Obsessive neighbour losing the plot over leaves

[Sparkies2012]

Our neighbours are a relatively elderly couple and since they moved in have had a bee in their bonnet over leaves that blow onto their driveway. The gate to our driveway is opposite to their open driveway, separated by a narrow road. Our next door neighbour has a massive old tree in their garden that produces a lot of leaves, most of which fall into our driveway. We don’t really bother collecting the leaves, as it is an endless task at this time of the year, but the elderly couple is constantly on at us because the leaves blow across the road into their driveway and the odd one gets in their front door. Now we have told them we don’t produce the leaves, and they don’t bother us, so if they are bothered by the leaves either pick them up or take it up with our neighbour who owns the tree. But now they have even started collecting them in black bags and, under the cover of darkness, leaving them in front of our driveway gate, or throwing them over our fence. I’m tempted next time they do this to open the bag and dump it over their driveway again. AIBU by not picking up the leaves in our garden?

Loving this, it’s given me a great giggle. Loving that the adverts are in on it too…. I don’t know about you but I’ve got ring doorbells and electric pruners 😂

some brilliant suggestions here but what about a different approach….

putting the bag on their next door neighbours (other side) land on the sly, they must have noticed them sweeping the leaves, get them involved too. Majority wins and all that

or how about beating them to it, get out there, sweep and bag them up, put them by your fence, that’ll really fuck em up.

perhaps they should consider moving to a submarine

Lol .
it's ridiculous what some people get obsessed about . I think the OP mentioned the neighbours are elderly so I would conclude they have so much spare time on their hands to be worrying about things that don't matter .
it's amazing isnt it

I'd post the leaves thru their fucking letterbox, every single time.

They sound like utter leafcunts.

Someone is, the older couple.

If they were truly worried enough about the leaves they would not be dumping bag after bag of them on the driveway of another neighbour who isn’t then householder with the tree in their garden!!

If they were that bothered by the leaves, they would simply leave the full bags out for collection on bin day rather than dumping them on the OP’s driveway!

But that, in their eyes, isn’t the issue; they are punishing the OP for having the temerity not to clear up the leaves before they get blown under a gap in the fence and across the road into their garden. They’re punishing the OP for not doing something about the gap under their fence which lets the leaves out; for not sweeping up the leaves (when the OP isn’t bothered/doesn’t care about them being on her garden) and stoping them from doing just what happens up and down the country, week in week out, throughout the autumn. And, most probably, they’re punishing the OP for not doing as they’re telling her!!

The OPs most recent update shows they’re not interested in any solution apart from the OP stopping leaves from another household’s tree blowing over the road onto their garden/into their house!! Why is it the OPs problem
to solve?

We had a neighbour like this once. We lived on a hill and we were the house uphill from them. They built a green house in the garden and when it rained, the water streamed down hill and made a lake where its course was blocked by their green house. They kept coming round and complaining that it was our responsibility to provide drainage as the water was flowing from our garden and threatening to take legal action against us. We just ignored them, but in our case, they weren’t dumping water on us (it would only have flowed back again).

I have a big tree in my garden. Bought the house when the leaves had dropped so didn't realise how much leaf drop it has. I do usually rake it up once a fortnight but have been unwell so the leaves have piled up. Obsessive next door neighbour constantly out in her garden with the leaf blower, rake, broom ensuring every single leaf and I mean EVERY leaf is off of her garden! I have to laugh! Talk about OCD!

I assume everyone on here realises that for the older couple this has nothing to do with leaves, but everything to do with people.

They probably feel anxiety that their property is scruffy / out of control, and disrespected that other people could stop the problem but don't care enough to do so. I am not defending them, but it you start to look at WHY they are behaving like this over some leaves, you might get to a solution.

Even empathising with them about how bad the leaves are would be a start.

I have neighbours like these.

The day we moved in, as the removal men were unloading the van, they were out complaining about the hedge & 'when will you be getting it seen to?'

The only thing that saves me, I think, is their decades long fence feud with the neighbours the other side of them!

I think empathy, along with Elvis, left the building the moment they started the petty act of leaving bags of leaves on their driveway. Not sure why the OP has to waste head space on pop psychology reasons as to why a couple of twats nextdoor are being crap neighbours.

Just because it might lead to a happier, quicker solution.

Leaves on paths get very slippy so I can see what they are concerned about. However they can’t force you to clean up the leaves.

I have an elderly grandmother who has for decades complained about leaves on her driveway from a neighbours tree! There is no reasoning with her about it. Its just a negative, unreasonable mindset from someone who is lonely, unhappy and doesnt have enough to do. As they are retired and obviously of the same mindset they will be able to invest a lot of time and energy in to this. Good luck op! I heard theres a black friday deal on nukes in Very 😬

Why is it the OP’s responsibility to do this? It’s not her tree.

Have the older couple actually done anything with the fencing on their own property, to make sure there are no gaps at the bottom? Or is that automatically 'somebody else's' responsibility?

Ironically, I wonder if they're one of these older couples who go on about young people's sense of entitlement nowadays?!

They probably feel anxiety that their property is scruffy / out of control, and disrespected that other people could stop the problem but don't care enough to do so.

Yeah, they care so much about neighbours making other people's property look scruffy that they deliberately fly-tip rubbish on a third-party neighbour's property!!

My elderly NDN has a massive tree.

She refuses to have it cut back though. It's her pride and joy.

It deluges my garden and yard in leaves every autumn. I do rake and brush them up. Compost some and bin the rest. Fallen leaves get slippery in wet weather and I did hurt my knee once falling on the mess, so I clear them and don't really mind. In a weird way I quite like the raking and shovelling on a cold day. There aren't enough trees really and it's better than concrete or a plastic lawn.

Appreciate that you might be far too busy for this, but I think for safety you might be better taking an hour to clear them up once the drop is complete - disintegrating leaf-gunge is a bit horrible, though your other neighbours sound obsessive and frankly batshit about it. Pointless when they're still falling.

nip it in the butt

Ooooh! May-tron!

Love the fly-tipping! Just a thought from their perspective (not that it changes anything but might explain their obsession) they might be worried about slipping on them.
Maybe you could approach a chat from that pov and reiterate that it’s your next door neighbour they should speak to. Even thank them for clearing them - doing you a favour etc. (and they have time on their hands) - and suggest they speak to your neighbour to then take the bags to the tip.
Another point is that, apparently, if you leave the leaves in the bag, cut a couple of small holes in the bottom for liquid to escape they will break down and provide compost for your garden.
Sorry it’s long - got carried away 😂

Just leaf them to it, it’ll all blow over in time.

Groooooaoaooooooaooaaaaaan!

(I luffs a pun, me! )

Does it cost you anything to have the garden waste collected? If not then just treat them like the street’s personal leaf brusher-uppers and leave them to it and let the bags get collected?
If it would cost you to get them collected then yes I guess you just have to keep returning the bags.

Our garden waste had its last collection in the final week of October - I think this is pretty standard.

I love the suggestion to just tip all the leaves out again and throw the bin bag away. Hopefully with them watching out the window.

I'd let them keep on collecting the leaves, putting them in the bin bags, and leaving them on your property, but find a neighbour or friend who would love them for their compost bin or leaf mulch. Perhaps advertise on Facebook every time there's a bag available if you don't know anyone yourself?