To remove neighbours bins from my back garden

[Bindrama]

For background we bought a house a year ago but completed some renovations before moving in and so haven’t lived here for very long. Neighbours have lived in the house next door for over 30 years. They have decided to keep two of their three bins in our back garden (outside their back gate in a little nook against their wall but very much on our land) and will not move them.

They say they’ve earned a right of way by prescription through our garden to take their bins out. For various reasons I don’t believe this to be correct but it would be outing to expand.

They have direct access to the road from their own garden and a massive amount of land (5 times the size of ours). Title plans on the land registry are very clear as landmarks are obvious and there are no such recognised easements in the deeds.

Even if they were to obtain a formal right of way across our garden surely this doesn’t give the right to keep their bins here?

AIBU to just move them? I’m worried about formal consequences mainly.

Just move the bins. If they talk bollocks about having some entitlement to your land again, tell them to direct it to your solicitor.

Assuming, not adding!

1. check you have legal insurance on your household insurance ( often cheap add on for £20-30 for the year).2) Check your Land Registry Deeds ( should have them from when you purchased property, easy to check if they have any easements as will be contained in it).3) move their bins off your land ( even if they had any easements it would not allow them to store things on your land). 4) block their access to your land and do not allow it. Do these 4 things quickly and as soon as you know they have no easement take photos of what is in place so they can not start contacting solicitors and Land Registry.

I know this one too well

Throw their stinking bins back over on their land and if they move it back - incinerate it !

Cheeky f*ckers!

Yup. Just move them. Damn cheek.

They have a back gate that opens in to our garden, it’s very low, doesn’t have a lock and was that way when we moved in. No gate on our side. Fence around the rest of the boundary connected to their gate.

I understand they have taken their bins this way for sometime but with permission. Very complex/long history with the properties.

We want to put a fence and lockable gate up but if they do have a right of way blocking it could cause more issues... I don’t believe you can get a legal right to keep your bins in somebody’s garden though?!

We have legal insurance but everybody warns against to avoid going down this route. The onus would be on them to prove any right of way but the previous tenant died (it was rented before we bought it). Previous owner said via solicitor before completion that they never obtained the right.

I don’t care for a relationship with them, I don’t trust them, but I don’t want legal action either!!

I’d lock it. They would need to be the ones to prove access. Remove access and let them persue it through legal matters (and waste their money).
You could ask the local planning office for their opinion, I’m sure a previous owner allowing access doesn’t mean it then moves to the next one.

A tenant can't give away the land rights of their landlord. They're barking.

@PicsInRed this is what I understood...

Agree with lock it, form a gate, remove their access and let it be on them to prove right of way. But I still need a diagram 😆

Put a 6ft fence up on your side of the boundary blocking the gate. Done!

Move the bins. Put cheap lock on gate. If they move bins back & break lock take photos of lock and repeat with a new lock. It's hard to break even cheap locks so they will give in first. They are just trying it on! (If you have to go down legal route photos of broken locks and bins forced onto your land on regular basis could be useful record).

Don't discuss as they will argue.

If they don't have the right ( i.e. did not get it written in as an easement) and presumably your solicitor checked your deeds specifically for this ( as I hope you have now) as well then move bin and block.

Whose boundary is it?
If yours take the gate out and put a fence in, if theirs put something to block it on your land/side.

The onus is on them to prove it and they would then have had to lodge a claim with the land registry, the land registry would then notify the owner and if found to be true (you have to provide proof!) a note would have been added to your deeds - our deeds state our neighbour can cross our garden with a horse and cart

We had a house like that. The previous owners had gravelled the path, which made is rather hard for the neighbour to drag the bin round. Just thought I’d mention.

Diagram please and include your proposed fence and gate to stop them

@GreyishDays we were thinking of a lovely gravel path...

Go ahead and put your fence and gate up, remove the bins and lock the gate. If they don't like it and think they have a claim then they can go down the legal route. If they damage the fence and gate you go down the legal route

Move the bins, block access to your land and send them a letter letting them know you intend to sue them for trespassing. They are CFs.

The houses are quite distinct and I can’t draw but will attempt a diagram!!

Sounds like they may have either had a good relationship with the former tenant or maybe even bullied them into it. Either way, I would block access and let your neighbours pursue this legally. If a right of way and right to store the bins on your property is established, this will devalue your property and it has been misrepresented to you.

They dont have a right and would very much struggle to prove they've a right to use it. Just put a fence up against theirs and block them.

Move the bins and stop them from being able to use the gate - if it's your boundary, so you are the owners of the gate, chain and padlock it for now so that they can't use it. You can then go in to remove it at your convenience.
If it's theirs, then you can't put anything on it, but you can drive a stake deep into the ground just in front of it so that they can't open and use it.
Ignore all protests.

Diagram?