Neighbour has an opinion on where I put my bins

[Opink]

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

So you can’t be arsed solving this with a simple padlock? You can get one on Amazon to arrive tomorrow.

No pissing about with “I’ve been meaning to get round to it” 🙄

I would put the bins back and padlock the gate anyway to stop children etc going through it. Take the padlock off to put the bin out once a week and put it back on. So you have the same level of safety for your dog but also don't have ugly bins in front of your garage.

I have mentioned I have bought one in thread.

It’s completely your right to do this but I also have neighbours in my road who have complained about people keeping their bins permanently in front because it is ‘unsightly’. Not a lot they can do about it, but I think people not liking it is quite common.

'Seeing' a bin, something everyone needs to use/store on their property, is very different than leaving dog poo on pavements and people's lawns, etc.

I mean, she can't do anything about it, but I think the general feeling is that you don't keep your bins out the front. It does look pretty grim tbh.

So why didn’t you do this before your neighbour even needed to mention it? 🧐

I don’t think this is correct - the LA has no say in where you put our bins on your own property. Our LA does have a policy of no bins on the pavement before or after collection day - they have to be put out by 7.30am and brought in by the end of the day, and l know a couple of neighbours who’ve found stickers on their bins after falling foul of the policy, but there are no fines.

I would do this but my son has bins as one of his chores. I wouldn’t want to give him the code. It would defeat the purpose of having the side gate not in use. And I don’t want to start taking the bins out as I have enough to do.

Are you quite anxious generally?

Well if you’re the arsehole then I am too as we do exactly the same. The difference is we fell out with our neighbours years ago so whilst I’m sure someone might feel its unsightly, no one would have the ability to convey that to us 🤣

Majority of padlocks have keys. He only needs to grab the key from -spot in house- take the bin out and -return key to spot-.

You are really over complicating this.

Put a spring on your gate so it can’t be left open?
Lock the gate and just put your bins out on collection day?
Yes it’s not up to your neighbours to dictate where you put your bins, but frankly the “fuck them and do what you want” attitude all over this thread is rather depressing. There are compromises that will keep everyone happy. Do we really not care about how we affect others around us anymore?

I think it’s incredibly selfish and unneighbourly to keep your bins out the front when you don’t have to. It’s so unattractive and if multiple houses do it it really ruins the look of an area - it just shows that people don’t take pride in where they live and keeping it nice.

And your excuses about the side gate are really making a mountain out of a molehill.

Just take the buns out once a week, bring them back in, and then padlock it again. If you don’t want your son to know the code, then do your own bins. That’s not an excuse to be so unneighbourly.

If you put a spring on the gate I bet the neighbours will complain as soon as the gate slams shut.

Isn't it that attitide that leads to abandoned sofas in front gardens, weeds 10 feet tall, then a short skip and step to a car on bricks, a gate falling off and all of a sudden you're at Onslow's house ;)

/{bucket mode = off]

Not particularly but dog did get out this way when we first bought him home 6 years ago. Luckily he was only tiny and we noticed almost immediately but it was horrible to watch him going all hyper and heading towards busy road (he thought us trying to catch him was a game). It was just once and his recall is much better but it highlighted how it only needs to be left open once for a disaster

neigbour is a CF
but how much do you value neighbourliness?
Personally I would ( in my own sweet time ) find another good solution for the dog/ gate - magnets? and put the bins away

your neighbour may thawt a burglar one day especially if they are a real curtain twitcher I’d kept them sweet

Given the concern about letting the dog out I think I'd swap a chore.

You do the bins once a week and your son gets to choose one of your other chores, for example:

• he starts doing his own washing instead of you doing it; or
• has responsibility for emptying the indoor bins into the outside bins, which you then take out on bin day; or
• he has to empty the dishwasher instead of you doing it; etc

Maintaining your property is entirely different to storing your bins in front of your garage door.

I liked the story of the guy whose neighbours complained they could see his boat on his driveway and so he erected some gates and had someone draw a mural of the exact boat image behind the gates. Now THATS petty 🤣

You really have an excuse for everything (and extremely pathetic ones at that!).

When you live in a community, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the goof of the community. You seem like an incredibly antisocial person - it’s clearly all about you and your wants.

Can you get a padlock with a key? He gets the key once a week to take the bins out but it stays on your keys only?

Just tell your neighbour that you have checked by looking out of your front window, and you can’t see your bins in front of your garage so don’t understand what she is on about.😊

I would work out some system that means your side gate closes automatically when someone goes through, a rope, a pulley and a heavy weight is where I would start.

As long as the bins are on your land and against the house it's fine.

I have loads of scummy neigbours who don't ever take their bins off the footpath. Now, that is proper unsightly. I hate them it.

If I was your neighbor I wouldn't ask you to move them but I would wish I didn't need to look at them everyday especially if they are garish colours and just a general eyesore.