To want the bin returning to me

[ForZanyTraybake]

I signed up to the council garden waste bin collection last year and paid full subscription for my bin. A few days after my bin arrived my neighbour asked if I could get one for her as it was cheaper for a second bin on my account so I did. I paid in my account and she gave me the cash. This year she won't pay but refuses to return the bin. Is it my bin or hers? It's registered to my address and she's had her years worth of collections. Thanks for your replies 😊

If it was me, i'd be going to get my bin.

Just take it back, if/when she puts it out to be collected 🤷‍♀️.

Put your house number on your bin and tell the council your second one was stolen. It has been. Knowing who has it doesn't change that.

At our council your fees for the bin itself are separate to the waste collection service. So once the service ends e.g. after a year, whether you have a bin or not is irrelevant. So I'd say it's neighbours bin in actual fact, as she paid for the service. However, I do feel that both the neighbour and OP have been fraudulent here - as they've both agreed to a contract to hire a service at an address that the service isn't actually being used by.

But it wasn't stolen because money was exchanged.

She won't be able to. Unless it's got your house number on it? If it has your house number on it then that is wrong, but the bin itself doesn't really matter. So long as e.g. house number 7 bin is emptied when they've paid for 1 bin, that's fine... But if neighbour tries to put a second number 7 bin out, without 2 bins being on the subscription, that's when you risk her bin being emptied instead of yours. Just make sure her green waste bin doesn't have your house number on.

Just go and get your bin.

Yes it's trespass, and she sees you she is entitled to ask you to leave her property. That's about it.

You have paid, or will pay, your subscription for one bin? then write to the council and tell them that only one bin should be collected, make sure your house number is on the bin and clearly visible.

If neighbour puts their bin out on collection day, put it in your garden until they have gone?

i have too much time on my hands as I’ve just read every comment on bin- gate thread 😂 .
Our council don’t charge for emptying brown bin ( yet ) so can’t advise

Stolen might not be the appropriate word, but neither OP nor then neighbour owns the bin. The council owns the bin, and lend it to OP for their subscription to the bin collection.

The money exchanged was for 1 year of subscription. This has now ended.
OP is entitled to collect the bin as it has been lent to her, not the neighbour.

from what you said you won’t be paying for her bin anymore right? So I’d let this one go - it’s a bin. But no more favours for her.

Wait until March. See if she puts the bin out for a collection. Then in the middle of the night, take her bin back. Hide it, contact the council and tell them that the bin is not needed anymore, ask them to take it back.

If neighbour asks you about missing bin, tell her the council must have taken it back because the collection hadn't been paid for. Each bin should have a number on it somewhere.

Counties Differ on bins

For Garden waste in ours you purchase a bin from Council and then pay for permits. Bin is owned by you not council. If you paid for the bin its yours, if not then its councils and only the cert was on your account. If the council are not collecting the bin I wouldn't worry about it.

Send them an email asking to unregister the second bin and after that it is up to them to collect the bin themselves as it is legally the property of the council.

Tell her that its fine until March but then they want the bin returned (assuming they do), and it will be at a cost to her if she has damaged it (check next time it’s wheeled out before you mention this in case it’s ok)

We don't have any stickers for our subscription bins in our council either, so I assume the driver is just checking a list to make sure I've paid. If it's a similar system with yours, what do you currently have on your bins to identify them - if anything? Have you written your house number on yours? If so, what did she write on hers - did she write your number too, or does it just rely on sitting outside the right house?

I very doubt your 'legal responsibility' will come into play. However, the two problems I could potentially see are a/ she keeps her bin in, the council take your one back because they think it's the surplus one, and you don't have one at all or b/ she puts hers out in the hope they just carry on collecting, and they empty hers and not yours. Option a/ you'll have to steal yours back somehow, option b/ you'll have to go on high alert on bin day, make sure yours is clearly labelled with your house number and edit/steal hers if necessary

Do they send you a sticker for your bin for the year ? In which case you pay for your one bin; put your sticker on it; watch with delight when they leave hers unemptied - which they will.

Cancel the second bin, font pay for it, put house number on your bin, the council here tell you when they're coming to collect the bin, let them know it's next door. Maybe she's keeping it for storage but it's not hers.

surely the easiest answer is to contact the council and ask what they advise?

Tell them what you've put here, or simplify it to say your neighbour has taken your second bin and is refusing to give it back. You don't actually have to go into the ins and outs of initially agreeing for her to use it, etc., ultimately as far as they are concerned it's your bin, you paid for it and it's registered to your address.

Say you are concerned she will try and put it out, the bin staff will see there is only one bin registered to your property, and empty hers instead of yours, so how can you make it clear that yours is the one to be emptied?

They will probably say they will take the second bin away once she puts it out. Or you could just grab it yourself as soon as she puts it out for collection and then ask the council to come and get it, if she's taken it to the pavement it won't be trespassing.

Yes and the service that the money paid for was provided.

They are now refusing to return the bin and I assume planning to keep putting the bin out and expecting it to be emptied. They need to know it's no longer in op's posession or linked to her account.

If you said I could use your car to move some furniture and I paid you £20 but then refused to return the car, would it not be stolen? 🤔

We don’t have garden collection. My neighbour does. They have a sticker/permit on the bin. I guess different councils, different process. From what you have said this will be second year. Perhaps going forward there may be stickers. If not, I assume there is a list of who opted in. Were both bins registered against your house number or separately? If both it makes it slightly tricker. Does your bin have a number on it? If so, I guess the number sequence will show that issued earlier than the second bin.

Is neighbour likely to put garden bin out earlier in the year than you? If so, take it back and secure it. That way it is safe. You can ask council to collect. Although I know in our area they wouldn’t collect garden bins that did not opted in. The reason being apparently it has to be there if property ownership changed. That annoyed a few people as they didn’t want the extra bin. I personally find it handy to store garden junk in it.

Did you actually pay for the bin or just the subscription? If the latter just leave it, if the former tell her to return it or you’ll report she’s stolen it.

Our council don’t check the stickers. I bet she puts it out without paying and it gets emptied.

I think the bin and the subscription are separate. You pay more for the bin - so I would say the actual bin is hers, but the subscription is yours. If th subscription has not been renewed, then the bin won’t be collected so it’s really a bit pointless her having it - what is she doing with the bin? But either way I’d say the bin itself belongs to her (although perhaps it’s different in different councils).

Our council
come and take the bin away if you don’t pay for the upcoming year.

they send a sticker for every year you renew as well so they know what to empty

your neighbour sounds like a nasty bitch. She didn’t even split the saving with you, just took it all.

I’d report the issue to the council and ask their advice.