Anonymous note through door…

[FreeRider]

Background - I live in a block of four flats, I’m on the upper floor. There is a bin cupboard, with one grey bin each for general rubbish, and one large blue and one large brown bin for recycling.

Since I moved into this flat 4 years ago I have developed a slipped disc. I’m in a lot of pain with it and have been having groceries etc delivered to my flat…so have a lot of packaging for recycling, mainly in the blue bin ( paper). Some of it is awkward for me to get down the stairs, due to size, even when collapsed. I’ve always been careful not to completely fill the bin in one go - even though it’s always nearly empty whenever I go to it. I live on my own, my partner of 15 years works away but is here regularly.

Today I was sat talking to my partner in the living room when I hear noise at my front door. My partner goes to see if someone is there, and sees a man going down the stairs, says hello and asks if he wanted us…he mutters something about ‘note through the door’

The note said ‘ Stop putting your rubbish outside my door. You are lazy, always getting takeaways. My neighbours are all fed up with you’ It was unsigned.

Unfortunately my partner didn’t see what flat downstairs he went into (if he did). My partner has only rarely seen either of the two men who live downstairs and only got a very quick glimpse, so could only give a very limited description. He went to check my bin…and someone has taken all the recycling out of the blue bin, put it in black bin bags and dumped it by my grey bin!

I'm really upset. We even had trouble translating the note, it was so badly spelt and written. Doesn’t make any sense, I’ve never left rubbish outside anyone’s door. Judgemental, too. I think (99%certain) it is the guy who lives closest to the front door..he’s an alcoholic who has constantly had the Police and ambulances out due to fighting (sometimes physical) with a neighbour in another block…the Police came to talk to me about it and said he has been causing trouble with all the neighbours in surrounding downstairs flats for years. I have always been polite when I’ve encountered him so I have zero idea why he has done this.

I was moved into this flat after my last neighbour had a psychotic break, decided I was the cause of all his problems and started threatening me and anyone who came into the building. He urinated regularly on my front door and ended up threatening to kill me, my two cats and my partner. The HA took him to court and got an 4 year injunction against him, and rehomed me. It was the worst 6 months of my life, I ended up in hospital with chest pains due to the stress.

The note today has bought all that back up in my mind again.

How upsetting.

It doesn’t sound like you’ve done anything wrong; it sounds like he’s got form as an irrational troublemaker. So the main thing is not to take it personally or let it upset you.

I’m not sure if there are any useful practical steps you can take.

Thanks for your reply @Minglingpringle

My partner thinks he was probably drunk. It’s been months since the last time the Police/ambulances have been around and he’s decided to shit-stir/pick on a new neighbour….and weekends have always been his favourite time to cause trouble. I heard my downstairs neighbour telling the HA inspector that everyone in the whole close hates his guts, they’ve been complaining about him for years and why wasn’t he being evicted. I know from my own experience at my last place it takes years and years to get to that point.

If you’re putting you rubbish and recycling in the correct bins then he can jog on. If you’re not then put them in the right bin - no excuses.

Definitely in the right bin. He’s taken mine out so he could fill it with his.

Chances are you'll never hear about it again. Bit overkill to call the police about a note. But i get that maybe you panicked because of your prior experience.

Sorry if this a stupid question, is it 4 people you share the blue bin with or just two of you?

I'm wondering what you mean by struggling to bring it downstairs? Does that mean there is more recycling downstairs?

So you each have your own grey general rubbish bin but share a blue recycling bin? Do you take up all the space in the shared bin? Do you leave rubbish outside someone’s flat?

I understand the set-up you've described OP.

I have no advice regarding the allegation of leaving rubbish at his door .. can only presume someone else has done so, and he is aware you are 'lazy', as he puts it and the rest of us understand limited in mobility, and has assumed it was you.

Regarding the shared blue bin, saying you make sure not to fill it to the top is grand, however you have no idea how much the other three neighbours require for themselves. So if you use, say 50% instead of your nominal 25%, it will rile neighbours.

I'd be inclined to have my partner do a tip run on his regular visits and cut that, possibly justifiable, complaint off at the pass.

Waste pizza boxes may have food or grease on them so maybe that’s why they’ve been put in a different bin as they can’t be recycled.
I can understand it’s upsetting but he was polite and not aggressive so hopefully it will blow over.
If you live with a partner there is not reason he can’t put your rubbish out if you can’t put it in the correct bin.

He sounds psychotic so I'd probably ignore the letter and not give him the reaction he's looking for.

In the meantime could you ask for separate recycling bins? Maybe even a small box for you that you could keep on top of your grey bin? Or keep all of your recycling upstairs until the day it's collected?
You shouldn't have to - especially if the recycling bin isn't even full. But he sounds batshit so I'd probably just avoid a confrontation. Even although you are clearly not at fault.

If the new stuff in the bin is parcel packing look at the address and then you’ll know what flat it is. I agree you need separate recycling bins.

If its one bin for 4 flats, i would request a bin from council on the website. (Ive done it easily when i was in a flat)

Then label it and just have your own 😂 they will probably fill it too, then take it out in a bin bag and put it by their door with a note about ordering their own.

Could you tape a (polite) note to the bins saying something along the lines of “To the person who left me a note about bin usage, l could not respond to you as you did not put your name on it. My situation is… and my understanding is…

Do you have to share the bin? Ask the council for another bin, put your number on it, and a bin lock so noone else can use it.

Him being rude is not ok - but I used to live with a similar set up and one of our neighbours would regularly completely fill the paper/cardboard recycle bin the day after collection so none of the rest of us could use it for two weeks until it was emptied again. It was very annoying and meant we all had to go to the tip while he never did. So if this is what you are doing (or almost filling it and leaving very little room for others) then I can see why they are annoyed. If you are only using 1/4 or so then they are very unreasonable.

Can you ask the council for an extra recycling bin? (hopefully there's room). Our council are more than happy to supply additional bins for recycling.

Sounds to me what's perhaps happened is someone has gone down with their recycling, found the recycling bin full, pulled out your rubbish to put theirs in, and left your rubbish outside the note givers. So might be nothing to do with note giver, he's just the fall guy.

If you are buying a lot of stuff that has excess packaging then it may well exceed what the bin usage was originally intended for based on an average persons use.

You might have to bag it up and keep inside your flat u til you have enough to take to the tip.

If you are doing everything you think you should be, what was the relevance of the back story about a bad back and packaging? Are you actually using up more than you fair share of bin capacity and indirectly causing the overflow?

Was the packaging you'd put in the blue bin takeaways, pizza boxes etc? If so that should really have gone in your general rubbish rather than paper due to food residue. He was quite polite and maybe the bin was too full for his paper stuff? As you have to share the blue bin perhaps put more of your rubbish into the general bin as l doubt that's full if you are there alone most of the time. It's not worth making a fuss about really.

I used to live with a similar set up and one of our neighbours would regularly completely fill the paper/cardboard recycle bin the day after collection so none of the rest of us could use it for two weeks until it was emptied again

Have the same problem - not so much all the cardboard that he chucks in the bin as the fact that he doesn't bother to flatten it despite being asked to - but then why should he, he's got female neighbours to sort that out.

Shame your partner wasn't a bit quicker. Ordinarily I would say leave it, but given your vulnerability and history and this guy's police record I think reporting to the police is the right thing to do. And to the council if he's also a HA tenant.

Thanks to all for your replies. To answer some questions:

Neither myself or partner can drive. I was in a car accident when I was 17 and left physically disabled. Partner has a sight condition which means he can't drive. So taking rubbish to the tip is not an option.

I have not rung the Police and don't intend to. I mentioned that the Police have attended our block of flats on numerous occasions due to the likely note poster having many fights (sometimes physical) with another neighbour. He also calls ambulances all the time when he is drunk (which is often as he is an alcoholic) saying he's taken an overdose. He then refuses to let them into the building which means I regularly have ambulance crews ringing my doorbell at 3, 4am to get into the building. He then starts yelling abuse at them ...and this goes on most of the night.

All the recycling I had placed in the blue bin was plain cardboard...mainly collapsed boxes from packaging etc. I never place any rubbish with my address on, in any bins until it has been shredded. I always flatten any rubbish to as small as humanly possible. I've never filled the bin. There is no overflow as my partner managed to get my recycling back in it with no problems.

All 4 flats share the blue bin...it's very large and I've never seen it completely full in the 4 years I've lived here.

I mentioned my bad back as the note said I was 'lazy'....I'm actually physically disabled, get higher rate PIP for both daily living and mobility and I don't like being judged. I had to take this 1st floor flat in an extreme hurry to get away from a domestic violence situation. I was told in no uncertain terms by the HA that if I didn't take it I would have a long wait for another. Since moving in here I've developed a slipped disc - which I am told will need to be operated on - I've also been told not to lift/carry anything up the stairs heavier/larger than a small grocery bag.

I've requested another blue bin for myself. The council may decide as we have a large communal one that I don't need it...I'll have to wait and see. I've reported the black bin bags dumped outside as fly tipping.

I've also ordered a ring door bell that I will be putting on my flat door so if he decides to do it again I'll know exactly who the culprit is.

Wanted to add that for me to dump rubbish outside anyone's door would mean leaving it in the communal halls. Which I have obviously never done.

@Seaoftroubles

He was quite polite and maybe the bin was too full for his paper stuff?

It's not 'quite polite' to call someone you don't know 'lazy' though, is it?

It sounds as if your neighbour is disturbed and has got himself worked up about the shared bin. It's not about you, so try not to take it personally.

I have a neighbour who gets worked up about people parking in front of his house. There is no reason he should do so because anyone can park there, but he does, because he has nothing else to think about. It is sad.