to be shocked by neighbour last night?

[Yolo89]

Flat with communal garden. Having dinner outside last night and the neighbour in the garden flat comes out to water/make a point. Said hello and asked if he knew where the mower was to mow the lawn. he said no and then proceeded to how disrespectful we are as there has been a broken chair we need to get rid that has been in one corner of the garden for two months. I have planned to but just haven't known what to do with it and lots of stress. I apologised and said id get onto it. I asked what help we could do in the garden and he said 'if you have to ask then that's the answer' . It was sooooo out of order.

He stormed off leaving me flabbergasted. Came back, mucking about with hose then I said I didnt want to have anger between us. He then sat down for 45 mins (ruining our dinner) saying he was having a bad day, then proceeded to tell us was bascially taking all the bad feelings from old neighbours out on us. he has had lots of problems with neighbours , including taking one to court and having a verbal and physical altercation with one. He wants people to take responsibily and do gardening however he got cross at a neighbour for doing the grass last year. he wants you to help but is a control freak.

Oh and he said he dob on me to my landlord for one chair in the garden.

Meanwhile he wont let anyone really use the back garden as he has staked his claim on it and it full of 3 sheds, tyres as chairs, janky bits and bobs. he is controlling it all .

help

Does he rent as well? If so I'd get onto the landlord, if he owns it, is there a building manager or something you can go to?
Next time he says something like that, I'd probably call him out on it, you have the right to use the communal garden without harassment.
We aren't allowed to "store" items in communal areas (chairs, tables, Bbq etc) so is he breaching policy by keeping his junk there?
Good luck!

Look at your tenancy agreement, that should tell you entitlement to the garden.
Do you and neighbour have the same landlord? You could discuss it with landlord.
Remove the broken chair ( it is yours?) Take to the council tip or break it up and put a few bits in the bin each week. That was you’re giving the neighbour nothing to moan about.
You can’t change him but you can possibly change the way he affects you.

Talk to your landlord.

he has owned for 27 years. we rent.

I think we should be able to not be harassed when we are using the garden.

I eased the tension but everytime i see he tells me off for something which i really dont need

The building is not manged by anyone. I will be speaking to my LL.

I honestly think you need to be direct. It's difficult because our natural instinct is to be polite, but it'll get worse if you don't nip it in the bud!

Move the chair so he has nothing to complain about. If he interupts you again, just say you are eating and want some peace and privacy

Could you tell him that you appreciate he cares a lot about this garden and tries to look after it, but that you just wanted to clear the air a bit as you are getting the feeling he is resenting you using it because he keeps telling you off about it which is affecting your peaceful enjoyment of it and youre entitled to use it as its communal space, and youd appreciate a little neighbourly leeway on some of the more minor issues and youll give him the same respect

Thanks for the thoughts. He told us he wasnt annoyed by the chair but he obviously was. he is very passive aggressive. He told us that the cover was off our bbq too. like it was a real issue. I can work him out at all.

but i agree i need to nip it in the bud

Please don’t engage with him too much, OP- what a bloody tool/nutter! Keep it polite and cordial, do joy give any personal information/slag off any of the other neighbours as he will go off on one with that info. Do you know if he has any MH issues?

Do you do anything towards the maintenance of the garden at all, or do you just use it when you want to eat out there?

@Branleuse is a good idea.

How many flats are there?

You rent, he owns. A neighbour dispute is of no problem to you, you can simply rent elsewhere but is something he would have to declare should he sell and will impact upon the value of his house - make that 1-0 to you.

If he thinks he can get away with bossing you about he will. Shut him down at the first opportunity.

Remind him it is a communal garden - not his, but communal. You have every right to peaceful enjoyment of it. Anything interaction beyond a polite 'good evening' in passing or passing on of communal building information is unwelcome.
Check what your tenancy agreement says about the garden and it could be interesting to get a copy of the deeds off of the land registry to see what is stipulated in them as to the use of and responsibilities for the garden.
If things are bothering him that much them maybe he should see his GP about his problems and maybe get some CBT or anger management sessions but i don't know if they can do anything for arseholeitis yet.
he has had lots of problems with neighbours , including taking one to court and having a verbal and physical altercation with one.
he got cross at a neighbour for doing the grass last year
Safe to say the problem is him, not everyone else around him.

I don’t think he was harrassing you. The best time to water plants is in the evening and we have had unusually very dry weather of late. So he had a good reason to be out there when you were.

Having a broken chair just sitting there would tick me off too. If it were a communal garden.

That said, he doesn’t sound very pleasant. I’d keep my distance and try and keep it civil. Instead of asking what can I do, perhaps offer to water the plants if he’s ever away. Or pull some weeds (if you know what you’re doing).

i have a shared garden and the Owners never so much as looked at it until me, Renter , decided to spruce up the garden ( midden) Jeez. Wed both been there for years and suddenly they were "weeding" out my newly dug plants. No clue at all. Just didnt like the fact that i was showing at interest
use your garden. Sorry if hes being terratorial: but it sounds like hes worried you will wreck it ( you shoudve removed the chair, so thats on you)
why dont you leave him to it - purchase plants/compost etc for him ? But still use it. Make that clear