Neighbour putting bins against our fence

[LouRidley]

Hi MN,

First time house owner here and first neighbourly feud! (Lighthearted)

We moved into this house that has a shared path where neighbours all put their bins against their fence along the path. Except for our neighbour it seems who likes to put his bins against our fence, along with some other items such as bikes, old ironing boards, etc. I discovered the issue when our dog was digging in our garden persistently at this one spot and when I looked on the other side of the fence, some bin bags were just on the floor against our fence.
So I moved the bins across the path against his fence but realised earlier he moved them back against ours!
I went to knock on his door and while he was not that unfriendly, he basically explained to me in a very patronising way (repeating “do you understand?”all along) that he owned the path. I checked our title deeds after that and he definitely doesn’t, it’s unregistered land.
I therefore wrote a courteous letter and posted it at his door, saying that he got me curious about the ownership of the path and that actually, no one owned it, so that I kindly asked him to put his bins against his own fence.
Bit of a suspense what’s going to happen but my hunch is that he is going to do nothing and that his bins and rubbish will keep leaning on our fence.
Any clever plan of action you can advise here?
We all love a bit of lockdown drama!
Thanks
YABU- leave his bins against your fence
YANBU- and in this case what can I do not going OTT

I need a diagram

If it's a shared path I don't think you can really complain unless it's potentially damaging your fence. What's on the other side of your fence isn't yours.

@gisbons sadly I can’t draw here but one path, one the right his fence, on the left ours. Our bins are against our fence, his are against ours as well. All along the path, neighbours simply followed the unwritten rule of their bins against their fence. There’s enough room for everyone to walk freely and put their own bins against their fence basically.

Yeet the bags into his garden?

You could construct a trebuchet out of the ironing board.

We have shared access and our deeds/covenant stated it cannot be used to store stuff including rubbish. Is there a similar clause?

@AliceinBunniland it’s not owned by anyone, you’re right. It’s a shared path on unregistered land. What bothers me is that instead of using his side for his bins, he’s using ours. I mean it’s not a major hindrance but there’s a pile of stuff there such as ironing boards, his bins, an old bike, basically all his rubbish against our fence. It doesn’t damage it, just bothers me...

The obvious but possibly slightly childish thing to is to to start using his side of the fence for your bins & bikes.

I can understand why it bothers you but I don't think there's much you can do if you have asked him and he refused. He's not technically doing anything wrong.

If you want to make a point you could start putting random stuff against his fence!! But probably not worth escalating.

I vote for the yeeting via trebuchet.

@MothertotheLordsofmisrule such a good idea I could definitely catapult them above his fence! It’s shared access and the path is used to store bins. The path is closed on the other side by a locked grid and you open it when it’s bin day to put your bins on the street for garbage collection.

It would bother me as rubbish the bin guys don't take will stay leaning against your side.
Id lean yours against his side, see what happens 🤷‍♀️

@cochineal7 I am so so tempted :D I might even buy a bike just for that and random stuff such as inflatable dolls and else.

What does it matter which side he puts it on, if it isn't causing any damage?

@Seafog well even if in the grand scheme of things it’s not major at all, I would say common courtesy would be to do as all our neighbours do and put it against your own fence. I definitely find it rude to not move it against your fence after your neighbour kindly asked you to do so! His bins are overflowing as well, we’re lucky it’s winter and not summer!

[quote LouRidley]@cochineal7 I am so so tempted :D I might even buy a bike just for that and random stuff such as inflatable dolls and else.[/quote]
Definitely a couple of blow up dolls sitting against his bin and a picture for the local FB page.

TBH if its no ones land then there is no 'right' either way, so it depends if it bugs you enough to have a battle. If it does post a copy of the land registry stuff through for him

Can you grow anything there? If so, buy a large sapling or shrub and put it where he puts the bin. I would number/ identify your bin and tell the bin men the other stuff is not yours. Here you have to arrange uplifting of anything other than the bin.

Honestly if he carries on I would just put yours against his fence and leave it at that. You end up with the right number of bins against yours and he can’t say anything to complain. He may stop he may not but it evens itself out.

I think I need a diagram

Is this path at the bottom of everyone's garden? (where I live we call this a lane)

I seriously think you need to just chill. I would just dump my bins by his fence.

Will the ironing board be taken away?

Take the fence down and see where he puts his crap then.

I'd find that so annoying. I agree that you should put your rubbish against his fence and give him a taste of his own medicine.

What’s against his fence preventing the bins being there?

Yes, you need to use all your side for something. A Hippo bag to fill up, maybe? Do you have some very sticky fence paint you need to use?

We have a bit of a bin war in that some of our neighbours are incapable of using the bins in our shared bin store properly. To start with i relabelled them clearly so they couldn’t claim they didn’t know what was that. Now when they get it wrong I take the stuff out and leave it on their front step every time. Amazingly they now seem to be getting better at using the bins correctly. I wonder why. I’ve never been anything but polite in all our discussions and interactions, so they can’t complain.

For context, the binmen don’t empty the bins if not used correctly.

If you really care, you need to either move them to his side every time, put yours against his fence every time, or put them on his doorstep every time he does it. Until he stops.

So are these bins on the outside of your garden fence? That’s how it reads. If so what on Earth difference does it make?

Could you report the bike, ironing board as flytipped to the Council?

When he puts his bin out, check that all the rest of his rubbish has gone as well - I can't see bin men taking an ironing board in which case his pile of old tat will just get bigger and bigger each week. I don't know what the answer is as he's clearly a supercilious nob.

@cardibach you’re right I probably have a bee in my bonnet, blame the boredom of the lockdown, but we could also reverse the question; why on Earth doesn’t he put his bins on his side? When I moved them to his side earlier, he put them back on mine! Drama! He’s being a dick. And about the ironing board, our other neighbour told me it’s been there forever and he said he would sort it out but never did. Also he wore flip flops with socks when I rang at his door and that massively upset me as that should be forbidden