The F###ing scaffolding is back!

[Allthecoolusernamesaregone]

Post 3

Briefly Post 1, Had had neighbour (1)’s scaffolding up in my garden for a month and then had argument with her misogynistic builder.

Post 2, Building work completed. Overjoyed that scaffolding finally removed Saturday morning - until I found out this was not by the company which owned it.

Today neighbour(2) said ‘I see your scaffolding has gone. Lucky you. Mine should have gone Saturday morning’

Long story short her scaffolding company thought they had collected and couldn’t understand why she was complaining, until she told them they had gone to the wrong address.

I asked her to make it clear that whatever they did with the scaffolding, I didn’t want it back. She agreed completely. She is fed up with hers, and that was for work on her own house.

I came home to find it in my front garden. It is no longer erected, doesn’t block light or access, but it takes up more space as all of the boards and poles are on the ground.

I understand to a degree why neighbour(2)’s company returned the items to where they found them.

I asked DH to phone the owning company to sort out collection, I desperately wanted someone to treat this seriously and thought he would stand a better chance.

Anyway he didn’t have any luck either. They can’t (won’t) collect until 29/7/22 - which is actually later than the date they have already given neighbour (1).

I will have no lawn left by then, there’s not enough space to use my table and chairs and I can’t easily get to my greenhouse.

We thought that after they presumably thought it had been stolen before they would want to collect urgently now it’s back.

What is my AIBU?

Have just been telling neighbour (3) about the saga. He queried why they hadn’t seen that the stencilled markings on the equipment weren’t theirs. His eyes lit up a bit when I said there were none.

He has always been fine with us, but he ‘knows’ lots of people and some of them are not averse to ‘catching’ things which ‘fall’ from lorries, etc.

He pointedly said it wasn’t a good idea for them to leave it lying in my garden, that dismantling it was noisy and time consuming, but just picking it up wasn’t, and it could easily just go missing when I was out.

I do want it gone. The man DH spoke to was rude and arrogant.

We are actually going out for several hours this evening.

WIBU to let that slip to neighbour (3)?

(I suspect it is unreasonable and that my desire to get rid of this inconvenience is clouding my normally very honest judgement.)

Get details of the company who own the scaffolding. Tell them that if it does not get removed in 48 hours you will be calling every scaffolding company you can find a phone number for and telling them they can have it.

Then follow up on your threat if it remains.

I know, you wonder how people think that scaffolding is both safe to stand and climb on yet also light enough for the average woman and her husband to lift!

Do not bother reporting them for fly tipping or contacting trading standards, the council or anybody like that. The scaffold owner will not give a shit. However if he stands to lose his property then he most certainly will.

What a saga!

Firstly if I were you, I’d be telling the neighbour who had the work done that the scaffolding needs to be removed immediately from your garden, either by her contacting the scaffolding company as she is the one who has the contract with them, or by her paying for it to be moved to her own garden.

Failing that, it would absolutely not be your responsibility if the scaffolding somehow managed to be taken from your garden, by persons unknown to you, and I wouldn’t be averse to mentioning to neighbour 3 that you’ll be out at some points in the next few days during general chit chat.

Please do keep us updated as this really is the thread that keeps on giving!

I'd send an email saying you did not give permission for their equipment to be flytipped on your land and that they have 24 hours to get it off your property before you report them to the council. Then give your neighbour the nod and when they eventually come looking for it just say I don't know, I came home the day after I emailed you and it was gone, I assumed you collected it.

Shrug off any threats of legal action with the fact that you didn't give permission for it to be there in the first place and please could they show you the contract bearing your signature that states you agreed to be responsible for it.

I wonder if you're local - I could do with some for a project 😂

@Youaremysunshine14 that's not quite what she's saying no....

Howling 😂

Good luck OP!

Email the company and say you’ve seen some dodgy people loitering and taking photos. You can’t be responsible for its security.
Then pass the time of day with the nice man next door.

I’ve had a lot of dealings with scaffold companies- if they are treating you like this they are a shit company and clearly don’t give a shit about their stuff so gloves would be off for me - single text “I have arranged a firm to remove the scaffolding you have dumped on my property at 11am tomorrow morning. You can arrange with them where to collect it and their storage fee, they will contact you once they have taken possession “.
they will be at your house loading up and cursing you at 9am guaranteed, but you haven’t done anything illegal.

Sell it, keep the cash for your inconvenience. Your would get a nice few Bob for it.
if your local, I’d buy it myself for a project ☺️

I'm LMAO who would have thought MN would have so many people vying for scaffolding because they have a project! 😂😂😂
OP you're super funny and entertaining, you could start a blog about anything and I would definitely read it!

The scaffold boards make great raised beds for veggies....

I've moved scaffolding. It's not that difficult given it's all in pieces.

My dad had a tower of heavy pieces and we built camps with it as children. I also moved some from the end of my garden out to the driveway to get rid of it.

I’d do as others have suggested and tip the wink to neighbour no 3 and his buddies.
Then feign ignorance when scaffolding company came to collect and say when you saw that it had gone you thought they had collected it.
Given what others have said about scaffolding firms leaving it until needed it could be weeks or months before they came back for it.
You could even say to neighbour number 1 how glad you are that it was promptly collected without a fuss.

Hope you have/had a good evening OP, also hope someone collects the scaffolding very soon.

Oh my god, let your neighbour take it! Honestly. I would help him load it into his van 😁 you have the patience of a saint

PPs are right, I’m afraid they have you down as a soft touch and will leave it there for weeks until they need it.
I wouldn’t sell it as legally you are on dodgy ground however morally right you are, just tell them you made it clear they weren’t to leave it there and they are doing so at their own risk as you want it gone and consider it fly tipping - someone else is dealing with it now and they can arrange to collect it from them.
If it’s not gone by your deadline THEN get it collected for scrap or whatever and if and when they do get in touch say you have no idea what happened to it, you assumed either they collected it or the removal company did and block them.
Don’t bother with the council or threaten to report them to council - they will know fine well they won’t do anything. If you want it shifted you either need to move it piece by piece to the neighbours (and it’s heavy although do-able depending how much is there) or make them think if they leave it any longer it will be gone. Not being sprayed works to your advantage as they will know if it’s knocked they can’t price it’s theirs.
mother option is to post on local FB page “anyone thinking of using xxx company think again, they are refusing to pick this up until 29/07” and it will be gone quicksmart.

knicked and prove
ffs spell check

I'd use it for a treehouse! haha! Or if I had a big garage I'd use it to put away all that stuff I haven't used in ages but might be useful one day...You know if WW3 starts or we get invaded by aliens.
Or if I had bad neighbours and I lived in a house I would sit up there during summer eating popcorn, looking over the fence and watching the neighbours go nuts! "My crazy neighbour watches me all day long and looks at me funny...."

If I had to call in favours from strong friends that scaffolding would've been moved from my garden to neighbours garden.

It's not as heavy as you might think though, 2 able bodied adults (one on each end) can easily move a scaffolding pole.

Good evening. I got home a few minutes ago, and have been catching up.

Thank you to everyone who has posted, and the 93% of people who voted that I was not being unreasonable.

The scaffolding is still here. I lost my earlier bravado and spoke to neighbour (3) just before I left and said that I think I should try once more tomorrow to persuade the scaffolding company to come and remove their equipment.

I don’t actually know what I am going to say to them. Whilst I appreciate all the posts saying to give them a deadline or I will arrange for it to be disposed of, I am a bit worried that they could then argue that that means I took responsibility for it.

I am thinking maybe just saying it is on my property without authority or any liability on my part, and I will not take any action to keep it secure, or challenge anyone removing it. I will try the threat of a financial penalty, but if it had not been taken down in error it would still be in place on my property, so not sure how far I will get with that.

I don’t know the terms of my neighbour’s agreement with them, but as she is the one employing them I feel I should get her to put pressure on them, and I intend to catch her before she goes to work in the morning.

Whilst it is tempting, I don’t think dumping the scaffolding in her garden is a route I can take. She certainly could have been more proactive, but she is a single parent and key worker, and I know taking such action would attract local criticism. Not from neighbour (3) though, as they don’t like each other.

I will update this post tomorrow once I have spoken to neighbour (1), and she and/or I have contacted the scaffolding company.

Sorry to everyone who was hoping it would be gone by the time I got home.

Love it!

🤦

That's all I can muster.