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 am quite passive aggressive so I'd simply keep taking his bins and the extra rubbish back over to his fence. Again and again.

Plant pots along your fence section sound like a good idea too.

Put the number for a skip through their door. Offer to go halves on a skip for ironing board etc if you have stuff to dump too.

Escalating things by reporting him and starting tit for tat bin-moving is really unwise. Living with nasty neighbours is horrendous.

Would this really be the hill you want to die on? A bit of tolerance goes a long way.

If his bins are overflowing it could attract rats to your garden. YANBU. Put your overflowing bin hector to his fence.

Next to, not hector 😂

Don’t wait until summer, rubbished not properly bagged/binned will attract rats and/or foxes.

Could you explain to him that you want to paint the fence so he has to move all his rubbish and the put in the flower pots as suggested? I long trough types with climbing plants will clear up the back alley nicely.

If the strip of land that runs between your two properties doesn't belong to either of you yet he is misusing it to place his rubbish and it's leaning against your fence then surely you are also entitled to misuse it and place your rubbish next to his on his side on the unused strip of land against your fence!

I’d put your bin/other objects on his side

@stackemhigh

I might be being dim but I can't visualise this at all.

Me neither!! The bins are on the other side of OP's fence, on a shared path? Neighbour has a fence on the other side of the path?

OP, buy the unregistered land. Then you can tell him what to do...

So he is putting the bins on the path, just nearest your fence rather than his?
I would get a life, that's what I would do.

Call the scrapman tell him there is scrap available

This??? Rubbish diagram attached...

Even in lockdown I couldn't muster up the energy to care about this.

I would be fuming considering if he puts food waste there and has bins over flowing he could be attracting rats!

You could construct a trebuchet out of the ironing board

I think this is a viable possibility,

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.

I would do this. And I would also get in touch with the council about him leaving rubbish lying about - this sort of stuff needs to be taken to the tip.

I once left a small pile of building rubble on a piece of carpet on the of grass next to our house . It wasn't impeding anyone's path, and it wasn't near anyone else's house. The only reason it was there was that our car was poorly and getting a timing chain or similar fixed and we couldn't get the stuff to the tip until the next day.

One of our neighbours I know it was you Iris, you cow rang the council and complained and someone came out to talk to me about it (it hadn't even been there 24 hours). I explained what had happened and he said to ring the council and they'd shift it - no charge. Of course, that was then - these days it's probably £35 to come out an look at the pile.

Ok plan of action. Thanks for all your suggestions! what I’ll do on this matter of national importance is; if it’s just the bins and they are not overflowing (lid closed), I decide he’s a dick but that I let it go and they can be against our fence he likes so much.
But his ironing boards, rusty bikes, junk and trash bags not in closed bins definitely don’t belong against our fence, so I will put gloves and put it against his.
I really dislike confrontation but don’t like annoying and rude people either! And if he strikes back and puts back the rusty bikes and iron board against our fence...well we’ll have an issue and I can become petty and unhinged, don’t underestimate what months of lockdown can do to an otherwise balanced and sane woman

Just tell him that his bins stink and ask him to keep them on his side.
Ask him if 'he understands' (same as he said to you).

THis would annoy me too! Our old neighbour piled loads of crap against her side of our fence, in the end the fence buckled and was breaking/falling apart due to the weight. You don't want him to keep adding to the ironing board with heavier stuff.

She was a twat too (and a horrendous neighbour) but I do my recall her wearing socks and flip flops though thank god!

I am trying to visualise the situation. So it seems like 'his' fence may be on the other side of his front plot further from you? Or there is a pathway between his fence and your fence? The annoying part then is presumably that his smelly bins are right up against your fence and hence you may have to smell them and he may have heavy things pressing against your fence that could weaken the fence over time? Which is somewhat annoying. Also, the unregistered land makes me wonder if there's an opportunistic land grab going on. I don't know what the situation is with unregistered land but if it belongs to noone but someone occupies it I wonder if they can then register it as part of their property eventually?

@cochineal7

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

🤣

I don’t think you’re that petty. It might not be doing any harm but it’s breaking the clear and obvious social contract in the neighbourhood that bins go against your own fence. He’s also breaking the general social contract we all (should) live under and dumping rubbish in general in a shared area in a manner that implies, given the above, that it’s YOUR rubbish.

Basically he’s burping loudly in a restaurant. It’s not illegal, it does no one any physical harm and nobody would be able to successfully sue for mental trauma or property damage. But it’s not cool.

(And how on earth do you wear socks with flip flops, sounds uncomfortable.)

He’s a tit. If everyone else is using their ‘own’ patch, you would do the same. I vote for keep moving it back to his. Make it a lockdown hobby!

Op could get a dog or other pet & ensure the waste from said animals is bagged up properly & placed by his fence.
See how he likes that!

I'm with @gisbons but with dimesions and to scale, i.e. Not some sketch plan like it's been done on an Etch-à-Sketch.
Thanks