Asking neighbours for money?

[DunePeyton]

So my elderly neighbours have a big corner plot garden which is ridiculously overgrown. Enormous sycamores, including one which has a forked trunk which fans out and blocks a fair bit of our daily sun, and a eucalyptus tree which sheds its bark all over our lawn (but that’s not my main issue). Hundred of shrubs, vegetables,
nettles etc.

My main issue is I feel continuously invaded by all of their out-of-control greenery that grows over (or through) our border line, leaving me no choice but to constantly cut it all back and fill up our green bin with it. I don’t even like the thankless task of gardening!

I have a fairly large back lawn and a bit of grass at the front and a full cut fills up my entire green bin and I haven’t got space for their crap also! I have jokingly suggested to themthat maybe a gardener might be a good idea, but they are adamant they will do it themselves-
onky problem is they aren’t doing it!

AIBU to ask neighbours for a contribution towards our green bin subscription as I strive to keep a low maintenance garden and so much of the garden waste that fills our green bin is from our neighbour’s garden which doesn’t seem fair. I get invaded on the other side too, but it’s not quite so bad as they have a gardener once a week. Am I right to be pissed off? I spent about an hour today getting pricked while cutting back their rose bushes which are always creeping over our walls.

£32 a year average for a green bin? Ours is £90 😓

Owning your own home doesn't mean you can afford a gardener, and maybe not even a green bin.
Older people still have bills to pay and possibly only pensions and some savings for emergency house repairs, will still have to cope with the increases that everyone else is dealing with.
A gardener is a luxury that a vast amount of folk cannot afford. Of course they could give up food to pay for one, that would be a good idea.

Pick an unnecessary fight with next door neighbours? Brilliant idea. Have a lovely summer.

We will have to agree to disagree on that. In my opinion, if you are 70 or over and own your own home, you will have money spare.

I don't think its possible to have paid off a mortgage in your working life/inherited a home at some point and now not even have enough money for a gardener.

Those people grew up in a time when jobs were plentiful and Pensions were decent. If they were ever in a position to buy a house, they will have a decent company pension on top of state pension.

Well would you be paying for the green bin anyway?

If so, YABU.

Why are you filling your green bin with your grass cuttings? If you were to compost them or use them as mulch you would then have room for the trimmed branches.

You mention that they have vegetables growing in their garden and that suggests they are doing some work there. So is it a case of it’s just too much for them now, or do they do a lot of gardening but not at your border?

I sympathise because we have some land next to us which isn’t maintained. The ivy, bindweed, brambles etc is constantly growing over and there are lots of self seeded sycamores. It’s hard work keeping it all cut back.

No. You're allowed to cut and obliged to offer it back. That doesn't entitle you to just chuck it over the fence.

How much would a second bin cost? Maybe it's the right price to pay for keeping relations cordial. Asking them for money seems petty and passive-aggressive.

If I had quiet, pleasant neighbours who never bothered me in any other way, I'd be doing all I could to keep things that way.

In the real world, however...

If you bought a house many years ago and the mortgage was paid off but you only had a state pension there is no way you could afford Council tax, heating, lighting, water rates, car, food and luxuries like a gardener. Even with investments there is no certainty of having spare money.

There are plenty of people who have had good jobs and investments and been able to save but not all people over 70 will have been in that position, you cannot say everyone that owns their own home has spare money, it is just not true.

I know older folk with houses, they want to keep their homes so prioritise what they need to exist day to day and have to budget. Or give up the home they have worked and saved for and move to a tiny place that is cheaper and will make them miserable and maybe afford a gardener for the tiny back yard with no grass or trees and have a miserable existence. Being over 70 does not automatically mean they are rich.

They might just like having a wild garden and want to keep it that way...

@Murdoch1949 my elderly neighbours seem to be swimming in money - mortgages paid off, constantly doing spendy renovation work. It's more likely the OP is financially struggling.
It's annoying when other people's wild gardens encroach onto your property, ruining your fences and just generally looking scruffy. They should cut it back.

And not everyone managed to have an additional pension, some worked hard just to afford a house and to live. There is a wider picture which you haven't seen.

@MonumentalLentil as I said, we'll have to agree to disagree.

But if my elderly neighbours (IF they were homeowners) thought they'd be keeping their garden like a nature reserve to the point where I had to garden it, they would be the ones souring neighbourly relations.

And I'd hazard a guess they're the ones who'd benefit more from having a good relationship with us.

I don't believe that for one second.

If you put the trimmings over the fence, you're just creating an unnecessary war with the neighbours. Why would anyone deliberately start one of theirs?

Is your green bin full of their rubbish or is there still room for yours? Personally, even though it's not fair, I'd just keep on using my own green bin and not ask them for a contribution. But I do value peace at home and a civil relationship with my neighbours and so I'd view that as a small price to pay.

OP you have my sympathies, I am in a similar position to you. When we moved into our house there was a lot of ivy growing through from the neighbours which we cleared, new neighbours moved in and the ivy started growing back and forcing through the fence which is our responsibility to maintain and onto a trellis which we had attached to the fence. We asked new neighbours to clear it from their side and the said no, we like it and we are going to plant bushes to grow up the fence and trellis. They also have loads of elder which has self seeded , now they have planted buddleia which is also growing through the trellis.

They are deliberately growing plants that are damaging our property, causing us more work by having to trim the bushes back so no way am I going to be filling my green bin with their rubbish when I have paid for it to dispose of my rubbish.

Good luck OP, I hope your neighbours turn out to be more reasonable than mine are.

Op is paying for a green bin for her green waste not her neighbours waste.

I would push it back over into their garden

Do you have a decent fence?

I wouldn't ask them for anything

They are struggling to face up to the fact that they can't manage.

You are doing gardening that suits you to make yours nicer that's up to you...

I would drop gardeners details into their letterbox fairly regularly

Do they have adult children that visit? Maybe you could have a conversation with them saying that your worrying they arnt coping with their garden and suggest they got their parents to employ one. They may of course not have money to pay for a gardener

We have a neighbour like this. I just cut anything that comes over the fence and chuck it back.

If you chat with them you might get more of an idea of their feelings about it. We used to have an overgrown area full of brambles that backed onto a similar area next door. When we cleared our side it kept getting invaded, but next door hadn't got the energy to do anything, so I sounded them out and then kept spraying it with weed killer which knocked back all the plants coming through the fence.
Obviously don't do that if you think they wouldn't like it, but my point is to try to work together to find a solution that works for both sides.

Ask the council for advice:

If neighbour's garden are causing problems on your property, it can amount to a nuisance which you can report to the Environmental Health Department of your local council who can pursue legal action

I would get a compost bin for the grass cuttings as a first step. It is a waste to put them in the green bin. That frees up your green bin for any other waste.

No I wouldn't ask.

It's perfectly normal regularly to have to cut back hedges, trees etc on borders.

Roses rambling over walls sounds quite nice actually. Just let them grow and benefit from the flowers that bloom on your side.

It sounds like you don't actually like plants in gardens very much. Are you an artificial lawn type of person? One of my neighbours has gravel, artificial grass and even plastic plants in pots in their garden. Nothing actually living at all. Personally I prefer lots and lots of real plants. It must be a great nature garden.

Wouldn't it be great if all older people had mortgage free homes and no money worries...

Some of us don't live in the same world as you, unfortunately. My neighbour has her own house. She is a widow and has her pension. She cancelled her green bin subscription because she wanted to be able to eat. We help with the things she needs doing and can't afford. repairs that are within our scope. She has looked at moving and wants to stay in the home she has had for the last 50 or so years. She is over 70, quite a bit over. Whatever pension her husband had has gone with him it seems.

Another one, elderly couple, sitting in the dark with blankets to keep warm last winter like many other folk. One is very elderly and will never move home, wouldn't be able to cope with it and wants to stay in their home, other one will move when single but stays as is carer for the one that wants to stay. Their garden isn't huge and is overgrown but not a wilderness. I am going round to tidy it up. They don't have pots of money either. They survive, they budget, they can't afford a gardener.

It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. It is actually happening in the real world which is where I live.

I wish ours was £32 for the year. It's more than double that where I live.

Same here! I was shocked reading that.