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!

It's free where I live and I'm suddenly very grateful for that :/

I don’t think it would bother me, if I always had enough room for my own garden waste. That would be the crucial point. If there’s space anyway, what difference does it make? You’re no worse off, so can afford to be magnanimous!

Tell him to stick it in his regular bin. Anything can go in those things.

I think in general I'd let him if I had the space, but I'd probably ensure on at least one occasion it was full to the brim so he couldn't - just to underline the principle that he had to keep asking and couldn't take it for granted. I'd also make sure I thought of a favour I could ask him in return.

I had a neighbour do this with my standard bin, which I seldom fill but he always did. He gradually started filling my bin up without asking, so I just asked him to stop as I was fed up with going to put something in the bin at the last minute and finding I couldn't as he'd stuffed it full of his own garbage - most of which he could have recycled.

Why should OP be one who is doing all the giving? Why shouldn't neighbour pay for his own bin.

She's saving her neighbour £60 a year - well that's what it cost where I live - what kindness does he do in return? Nothing apparently.

It's the same thing I had for a whole school year with one of the teachers at my children's school.

The teacher lived a short walk from my home. He asked me one day if I'd mind giving him a lift to and from school, tuned out he meant every day.

Yes, I was already going to the school but I was saving him the inconvenience and cost of getting himself to work - school was five miles away - and yes I did feel taken advantage of but he never once offered, and I never felt able to ask, for a contribution to the cost of petrol.

OP, if your bin isn't full and it doesn't inconvenience you to have his cutting in the bin every time he cuts his grass, ask him to make a contribution to the cost of the bin.

If it’s just grass cuttings, and there’s room, I wouldn't be concerned. However, if he started filling it up with leaves and more garden rubbish, then I’d be annoyed.

We pay for ours. I think I'd have to tell him that he'd need to store it himself until collection day and then check if there is room.

Sometimes ours is full to brimming and sometimes it's not. If I couldn't fit my stuff in because of someone else's grass cuttings I'd be pissed off. Otherwise I can't say it would bother me.

1 to 2 months isn't very often to be cutting the grass, I wouldn't care much about this if it still left enough space for my stuff.

Depends. Does it mean you don't have room for your stuff?

It's cheeky. Maybe next time you have some empty boxes that need recycling or extra rubbish at Xmas, start asking if you can put some things in their bin.

Just seen you don't fill the bin. You Are Being Unreasonable in those circumstances.

If there’s space and it really is only every 1-2 months, and presumably not at all over winter since usually you wouldn’t cut grass then, then I’d see it as a total non issue and would be more than happy to say yes.

He's sussed you out already, OP. You've only been there two minutes and he's calling the shots.
Whether you have space in your bin isn't the point; of course you'd do it as a one off.

Mumsnet is always pretty hot at encouraging people to have boundaries, then we all know where we stand etc etc. Be polite but assertive, smile and decline. It won't be just grass cuttings in a month or two!

It's a fortnightly collection so if he cuts his grass monthly then thats still every other time. The guy's a tightwad and unless his main general waste is full then why can't he just stick it in there???

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

This, but if it’s bothering you then just say no next time or ask him to contribute an amount towards the bin.

I’m a massive hater of CFers but for some reason cutting his lawn once every 1-2 months as the OP says wouldnt actually bother me, and yet, I went absolutely ape shit when someone dropped a dog poo bag in my bin that had just been emptied.

Of course his lawn could be half an acre in which case he is taking the piss.

maybe suggest he pays half or gets himself a compost bin instead. That’s where I shove all my grass and hedge cuttings during the summer and leaves in autumn. Then it rots down over winter.

So he is using 10-20% of your bin space half the time? So that is about £2.50 to £5 a year. Is this not worth is to keep your neighbour happy? Why create another plastic bin and more labour for the council, plus expense and ill will with your neighbour for such a small thing. He is not being cheeky he is making good use of available resources, with your permission. Do you honestly think this is the hill to die on?

It doesn’t affect you in any way. He always asks before doing it. Would you really rather he drove to the tip? It’s great to have a good relationship with your neighbour and you may need some help from him one day. Seriously relax!

He is a CF. He has been doing it regularly, he knows the OP is paying. A small thank you gesture is missing. It doesn't have to be much, but just an acknowledgement the OP was doing him a favour.

This!

He really does need his own bin.

He's taking gross advantage now.

Once was ok.

More than that is cheeky fucker territory.

Our green bin costs £97 per year (we’re in London) and we don’t really fill it as we cut our lawn every 2 weeks. My neighbour asks if he can use it and we always say yes. I’d rather it was collected full than half empty and, for us at least, it’s a neighbourly thing to do. Our neighbour has offered to pay towards the green bin but we just say we don’t mind. Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold so it’s no big deal if they want to use our green bin every month

I let our neighbour use our green bin. I never fill it but if I did I would say ‘not this time’.

Why can't the tight scrote pay for his OWN bin?

Bloody freeloaders.

When is it due for annual renewal ? I would approach him just before then and breezily say 'Our' bin is £60 to renew, not sure whether to bother, unless we pay £30 each which isn't bad. Or l would put something in it like a big cardboard box that you can pull out on emptying day but makes it appear full. Or power wash it/hose it and leave it upside down 'to dry' after it's been emptied and leave it like that till you use it.

This is how I would feel about it.

It's handy to have a favour in the bank - if you ever need your bins taking out when you're on holiday or your plants watered, you have someone to ask