Have msgd her but no reply.

She's quite elderly, I dont want to be hard on her, but equally I dont want to clear up her rubbish or have to harrass her workmen.

And I dont want her in MY bloody field!

Light the bonfire and tell your neighbour to add her rubbish to it, let her know that any rubbish left will be considered flytipping.
Keep back a couple of the largest tree branches and use them to block her gate once rubbish is dealt with

Technically if she prunes your trees, she is meant to return the clippings to you as your property

I don't think I'd like random workmen lighting a bonfire on my property!

Bit aside from that, she is the CF. Nail the gate shut, or if the fence is her property, put a fence panel of your own on your side so she can't use it.

I would block off the gate asap but for the sake of keeping things calm I would burn the rubbish myself. You shouldn't have to, it is annoying, but I'd just crack on and do it.

If she dumped anything else in there in future though I would be less tolerant.

100% day Yanbu OP😀

Say!

Technically if she prunes your trees, she is meant to return the clippings to you as your property

No, legally she is meant to offer them to you. You don't have to accept.

The fire is an odd so titbit it's of your making.
Nail the gate shut
Throw any rubbish back over
Don't do any more favours

Nail the gate shut! Or better still, Pull it down and replace with a fence. I can’t believe she put a GATE in so she can access your garden! Outrageous!

Let me get this straight: she's been using your garden as a midden, she paid people to shift her rubbish that she illegally dumped in your garden and she wants you to pay for some of it? LOL. Yeah, you got yourself a garden CFer there. Nail the gate shut.

You need to block the gate off ASAP.

If she's 'quite elderly' then you don't want her dying and the next owners buying that house thinking they have automatic access to the land.

Nip it in the bud now while she still has capacity.

Put a big fence over the gate and ignore.

We're gonna need a diagram

This is what I msg:

"Do your guys think they have finished? Because they have made the bonfire absolutely enormous - said they would get it lit, left a pile of stuff next to it, and there is still a big heap of cuttings etc in the field which are yours, not mine.

I hope they, or someone, are coming back tomorrow to finish the jobs?

After that, we will be preventing access to the field via your gate. As you know, we never agreed to this, we spoke to you some years ago about it, and you promised not to use it.

Technically you (or your workmen) are not only trespassing but flytipping too.

It was a very nice gesture of me to allow them to use the bonfire rather than taking everything out through your house, and I'm a bit fed up that I seem to be left with potentially more work now."

Gate will be blocked asap. DH having fantasies about going out with the soldering iron in the middle of the night - it's one of those ironwork ones so she can pinch a view! - but I think that's potentially quite risky and maybe a bit dramatic

Was thinking about a diagram but lack technoexpertise. Will try photos instead!