Neighbour has an opinion on where I put my bins

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We live in on a very quiet cul de sac. The homes have large front gardens and small drive ways. Almost identical to photo attached (not my street just an illustration of our set up). Houses also have a side yard/paved side garden where people keep their bins.

Well I have decided I will keep my bins in front of my garage at the front. We have a dog who gets let out throughout the day. I have a lot of anxiety around my dog being let out as I am not always convinced the side gate is left shut. It gets opened when it is bin day. Every time I let the dog out I have to check to see if gate is close and when I see someone else letting the dog out I shout at them to check. It’s just unnecessary chaos. Ideally I will just put a padlock on the side gate so teens don’t mess up by leaving it open. We live 3 turns away from a somewhat busy b road.

Anyway, a neighbour has since come around and said please can I put the bins back into the side garden as it is unsightly. Granted I am the only person on the cul de sac with them out. But who cares??

I am not the arsehole, right?

edit: whoops looks like I took out voting somehow

We have the padlock on now. It’s a combination lock. We have tried the padlock with key before but it didn’t work for us (son would use it as a back up for when he couldn’t find his key and was running late). I just don’t want the hassle of tracking it. Only dh and I know the combination. DS can be quite immature in some ways. He is just very careless hence why we have had to go down this route.

Where I live it’s almost all terraced houses with no proper back access and very small front gardens so they are all a,ways out on the pavement. No room for pushchair, wheelchairs or sometimes even pedestrians and in Summer they stink.

I suggest you fit a small camera above the gate so that you can see on an app whether the gate is open before letting the dog out. You will also be able to see who is using the gate and ask them why.

Of course legally you can keep your bins visible in the front garden if you want to. But imagine how the neighbourhood would look if everyone did that? It would significantly worsen the curb appeal of the estate.

So padlock it then and they’ll learn to take their keys.

I think you should put them away and be considerate of your neighbours. Is it possible that when windy your rubbish or bins blows on to their gardens. This would annoy me to, don’t really get your point about the pets, it would hardly inconvenience you. Just make sure you shut gates. I think you need to give more context about why neighbours are annoyed, from experience it’s probably about more than just being unsightly. It’s not a big ask and for the sake of being neighbourly u think you should do it.

Why would you want to live with your bins in front of your house, making it even more unsightly? I don’t get people who don’t appreciate kerb appeal!

People get accustomed to things being a certain way, don't like change and forget that it's none of their damn business. I keep my bins out the front but I have a hedge the same height - it's handy as the bin men will empty them if I've forgotten ti move them over. My side access is narrow and I'm planning to get a dog this year and need the gate closed for the exact same reasons. Who can be faffing about with apps, monitoring it, etc? You just want peace of mind, hope the padlock works.

Not their bins, not their decision.

You're right, it would only take 1 time for disaster. A few years ago, at rush hour a dog was running around a T junction frantically, thankfully all traffic stopped. Not so lucky a dog last week on bin day who was hit by a car. Happens more frequently since the escalation in pandemic puppies.

What have I just read? People on here going on about how yes your bins will look unsightly. JFC talk about first world problems. Who actually cares?

No, it doesn’t put me off when I look on right move actually, because I’m not stupid enough to solely choose a house on where someone has put their insignificant wheelie bin.

Good for you!

It would put me off, not for the insignificant wheelie bin, but for the indication of the attitude of the people living there.
Given your snarky response, I suspect my instincts are correct.

I know who I’d rather live next to, it’s not you @Swiftie1878 . Bossy overbearing neighbours are just irritating.

Tell me where to put my bin on my property, you’d only ask me once, you’d be dismissed and told not to come back with any further inane requests.

Bloody cheek insinuating bin placement devotes the reasonableness of a neighbour.

I know, this is the first time I've heard about how bins should be hidden.

Neighbour sounds like Hyacinth Bucket! We had to keep our bins at the front of the house for a few months when we were taking care of MIL's dog, as the dog would open our gate to the side garden and escape. There was no way we could add a lock or change the gate without demolishing our conservatory. A few neighbours who have their kitchen at the front of the house keep their bins on the driveway. A few are retired and have immaculate gardens, so I don't think it lowers the tone at all. I think people should put their bins in the most convenient place for them and ignore the curtain twitchers.

Fit a gate spring to shut the gate automatically
www.screwfix.com/c/security-ironmongery/gate-springs/cat12060003

This thread is hilarious.

Most people - YANBU & your neighbours should mind their own business.

Other people - you must modify your garden, fence, gate, life to comply with your neighbours ridiculous demands.

🤣

if they want to get in, they'll get in...

Well yes but if they break in my insurance is good. If they have a key it isn't

Some of us have standards.

We have a dog and we just put the bins out on a Sunday night for Monday collection while he's indoors or in the back garden. I don't like leaving the bins out beyond and that, although granted no one else can see them.

Some of us have lives.

You are welcome to your standards. But they are yours alone. You have no right to inflict them upon anyone else or expect your neighbours to uphold them.

Everyone has standards, but most of them are reasonable!

I wouldn’t like it. I’d think like your neighbour - that it spoils the aesthetic. I wouldn’t say anything though. I would always take a ‘live and let live’ approach unless something was causing harm. It will make your house look scruffy though.

Agree; scruffy is a good description.

Pretending that there are no aesthetic considerations to the location of garbage bins doesn't make it so. There are.