to report neighbour's bin store?

[Passthegin99]

My house is end terrace and next door's front garden shares a fence with our back boundary. I don't know who the fence belongs to. Next door has been a state for years but they've started smartening it up a bit recently and have made their front garden into a drive (ignoring the fact they don't have a dropped kerb but never mind). All fine except they've now built a whopping great bin store up against the shared boundary which is essentially a massive, stable, platform for would-be-burglars to climb up onto and hop into our garden!

Given my previous house not far from here was end terrace and we were burgled using exactly this route in - standing on bins to get over the fence, and then obviously in through a door - I'm feeling extremely stressed about this. DP - who is normally a massive curtain twitching complaint lodger (whereas I'm normally live and let live) is being infuriatingly calm about it and says there's nothing we can do and that I'm being ridiculous.

Technically it's an illegal construction unless they have planning permission (no way they do given they made a driveway without a dropped kerb) as it's in the front garden, so I could complain to the council. Would that be unreasonable? So as not to drip feed, they have form for this themselves as they previously complained to the council about DP making excessive DIY noise in the garden which upset him so much he's barely picked up a tool since. If they'd just come and knocked on the door he'd have packed it in happily.

I could go and knock on their door but I can't see them taking it down as it won't have been cheap to build and then if I complain to the council they'll know it was me (yes, they probably will anyway but still). What can I do so I don't fall out with the neighbours but also so I can sleep at night??

I'd put trellis all along the fence.

My neigbour has to binstores in their front garden didnt know they werent allowed they look ok actually

*two

I wondered if it was something like this - there are some non standard layouts out there - a lot of the other posters seemed to think it was side by side and you were worried about front garden access which made no sense.

The house we are attached to - we in semi - it is not 100% clear to everyone if it's on street were on on next street as angle and corner suggest it could be other street.

You can go up to 2 m - so 6ft and trellis - when you do get around to replacing the fence might be worth going higher - or if it not clear who fence it is having another one in your garden that's higher.

Long term though security hedging would be worth doing www.best4hedging.co.uk/blog/stay-safe-with-spikey-security-top-5-intruder-proof-hedges.

Our house has a drive but no dropped kerb - it was like this when we bought it. As do half the houses on this street. I had absolutely no idea it was a problem - thanks for the heads up op 🤣

PS I think the bin store is fine

I have been broken in to, whilst we were in bed too. Scary.

However I don't think the bin store would bother me at all. A wannabe burglar would just stand in the bin. And the fence doesn't look that sturdy anyway so would be easy enough to scale, especially if two of them. I don't think the bin store makes much difference tbh, apart from it being tidier.

Re the break in worries. Our alarm kicked in which scared our burglars off. I'd now never go to bed without activating it. And we now have doors with no locks on the outside at the back, and all others are Hugh quality anti theft style ones. They lock/door changes and the alarm me feel more secure than anything else. The bin store wouldn't change that.

You don't need planning permission for a driveway unless it's formed of impermeable material, and even then they just want to make sure you drain it to the land rather than into the sewer
And you only need planning permission for a crossover (drop kerb) if you're on an A road. Although they are very expensive in WF council area and you need at least 4m between the house and pavement so maybe that put them off.

We had our drive extended so had an existing dropped kerb but didn’t widen the dropped kerb. Not on an A or B road. Does that need a dropped kerb?

There is no such thing as an " illegal building".

There are buildings that require planning permission and building without this could come back to bite you if someone decides to make it their business,then you would either need to take it down or apply for retro planning permission.

Left long enough without complaint and no planning permission is required.

A bin store in the front garden is no big deal , it doesn't really impact on others in anyway. Some people round here have no choice but to keep their bins out front and a few have built bin stores, no one complains, it tidys the place up and stops bins blowing away on windy days.

Some people put drives in then little rubber wedges next to the kerb, saving money, loads like that round here and no one complains.

Live and let live.

Surely, even if they take down the bin store, then would-be thieves will just climb over using the wheelie bins? I stood on mine recently to change a light bulb - they're really quite stable if you stand away from the middle of the lid.

Well, you learn something every day-a bin store is considered a building!

I'd be more pissed off about the no dropped kerb.

If there's no dropped kerb then you wouldn't expect a vehicle to be crossing the pavement!

You’ve made me think about how planning permission etc would work in my front garden as we’re a bit similar.

Our neighbour has their garage and a driveway which comes off my road and frankly looks like it’s part of my house, but it runs along the back of their house as they’re on the corner of the main road. Would they be allowed to build a huge shed on their driveway because it’s in their ‘back garden’ even though it would be positioned ahead of the principle wall of my house and if I wanted to do similar I’d have to get planning permission??

A curious scenario.

A bin store in the front garden is no big deal , it doesn't really impact on others in anyway

The OP whole argument is that is does impact on her.

It makes access to her back garden much easier - as there is a handy permanent sturdy structure to stand on making getting over the fence much quicker and easier.

So randoms can walk down a street her house isn't down - clock they can jump the fence from this neighbours drive and gain easy access to OP back garden where visibility from public road is much lower granting them more time to try and gain access to her house.

Personally I think she'd be better off spending time effort and money on reducing this risk of fence hopping from her side because they could just use a handy bin in neighbour front or get a boost over - but she's not wrong that it makes access easier and so this bin store does impact her.

Would they be allowed to build a huge shed on their driveway because it’s in their ‘back garden’ even though it would be positioned ahead of the principle wall of my house and if I wanted to do similar I’d have to get planning permission??

Not sure - but there's been a trend here for big dormers style loft conversions - next door did one - so house is now three stories and because it's back of the house it doesn't need planning permission - I checked- but many of these are highly visible from roads and neighbour gardens - small gardens here - yet requires no planning permission.

Well, only in as much as it makes it very slightly easier for would be burgulars who would be put off climbing on bins but are happy to climb on bin stores.

Kids round here are always climbing on bins to get their balls back, I think it's a bit of a stretch to making it easier for would be burgulars.

I doubt the council will do anything anyway, bigger fish to fry, at least, round here.

If you work in planning I'd be rethinking your career TBH

The planning portal link you sent doesn't state a bin store requires planning at all

Structure yes - ie permanent one

The bin store would be classed as a temp structure ergo no planning permission required

No it's not a temporary structure. In planning terms it is development.

As many planners have stated.

Not barbed wire, but I'd be putting some well placed bamboo sticks into the ground behind the fence there.

A pyracantha on the other side of the fence is an attractive and effective solution

YABU. The burglars could easily climb your fence if they really wanted to get in

i would enquire if ok and then also add cat deterrent spikes to top of fence,

I’m sorry you’ve left because that means I can’t inform you that actually I have been burgled, so no need to patronise me. So they would have to break the front door down to get out?….because obviously you wouldn’t leave the keys in the door.

I don't know if you are reading but not commenting Op, but the single most effective option to address your concerns regarding burglary is to get a police monitored alarm / CCTV / dog

Ah - that was three options not a single one

@Passthegin99
We had an attempted break in.
They stopped when they spotted the CCTV and camera.
Instead of getting on your high horse about someone building a bin store that maybe does need planning permission, why not just ensure that your property is better protected? Put your effort into that.
Leave your neighbour to it and be thankful they’re trying to tidy things up.