AIBU to feel uneasy that neighbours went into my garden?

[Magpiesinthegarden]

My next door neighbours have had rats in their garden and informed me to not put any rubbish bags out my garden and keep the garden clear. I purchased a wheelie bin for the black bags (only the usual amount) and all recycling was collected apart from 2 sealed bags of cardboard and a few garden bags with grass in. I’ve been unwell and haven’t managed to move them. I’ve just been into the garden and the bags were gone and were put into my wheelie bin (outside my house) and the garden bags were tied up.

AIBU to feel a bit weird that they’ve been in my garden?

It was locked.

They did a nice thing in order to help get rid of a rat problem. Thank them and move on

It really doesn't matter especially then there was a rat issue and OP said they did knock but she didn't answer (of course).

They’ve got rats. They asked her to shift the rubbish into a wheelie bin, not climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

She didn’t bother so they knocked a few times. She couldn’t be arsed to answer the door.

In this situation I would be concerned that the rats would be back before she’d done anything so the sensible thing to do is pop the bags in the bin for her.

I was about to post that they were wrong to do this without asking but it seemed that they were knocking and as you didn’t answer they chose the lesser of two evils.
I would let it go this time.

Yabu. They were probably the people knocking. Stop overthinking and perhaps place your rubbish in the bin to avoid this happening again in the future.

Your poor neighbours.

how can it be locked if they got in?

And when the person says oh no I will do that dont worry about that …but then doesn’t do it what are they supposed to do. This is what happened when they asked for no bags to be left, no they didn’t know she was ill but there are still bags left out after she was asked.
There are rats, the rats need to go so they moved the bags themselves

I would not be ok with this - they could have rang/text/called to ask.

You’re correct, if she didn’t answer then they did not have permission. It appears that it does matter to the OP whose property it is.

They knocked 3 times and she didn't bother answering the door

Poor neighbours are probably sick of the rats.

“Accessing people’s private property…” 😅
You make it sound like the neighbour broke into her house and raided the fridge! They literally just put some rubbish in a bin… rubbish. In. A. Bin. 😂

I would feel uncomfortable if my neighbour did this. It's my property and it's not for them to make decisions and actions. Offering is fine, just doing it is definitely not. For those who think it's fine, where do you draw the line. If there was painting needed on your house and your neighbours came and did it without asking would that be ok with you? Maybe they rearrange your feeden furniture because it's messy?

Not acceptable. I’d feel violated.

No good deed goes unpunished I guess

Good deeds are fine as long as you make sure it’s wanted first.

They tried, but the OP refused to speak to them.

Right, she’s not obliged to? So then they unlocked her gate and entered her property without permission…

I think it’s a safe assumption they were doing this because they thought it should be done, not from the goodness of their hearts.

Ddefinitely just ask if you're happy to remove it.

@Magpiesinthegarden it's definitely an Invasion of your privacy. They'd only have themselves to blame if they saw me naked. 🤣🤣.

but seriously, given the situation I'd just ignore it this time & put a bolt in the bittim
if my dude gate as well as the too.

itll still only stop the average Jo, those with ill
intent will be over the top of a fence/gate in nano seconds.

My elderly DF had a neighbour who started doing things like this, cutting the grass, pulling up the hedge and replacing it with fencing, asking to park on the driveway as he thought he'd 'earned' it. I had to ask him to stop in the end as it worried me what he might do next.

Well they clearly think your the reason they've got rats.

I would also say this is probably a reverse because idk how you are too unwell to wrap a bag but well enough to put it in the garden in reach of neighbours

Rats are a very serious health problem and it seems your neighbours were taking it seriously. Good for them.
Clearly, it could well have been them knocking on your door when you were ill, to ask permission to enter your garden to put your rubbish out for collection.

My feeling is that they tried to do the right thing in the face of the rat problem, and it seems odd that you would take offence rather than message them to thank them for their kind consideration.

God, I sometimes wheel my neighbours bin back onto their driveway, if the bin people have left it in the middle of the road or blocking access to their drive. Reading some of these responses I’m concerned that I’m violating their privacy 😳