WIBU to shout at neighbour rummaging through my skip?

[Bobthebobbin]

Moved to a new area and managed to fall out with a neighbor already.

I came home the other day to find an old man rummaging through my skip and a pile of "treasures" on the floor that he was helping himself to.

I asked him why he was on my property and what he was doing, he said he needed a few bits! He then proceeded to turn his back on me and carried on sorting through the skip. DP was at home but the man did not knock or ask to remove anything.

I said he can't just come on to my property and help himself to whatever he likes without asking. He said it's in the skip so fair game.

Things got a bit heated and I shouted at him to get off my driveway.

I am furious but also shaken up by an attempted burglary when we first moved in so perhaps that experience is colouring my view.

Genuinely cannot tell if IABU.

Re the above post, AH yes I meant to mention this too, the reverse of nicking skip contents. Putting things in there! So the householder pays the skip fee and the invisible midnight lurkers get rid of their rubbish for free. Very annoying but I no longer have that problem with my new method.

It is rubbish but I think it’s weird walking onto someone else’s property to rummage through their trash.

If he didn't ask first you were right to shout at him.

You can't just walk into somebody's home and help yourself to anything you like.

He should have asked as the skip was not on the road.

I'm not sure that skip contents gets sent to landfill now. Our local skip co. recycles 95% of skip content.

Typical skip nicker here:)

Always find somethimg of use, but do ask first of course:!

Ougth to be an encouraged activity:)

I think it would have been polite for him to knock and ask, but ultimately he is saving things from eventually going to a landfill, and isn't really doing you any harm. I think you're being a tiny BU. Very validly annoyed that he didn't at least ask tho.

He probably didn't knock on to ask permission as didn't want to disturb you. I really don't see the issue and do think you overreacted and are being unreasonable. At the end of the day surely better to go to a good home than landfill? And plus it's freeing up extra space in the skip for you to use. So win win. Whilst I agree he was rude to you when you approached him I imagine it was in response to a hostile attitude on your part.

I'd be delighted he was taking stuff out and making use of it.

I'd be well pissed off he was dumping stuff in the skip.

He was rude. Even if he thought it was 'fair game' - a quick 'oh, I hope you don't mind, just saw these bits and could really make use of them if that's ok' - would have been nice.

He turned his back on you, whilst on your driveway, and that's why it escalated.

YANBU in the circumstances.

Retail you not worth getting worked up about. I might have thought he should have asked but really only too pleased some of it was going to be used.

rottiemum88

Did your DP not see what was happening from inside the house?

He was watching TV, completely oblivious, back to the window.

Bloody rude of him. I don’t recognise the batshit world some of you live in. It’s really not okay to do this without asking, of course we’d be okay with it but it’s about basic decency and courtesy.

I think like in many case the problem is the reaction. The man decided to get something from the skip. When confronted he should have apologised and asked if it was ok and explain how he thought it was ok. Instead he just decided to carry on. That's just rude.

I came upon a man taking stuff out of a skip we had in our driveway. He jumped about ten foot in the air bless him - I think he thought I'd be annoyed. I just told him to take as much as he liked (no one was home before I arrived, so no one to ask).

People taking stuff out of skips are doing you a huge favour, freeing up space for other things. I'm always happy to see people benefit from our unwanted stuff. It's people who dump stuff in skips that aren't theirs who are shitheads.

I literally can’t get my head around dumping stuff into a skip and giving a toss what way it makes it’s way off your property. It’s a bloody bin.

YABU - I would have offered to help him to carry stuff to his house!

I think YAB a bit U, if he'd been putting his own junk in the skip then that's a different matter.

Many people consider skips fair game for rummaging through and helping themselves from, whilst they would never consider going through a bin in the same way.

It does sound like he was rude though by turning his back on you.

Could you not say get off my land, I think you said it was on your driveway, so technically he was trespassing.

I probably wouldn't want someone coming up the drive, and he would have been better to ask. Being rude was really unnecessary, and legally he was in the wrong.

However, generally I hate things going to waste that could be re-used, so overall I think it's probably a good thing that he was taking stuff out the skip.

I can understand why you were upset, OP, but I would let it go.

74NewStreet in my case it was because I didn't want random people in the garden eyeing up anything else that was left. As I said some CF wanted the gates and someone else wanted the pot plants. It felt like a free for all

Get off my land . How could anyone say that without pissing themselves! Especially whilst standing on a concrete drive in front of a three bed semi 😄

Well, quite, PinkSparkly, anything not actually in the skip isn’t fair game at all. But to be fair most people would know that, you just got a couple of thieving bastards, not the usual skip divers.

I wouldnt mind, I'd tell him to help himself. Better that someone else uses it, than for it to go to the land fill.

I was working in a lovely country house many years ago. The contents of their skip made my house look beautiful.
I should add I did ask permission first. Think they started putting things in there and they knew would come in handy for me

YANBU. He should have asked and given you the chance to say yes or no. To be face to face with the owner of the items you're trying to take for free and to turn your back on them is so rude and I'd have been as pissed off as you.

YABU. It's rubbish. In a skip. One person's rubbish is another man's treasure. Especially if the 'another man' is just a neighbour.