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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbours Garden is a mess

55 replies

Hombadigada · 13/04/2021 17:54

There is a family who lives a couple of doors down who are quite, unsavoury, shall we say. Their garden is a mess, they have 2 of each colour bin in their front garden and often on some the lid isn't closed. There is litter all over their garden and on a daily basis I end up with litter in mine due to it blowing in. Also I have to go up the street picking litter up constantly.

I'm really annoyed by it but don't feel like saying anything would be welcome or taken on board.

What would you do about it?!

OP posts:
mumwon · 13/04/2021 18:50

note eviction process is delayed at the moment & even before it was at least 6 month process

Boomshakkalakka · 13/04/2021 18:53

bet they are sat there thinking 'theres a right snooty cow a couple of houses up who turns her nose up at us all the time'

Tal45 · 13/04/2021 19:01

We have someone like this living around the corner from us, it never seems to be people who have bought their own home. I find it's always people who rent/housing association and just don't care about the house/garden.

BigWolfLittleWolf · 13/04/2021 20:14

it never seems to be people who have bought their own home. I find it's always people who rent/housing association and just don't care about the house/garden
I hate to say it, because it is judgemental and snobby, but this is my experience too.

Daffodil123456 · 13/04/2021 21:28

Take photos then complain to Council & housing association

They will get involved

TheMatryoshka · 13/04/2021 21:40

Does their car need a wash though? Grin

2021hwg · 13/04/2021 22:02

@BigWolfLittleWolf

it never seems to be people who have bought their own home. I find it's always people who rent/housing association and just don't care about the house/garden I hate to say it, because it is judgemental and snobby, but this is my experience too.
My neighbours owned their house. They just didn't care
Tumbleweed101 · 13/04/2021 22:14

Not so much the rubbish aspect - but it is hard to keep on top of a large garden if you are a working single parent with limited digging and landscaping skills and no money for tools or help. Not everyone has the ability or help even if they want to get things done. Speaking from experience.

TheSandman · 13/04/2021 22:23

@Seymour5

I wish people who take no pride in their surroundings would be made to live amongst others who are the same. I often wonder why people take tenancies (I was a council housing officer) in properties with large gardens then fail to make even the slightest effort to keep them tidy.

Sofas in front gardens, car parts strewn around in the long grass, and overflowing bins. Lovely. 😑

I wish people who take no pride in their surroundings would be made to live amongst others who are the same. I often wonder why people take tenancies (I was a council housing officer) in properties with large gardens then fail to make even the slightest effort to keep them tidy..

You'd have a fecking conniption fit if you saw my garden. About once a year I go round and hack back the bigger blackberry bushes. I have nettles and weeds all over the place, docks, nettles, honeysuckles, heathers, loads of wildflowers I have wildlife. Frogs, toads, newts, wrens,sparrows, chaffinches, blackbirds, thrushes, various types of tit, goldfinches, bullfinches, tree creepers.... more different birds than I can name - many of them nest on my land. Last summer bumble bees nested in one of the nest boxes I didn't clean out the autumn before. Yesterday I watched sparrows and chaffinches collecting the fluffy down from the big patch of Rose Bay Willow Herb outside my kitchen window to make their nests. I have bats living somewhere nearby - possibly in my roof. It's great.
I LIKE it being 'untidy'. I'm proud of my garden. I would hate to look out on some anally regimented, sterile, tidily curated gravel patch with some 'Nice' flower beds.

So go stuff your ghetto mentality.

TheSandman · 13/04/2021 22:24

it never seems to be people who have bought their own home. I

I own my home.

SeaTurtles92 · 13/04/2021 22:32

I think some people get over whelmed by gardening.
Rubbish is a bit of a no no and they should pick that up. We have a neighbour who's bin is always full and rubbish goes into my garden and it's a pain.

If it's just king gross and some weeds YABU.

SeaTurtles92 · 13/04/2021 22:33

King gross? I meant long grass. Thanks auto correct, not sure how you got to king gross but we move.

AppleToot · 13/04/2021 22:33

Ugh we have neighbours like this on one side. They are an all round nuisance but their garden is a tip too, typical fridge/sofas etc... in the front garden type.

They are supposed to be moving out soon and the rest of us on the street have said we're going to have a street party when they finally go. We can't wait.

EveningOverRooftops · 13/04/2021 22:34

I have been that neighbour. The one with the overgrown garden.broken toys. Rubbish.

My neighbours complained often.

What they never understood was I was a carer for a severely mentally unwell child, I had multiple illnesses of my own, surviving in broken sleep and having to nap when DC was at school and was extremely poor at the time so couldn’t pay someone to clear the rubbish that wasn’t mine (moved into council house that was a state were talking tyres and broken TVs etc)

It’s only in the last few years things have improved and I can afford a chap to cut the lawn and have the energy to spend a bit of time doing my garden.

So... I’d be hesitant to judge as you don’t know fully what they’re going through, why it’s chaos.

Btw I’m degree educated, raised well. Shit happens in life.

BigWolfLittleWolf · 13/04/2021 22:42

You'd have a fecking conniption fit if you saw my garden. About once a year I go round and hack back the bigger blackberry bushes. I have nettles and weeds all over the place, docks, nettles, honeysuckles, heathers, loads of wildflowers I have wildlife. Frogs, toads, newts, wrens, sparrows, chaffinches, blackbirds, thrushes, various types of tit, goldfinches, bullfinches, tree creepers.... more different birds than I can name - many of them nest on my land.
Last summer bumble bees nested in one of the nest boxes I didn't clean out the autumn before. Yesterday I watched sparrows and chaffinches collecting the fluffy down from the big patch of Rose Bay Willow Herb outside my kitchen window to make their nests. I have bats living somewhere nearby - possibly in my roof. It's great
I LIKE it being 'untidy'. I'm proud of my garden. I would hate to look out on some anally regimented, sterile, tidily curated gravel patch with some 'Nice' flower beds

So go stuff your ghetto mentality
The OP isn’t talking about a ‘wild’ garden filled with native plants, she is talking about a garden that is dirty and filled with rubbish.
BIG difference.

And nature friendly doesn’t have to mean messy either.
I have very structured, ordered gardens with lots of plants thought to be good for pollinators, I have trees and a pond.
I also have birds, an abundance of insects, newts etc.

WeeGobshiteBentBastard · 13/04/2021 22:45

You should volunteer to clean their garden up, OP. You've clearly got the time.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 13/04/2021 22:48

Some people don't like to garden much; I think that's ok - but rubbish and sofas and the like? No, that's a step too far.

masterofthechef · 13/04/2021 22:59

not a garden, but previously in a flat had neighbours accumulate rubbish on their balcony, and would leave black bags at their front door instead of taking it with them to the communal bin area. These sort of people never care about their local environment.

TheSandman · 14/04/2021 01:43

@BigWolfLittleWolf
The OP isn’t talking about a ‘wild’ garden filled with native plants, she is talking about a garden that is dirty and filled with rubbish.

Agreed.

My "stuff your ghetto" remark wasn't aimed at OP but at Seymour5's

I wish people who take no pride in their surroundings would be made to live amongst others who are the same. I often wonder why people take tenancies (I was a council housing officer) in properties with large gardens then fail to make even the slightest effort to keep them tidy.

Which is why I quoted it.

StarCat2020 · 14/04/2021 03:12

Rented and I cannot for the life of me understand why the landlord tolerates it, if I was a landlord and the tenant abused my property like that I’d want them out
Why would the LL care as long as they get the money??

Seymour5 · 14/04/2021 07:06

@TheSandman you don't sound as if your garden is full of old car parts, empty alcohol bottles, broken furniture and toys etc. Those smack of 'ghetto'. Gardens don't have to be immaculate lawns and borders. Natural areas are good for wildlife. However, I had to try and support tenants living beside others who didn't give a stuff for hygiene, didn't empty their bins, and had health hazards in their outside spaces.

There are households who know if they have children they are extremely unlikely to be evicted by any social landlord, so make no effort to adhere to their tenancy agreement.

StarsonaString · 14/04/2021 08:12

My garden was like this when I moved in. Really disgusting and some of the material was hazadous. I kept it from getting worse for a year until I could afford to sort it. Granted I had it landscaped but it cost me more than a new kitchen/bathroom would have BEFORE the cost of plants and a shed. Its a large garden and takes quite a bit of effort to keep on top of considering I deliberatly went for low maintenence planting.

Lots of my neighbors have horrible gardens with fences falling down etc but I live in a poor area and many people simply can't afford and/or are too disabled to do the work required.

longwayoff · 14/04/2021 09:08

I dont know how much Universal Credit is but understand it just about covers the basics. To have the council pick up a large household item for the tip is a minimum charge of £45 which covers half an hour of work. Many people can't afford to dispose of large items.

PandemicAtTheDisco · 14/04/2021 09:39

My neighbours are disgusting. I contacted their letting agent. I eventually informed the council. I took pictures of their overflowing, unemptied bins and the piles of rubbish in their garden as requested by the council.

They clean their cars and just dump all the rubbish on the pavement outside their house. Their rubbish ends up blowing into everyone else's gardens.

The council eventually contacted them after numerous complaints from several other neighbours. They are better now but they've just fly tipped a load more rubbish behind their house. I recognise their old sofa and saw the delivery of the new one on the same day.

Different councils charge different amounts. Ours is £20 for two items plus £5 for each extra item.

thereisonlyoneofme · 14/04/2021 09:49

My next door neighbours garden has wall to wall dog poo and old mattress and several bits of furniture rotting away. The garden is really a small yard like mine, its rented, Im just hoping the landlord does a check at some point now covid is receeding as I really dont want to get into a neighbour dispute, but not looking forward to the warmer weather