My neighbour and his flying bins

[Philthedendron]

I just need a quick sense check that I’m not being unreasonable here, I’m off work sick at the moment and I’ve lost all sense of proportion. I’ve NC’d because I have an active thread running under my main user name on a health issue that’s identifiable but I’m a long term user.

So, I live at the end of a short track that branches into 2 drives: my neighbours drive and mine. We’ve had high winds for a couple of nights, so the last couple of mornings I’ve found next doors bins blocking the shared track. As you do, I’ve just moved them out of the way and popped them back on his drive on his hard standing area where he keeps his bins.

I got back from dropping the kids off this morning and noticed the bins were back on the track, blocking access to our house (I could have squeezed passed them but I’m in a big car and didn’t want to risk knocking them).

Well out marches Mr Nextdoor when he sees me getting out of the car and he shouts from his front door ‘I hope you’ve not got out to move my bin??’

I didn’t quite process what he said in time and I thought he was apologising that his bin was on the track, so I said ‘I need to get on our drive so I’ll just move it back don’t worry it’s no problem!’

I carried on and he ran over and said ‘no no leave the bin where it is this is our property!’

So I said ‘I need to put the car on the drive and don’t want to damage your bin so can you move it please if you don’t want me to?’

It went back and forth but basically, the upshot of the conversation is he thinks the shared track is owned by him, and he wants to start keeping his bins on the track so the bin men will collect them from there and he won’t have to move them.

I don’t believe the track is owned by them, I’m pretty confident it’s not owned by either of us. I didn’t want to argue on the street so I left the conversation by offering to take his bins down the track and back again to his bin store on bin day but he said they didn’t need that thank you. So I said well the bins can’t stay where they are and I’ll need to check the deeds.

I’m sympathetic to them getting older so don’t want to start a fight, but if they don’t own the track (which I’m confident they dont), are they allowed to leave their bin there under any circumstances? How do I challenge it?

Did this get sorted @Philthedendron ?

Alas, no. The bins reappeared on Christmas Day. He said he has every right to put them there because he’s ‘spoken to the council’ and they have told him ‘in confidence’ that the title plans are wrong and he owns the lane as he owns the ‘original’ house.

Firstly, I have no idea what council employee is working over Christmas, they must be keen and secondly, it’s bollocks. I responded by saying ‘that’s unusual, as the title plans registered with the land registry are the standard point of reference so you’ll need to contact a conveyancing solicitor I imagine but in the meantime, please move your bins as you’re blocking our access’. He didn’t, so now DH is moving his bins right to the end of the lane every single time he sees them half way up. We had a knock on the door on 27th and were accused of stealing his bins, so we ignored him and reiterated that he can’t block our access, so either he keeps his bins in his bin store or we will continue to move them out of our way without trespassing on his property which means moving them to the end of the lane.

Wow. I wonder who or what triggered this belief after years of being amicable neighbours.

What a lunatic! Have you told him something along the lines of you'd be perfectly happy to discover he owned the driveway, it would make it easier for you to sue him for harassment and loss of amenity when he blocks your access. Your lawyer thinks you have a very good case with all the logged instances and photos you have taken.

Do keep logs btw, he's not going to suddenly become sane overnight.

@Philthedendron to be honest it looks like he does not have a right of way across your land. is he not meant to be entering and exiting his property by another route???

Wow.
Think you've discovered why his wife left and the kids never visit!
Is it worth writing him a letter saying you've always been good neighbors and your disappointed that he's happy to let that go for the sake of a change in his bin habits which is affecting you negatively.
Say ownership of the track or not, doesn't change the fact you need to be able to get to your property and it isn't reasonable to expect you to buy a different car so he can put his bins on the track.
If a polite friendly letter doesn't work, then I think a solicitors letter would be next.

@2jacqi OP said when she first got the deeds that neighbour has a ROW over their land to access his property.

Oof! Sounds like you're handling it perfectly. What a pain though!

Initially did he think you maliciously moved his bins, rather than standing them up and putting them where you thought he wanted them. Perhaps try and explain that, it may all be a stupid misunderstanding.

Just keep moving the bins out of your way. Get a sign that says do not obstruct, driveway in use. Has he got a wife you could explain to?

Have all the information to hand and if he starts going on about it again. Say after our last discussion I did look up the legal position relative to the track, would you like to see it?

If this is really out of character and he’s previously been polite and reasonable then I would be wondering if it’s early signs of dementia.

My parents have had similar issues and it did start with a extension request.
The man was older maybe 70s. Seemed to think he owned everything.
However it does seem a lot of men are reaching an age where they arent quite with it and getting 'mixed up' or younger ones are intentionally taking land and think noone will stand up to important them!
Personally it seems to corrolate where there has been an increase in expensive devices/equipment/land value. So trying to take inches of neighbours land.
(But its also been detached houses etc). People claiming fences moved - when its is in fact them doing it!
So yes i wouldnt be that surprised if there were something suspicious about the neighbour...

Op did you tell him he only has a ROW over your land?

I think it might need a solictor's letter. One which says in very clear and concise terms that he does NOT own the land (whatever fibs he may be telling in the slightly weird hope that you will just believe him) and he is obstructing your path with his bins, which must be stored on his own property.

He may just be so used to getting his own way with half-truths and downright lies, that he believes that he's slightly superior intellectually to everyone else. He might well only listen to someone with what he would term Professional Qualifications.

Plus a solicitor's letter starts a paper trail in case things get heated.

What a horrible petty wanker. Who is lying through his teeth about the council.

I'd contact a solicitor to see if you can get a "cease and desist" letter written up. He can use the laneway to move his bins up and down from his property on the days when there is a bin collection and apart from that, he has no permission to use the lane for the storage of his bins.

If you are the only ones who use the lane for vehicular access, you might want to see if it's worth it to get an electric gate or some of those bollards that are activated when you approach and go into the ground and then rise up again when you're passed them, though a gate would probably be easier to install.

This. I own a shared drive. It's on my house deeds. Normally someone has to own it. I can not block access

He really doesn't like being wrong, does he? It's such a shame you are now having to deal with his arrogant idiocy. It must be causing you stress and it might have to cost you money too. What a pain.

@Philthedendron if the lane is registered with the LR - it may not be if it's not been sold since it became compulsory - then you should be able to get the parcel number from this map, and then order the deeds for the lane itself.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=c445c71c1d494f38b13e0dc0f4e8f584#map

It does sound like he's either backed himself into a corner and now won't admit he's wrong, or he's having some cognitive decline and it's manifesting as him believing this weird thing about the lane and he's reordering facts to suit that belief.

I know someone who got into a very expensive and protracted legal battle over land, and it was only after several years that it became apparent that the problem was dementia, his wife, the other party and both sets of solicitors were completely convinced that he genuinely believed what he was saying (he did!) and that he had some legal basis for the claims he was making about verbal contracts etc - it turned out it was all in his head once the dementia started affecting other areas of his life. It was very sad.

Love the thread OP.

Hoping for further updates as the saga progresses.

I imagine that ti's is why he's single and his kids don't visit him. He is pigheaded and can't be wrong. What a prat.

I'd contact the council yourself.

He has no power to block your planning application if the council would otherwise grant it, councils take very little notice of neighbours' objections.

Even if he does own the lane, if you have right of way then he can't block it.

As a man living alone how on earth does he generate enough rubbish in 2 weeks to make his bins very heavy?! <Misses point of thread>

Also, when we had a long drive we'd hook the wheelie bin onto the towbar of the car and take it down that way, maybe suggest that to him @Philthedendron if he's struggling and not just being an arse

Go round with the deeds and show him. It’s important he knows and then you can shake hands and all put to bed. He is clearly a nutter, but in the case of making an amicable solution I would go round and show him first hand.

I would drop off a copy of the deeds with a friendly note saying "turns out it's shared" and then leave the ball in his court.

Op has already done that and it didn't work...