Neighbour being cheeky? Or AIBU?

[Motheringthrough]

We moved in a couple of years back and as I am a keen gardener, I arranged for our house to have a green bin collection (not sure if this is the case everywhere but it’s a service you pay extra for with our council)

About a month after moving in our next door neighbour asked if it would be alright if he put his grass clippings in our green bin. Trying to be friendly and neighbourly and all that, I said yes, thinking it would be a one off. They’ve never had a green bin and prior to us moving in next door, he used to take his garden waste to the tip.

Every time he has mown his lawn since (every 1-2 months I’d say) he asks me if he can put his grass cuttings in our green bin.

It is now starting to bother me that he doesn’t pay for his own green bin when he clearly would get a lot of use out of it. I just think to keep asking each time now is being cheeky and almost overstepping with the favour.

Am I being silly? I realise this is probably the most silly and middle England issue to post but I need to put my mind at rest!

Definitely cheeky. I think it would be fair to approach him and say look, do you want to split the cost of the green bin given he has used it however many times.

If your bin isn't full, then it wouldn't bother me, especially as he asks.

Is he contributing to the cost of your green bin? No? Then he is quite the cheeky fucker.

Depends, if your bin isn’t full I can’t see the issue, if it is, just say no .

Definitely a bit cheeky. Round here is like £50 for the year for them to empty it. Can you move it somewhere he can’t just get to it? Then if he asks say it’s full 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s cheeky. You are paying for his garden waste to be taken away!

He is asking you every time so you need to say if it is.

Not fair to call him a CF when you keep telling him it's fine.

No she’s not, 😂 she’s paying for her bin to be taken away. Irrelevant of how full it is, it doesn’t cost more as his cuttings are in there, they don’t weight it.

Not really cheeky because he asks and you say yes.

Tell him next time 'yes but this needs to be the last time because struggling to fit my own green waste in'. Offer to send the link to the page to order the bin.

I bet if you asked him to contribute towards the bin cost he'd stop asking. They're not cheap - I pay £60 a year for mine so why should he get use of it for free? As a one off it wouldn't bother me though.

Well does your bin get full a lot sooner than it would if you were the only one using it? Does this affect cost? Or mean that you have times when you can’t get your waste in the bin?
If so, perhaps talk to your neighbour about getting his own bin or sharing the cost.
If not, let it go in the interest of good neighbourly relations!

Does he offer you anything for it, OP?

I used to have this arrangement with my former NDN - she'd put cuttings in my green bin every 4 weeks or so over summer but always bought me wine and/or a gift in autumn to say thank you.

They don’t take the bin away. They take the contents. If she is paying for that service, and he is getting free usage of it, via her bin, then she is paying for his garden waste to be taken away 🤣

It’s £60 a year here, so a fiver a month to me is a small price to pay to not have to keep going to the tip - which he was quite prepared to do before we moved in next door!

Nowhere else really for the bin to go 🤷‍♀️

Just to add for some others’ replied - my bin is probably 1/2 to 3/4 full with all our garden waste, but that isn’t the point - I’m paying for his garden waste to be taken away..

I would say it’s time for him to either split the costs or get his own damn bin.

I think it’s a bit cheeky but as long as there’s space in the bin I wouldn’t mind

If I had space for him to do this it wouldn't bother me at all. It's a nice thing to do.

He kind of is being a bit cheeky but he did ask and you said yes so what is he to think otherwise.

If you aren't using the space then it is going to waste anyway. If I were him I would probably offer you something or buy you a present at the end of the year to say thanks.

I guess you could ask to go halves with him. But that means he has actual rights to half the bin. And he may decide that if he has nothing better to do with his time he would prefer to take it down the tip rather than pay £30 a year.

You have to maybe ask whether the amount of money you would get back is worth it for potentially souring relations given you want the bin anyway. Plus remember you get to ask him favours in return !

Yes, it's cheeky of him. How much it bothered me would depend on whether it somtimes prevented me from getting rid of everything I wanted to in the bin and how much space his grass clippings take up?

We have the same garden bin scheme in our area and I find sometimes ours is empty come collection day and sometimes we're trampling it down as it's so full depending on how much gardening we've managed to do.

I think next time he asks, I'd say "sorry, we are planning lots of gardening so will a truck load of stuff to get in there, I'm not even sure it'll fit all our bits in!" and keep saying similar if he asks again. Personally, I wouldn't even want to have the cost shared as it's only £35 ish a year in our area and the benefit of being able to fill it full every 2 weeks if I wish is worth that.

ETA just saw you answered my queries in other messages.

Yes I agree it is a nice thing to do, but I’m battling with being nice vs. he needs to loosen his purse strings a bit and pay for his own bin!

She’s paying it anyway, she doesn’t pay more as he puts his cuttings in every one or two months, bloody hell.

But why? If you have the space, it costs you nothing more, and it makes no difference to you?

He's being really cheeky considering you have to pay for it

Sometimes it is nice to do kind things for others. I just see this as one neighbour helping another. You would have to pay the £60 a year, regardless to wether he puts his clippings in there or not. This seems like a lot of frustration over nothing.

He probably sees this as he doesn’t have enough clippings to warrant buying a bin but instead of going to the tip his friendly neighbour doesn’t mind him putting them in their bin.

If it bothers you that much say no or say your bin is full.

I would say something like - "it's time to renew the garden bin but not sure as £60 is a lot - do you want to go halves now you use it regularly?"

He looks a bit of a tight CF if he says no then!