How to Deal with Neighbours Placing Bins in Front of Your Bin?

JaneSong on 10/08/2022 - 14:25
Last edited 10/08/2022 - 14:55

Long story short.

I live next to an apartment building on a main road and they have been placing their bins in my driveway in front of where my bins are. The result is their bins are collected and mine aren't. They seem to place them out around 5AM whilst I am sleeping and just before the truck comes in the morning whilst I am placing mine around 10PM at night the previous day.

Before anyone asks why I can't put the bins elsewhere such as the nature strip. There is always a car parked in front of my house which does not even belong to me. At one point someone put a trailer there too, but we had it towed away as it was affecting the collection of the bins (council authorised this).

Is this something to take up with the council or is this an issue where I need to get a solicitor to write to the neighbour's strata manager?

New information. They are placing their bins onto the road when they are doing this.

https://imgur.com/FoNebS0

Solid colored bins = neighbour
Hollow colored bins = mine.

Home & Garden

Comments

        • Buckshot on 15/08/2022 - 11:51

          hahaha. Fair enough! For me, getting up at 5am once to have a constructive conversation would be worth it. Hopefully, it only takes one conversation to drive the message home.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 10/08/2022 - 21:37
    +1

    normally strata will hire someone to do it if it is a bigger complex, just put the bi further out to where they are putting, they cant just move your bin away and know that it won't get collected.

    if I were you, as being said above, put your rubbish into their bin, I think they won't be back and grab the bin by at least 10 am?

  • JIMB0 on 11/08/2022 - 07:42
    +2

    Get out there early and swap them around. Or take their empty bins and leave your full ones. Don't forget to take the numbers off.

  • DemocracyManifest on 11/08/2022 - 08:24
    +1

    Used to have arseholes parking directly in front of my bins and house - they lived a few doors up/ and sometimes they weren’t picked up. Ended up waiting for them to leave day before bin day and putting bins on the road where they were parking. Absolutely frustrating

    • funnysht on 14/08/2022 - 10:49
      +1

      start stacking your trash on their car

  • penting on 11/08/2022 - 08:28

    Wake up at 5:30 and put their bin back to their complex with a note of why you doing it.

  • kale chips suck on 11/08/2022 - 08:54
    +2

    Plastic weld their bin lids shut! Cable ties are great for this.

    Or just move your car so there's no room for their bins in addition to your own?

    • banana365 on 12/08/2022 - 17:31
      +3

      This is even better. A bead under the rim of the lid and they won't even be able to tell what's happened.

      • kale chips suck on 12/08/2022 - 17:41

        See, now this is the true value of Ozbargains!

        Brilliant!

        But perhaps use it to also glue the bin into its normal "during the week" position. That would be pretty funny to watch.. so get a game camera too, pointed at the bin. :)

  • MattyTheMad on 11/08/2022 - 08:57
    +9

    Imagine if you had to go for an early morning drive. You'd have to move their bins out of your driveway, through no fault of your own. They probably wouldn't be emptied for another week. Their bins would be overflowing. Imagine if you had an early morning appointment 2 weeks in a row.

  • screensaver on 11/08/2022 - 09:44
    +1

    Get up early and replace yours in front of theirs, so that theirs arent emptied. Then take yours in, and chuckle

  • Adz81 on 11/08/2022 - 11:08

    (profanity) me, what did they say when you asked them not to?

    Get a (profanity) solicitor?

    Wat?

  • Euphemistic on 11/08/2022 - 15:34

    Have you contacted the council? Even if they can’t do anything specific, they may be able to give you advice as to what the rules are with bins on the street or in driveways etc.

    Failing that, Put your bins on the road in such a way they can’t put theirs in front.

  • 2esc on 11/08/2022 - 16:51
    +1

    Have you actually spoken to them???? What did they say?

  • ozbjunkie on 11/08/2022 - 17:15

    They are obviously worried about their bins, and they know that as they age there might not be anyone to look after their bins.

    They know that our bins are all going to have to look out for each other.

    So they want their bins to make friends, and the best way to make friends is through proximity. Maybe your bins need friends too.

    Who knows, maybe this event will lead to a conversation and you might make friends with the people who care for these bins.

    You might find you have heaps in common. I mean. You both have bins. And your bins like each other, they're about the same size and the same age…

    It's almost like a village. Of bins.

    • jsb on 12/08/2022 - 00:51

      Op's bins don't like neighbour's bins. If they did, they would have filled the other bins with their full load in the morning. That hasn't happened yet.

    • AustriaBargain on 12/08/2022 - 22:25

      Reading this comment made me feel like I just put my brain in the bin.

  • Wayne7497 on 12/08/2022 - 09:14
    -1

    Bloody he'll, I'm sure this forum is full of weird generations, why can't you do what I've done for years n still do and just TALK to your neighbours, why all the go to council speak to a lawyer let's ask a forum of strangers. 37yrs as a copper n I see more n more of younger generation just complaining to us, n council about things THEY could fix themselves with a little Communication. Try it ! You may be amazed with the results!

    The greatest weapon I weild is my mouth !

    • Poor Ass on 12/08/2022 - 09:22
      +1

      how much for an hr?

      • Wayne7497 on 12/08/2022 - 09:25

        Too teach people how to communicate civily ? zip free

        • Poor Ass on 12/08/2022 - 09:29
          +1

          free oral nice

    • Nost-dc on 12/08/2022 - 10:27
      +9

      the problem with this is that some neighbours are not approachable and generating friction is sometimes a bad idea. I once had a neighbour who left their broken down car in front of my house, the rego was 3 months expired so i raised it with the council, the inspector talked to them and they agreed to remove it within a week… 2 weeks later it got towed. that neighbour then knocked on our door one day, drunk as a skunk, only for my wife to answer and blamed us for it.. scared her quite a bit. every discussion i ever had with him about flicking beer bottle caps, and cigarette buts onto our yard didnt result in anything. so yeah, if the op doesnt wanna waste time trying to work out who is doing it to talk to them to no avail then i dont blame them.

      the real issue is the council. they approved a building that has so many people living there with not enough street frontage for the bins. they need to either push the building to come up with a better waste management solution, or do it themselves. my bet is that the car also belongs to someone there because they only provide 1 spot per residence and lets face it, most families have more than 1

      • Wayne7497 on 12/08/2022 - 11:20
        +5

        Every incident has the potential to turn nasty, but I'm pretty sure they are going to figure out real quick getting lawyers involved or a council ranger saying don't park outside this guys house.

        So you take the chance and try the civil approach and in my experience that's normally the best approach, cos it's always " he just needed to ask " the problem is you all avoid communication on the smallest inkling of something might happen.

        Hell your neighbours got the music up loud at night. Do you (a) politely pop next door n ask to turn it down or (b) call the police who won't say who called them but neighbours pretty much always get it right who it was. Then for years to come its tit for tat? I've see (b) escalate literally 100s of time's ending in restraint orders against each other. And sometimes much worse.

        20yrs ago we never had bugger all incidents like these now there's a new phenomenon " I'm calling the cops on them "

        My neighbours a complete knob on one side he's litteraly laid complaints to my council about everything from grass too high to I'm smoking dope , too my dogs barking. He knows I'm a cop as previous owners had told him.

        Eventually when I saw him come home one day , n politely spoke with him, he found out his 2nd eldest smokes dope not me, I don't have a dog, and his 2 young blokes punch on every 2nd night outside my house pissed. His 2nd eldest did not appreciate my intervention albeit rest of the street did, n made all the crap up as payback and dad had fallen for his bs story.

        And when dad saw my CCTV footage of dope smoking punching on kids he was not impressed. Haven't had a single incident since. Oh I could have brought all sorts of hell down on all of them but for what 20yrs of tit for tat complaints.

        One civil conversation cleared everything up..

        Power of communication. If it fails you have lost nothing.

        • banana365 on 12/08/2022 - 17:39
          +1

          20yrs ago we never had bugger all incidents

          Lucky you, but you not having incidents doesn't mean nobody else has or that they may not have a reason not to confront a neighbour. I can go back 30+ years and list things like slashed tyres, ripped out bushes, stabbings, smashed windows, cars set alight etc. that have happened to me, family or friends and I'd think they're pretty good reasons to be cautious of potentially winding up neighbours.

          • Wayne7497 on 13/08/2022 - 06:09
            -1

            @banana365: Think I'm little bit more experienced in these matters

            • banana365 on 13/08/2022 - 09:26
              +1

              @Wayne7497: So you have or you haven't experienced negative responses from normal requests to neighbours? You claim you haven't, which is fine, but you seem to be saying your greater experience means everyone else should have the same result. Honestly, I'm struggling to see your point here.

              • Wayne7497 on 13/08/2022 - 11:27

                @banana365: Oh I dunno I think my experience comes from attending neighbourhood disputes every day for last 37yrs.. Do they always work out? No, But you atleast try, not now everyone just passes the buck .. nothing lost by trying, turns bad walk away. But trust me the amount of times I've seen things fixed by simple communication is the rule not the exception.

                • ankor on 13/08/2022 - 14:46
                  +1

                  @Wayne7497: A copper with 35 years experience attending disputes, DV situations and other nasty things wonders why the rest of the public aren't as assertive and authoritative in dealing with conflict as he is..

                  hmmmz

                  • Wayne7497 on 13/08/2022 - 18:32

                    @ankor: Yeah umm 37yrs actually, n doesn't matter my experience its common sense nothing more. Whether it's council or police or someone else, your neighbours blind or stupid if he doesn't know where the complaint came from, what happens then if reprocussions occur you'll blame everyone else except yourself and your in same situation had you personally spoke with neighbour, you have lost nothing..Try taking some responsibility for your own problems.

                    • ankor on 13/08/2022 - 22:09
                      +1

                      @Wayne7497: I'm amazed at how so much of what I hinted at has sailed right over your head haha.

                • banana365 on 13/08/2022 - 16:52

                  @Wayne7497: So you are aware of the exceptions. Good. Now stretch your imagination a little and think that some or all of the people recommending avoiding confrontation in this thread are some of those exceptions.

                  The risk of confrontation, violent or otherwise, may be low but it is not zero and people's perception of risk is very strongly influenced by their own experience.

                  • Wayne7497 on 13/08/2022 - 18:28
                    -2

                    @banana365: Pointless trying to convince you, your just one of those that throw all responsibility onto others due to your own perceived fear. Good luck with that through life.

                    • banana365 on 13/08/2022 - 20:08

                      @Wayne7497: Not my perceived fear. In that original list of adverse reactions I listed being stabbed. That was me. I still talk to neighbours about any issues/irritations. Other people may react to violence differently, perhaps for many years after. Empathy. Are you aware of it?

    • baskinghobo on 12/08/2022 - 17:25
      +2

      I used to think like you then I learned how selfish and careless some neighbours can be. One time I asked a neighbour nicely to move his vehicle as he was blocking my driveway. He said he was dropping off his kid so I waited patiently but he was taking his sweet time so I had to awkwardly manuveur around his vehicle. As I was leaving I saw that his kids still had the door wide open showing that he had put no effort into hurrying up at all.

      The next day he did the same thing as he was walking to his vehicle to leave but this time I was a bit more confrontational in my approach to him. He angrily responded back that he was only parking there for a short while like somehow thats a valid reason to block someone's driveway. The fact that I approached him nicely the first time made him think he could get away with it a second time. Imo some actions don't deserve a polite first response.

    • sackrace on 13/08/2022 - 21:58
      -1

      Ok boomer

  • JafferMoney on 12/08/2022 - 09:19

    Move to a better area/out of an apartment :)

  • sashatheman on 12/08/2022 - 09:27

    Why can't you just put your bins on the road like the other bins?
    your picture shows that its multiple apartment bins that are there.

  • idonotknowwhy on 12/08/2022 - 10:14
    +2

    10/10 for that mspaint picture. I have no idea what it's supposed to be, which is perfect :D

    What if you wake up early and move the offending bins somewhere they won't be collected?

  • Satellite on 12/08/2022 - 10:25

    Go to current affairs

  • kaleidoscope on 12/08/2022 - 10:30

    I suggest either talk to neighbours / council or you place your bins on the road to the left of the parked car or all the way to the right on the road where the solid yellow bins are placed.

  • trapper on 12/08/2022 - 11:14
    +1

    Go and talk to your neighbour ffs.

    You just need to tell them that your bins don't get collected if they put theirs in front, so please put them to the side or whatever.

    (If it happens again, it's war. :D )

    • OzzyOzbourne on 12/08/2022 - 13:03
      +3

      Judging from other posts where people have tried to talk to their inconsiderate neighbours….the reply will be g..f….y…..

      The issue is, inconsiderate people are inconsiderate because they don't care about others. They aren't so stupid to not know the the op's bin won't get picked up, they know exactly what they are doing and do it anyway because they don't care about anyone but themselves and what suits them at the expense of anyone else.

      The chances of convincing them otherwise are negligible….the chance of it turning into an argument and escalating further when dealing with a pathologically inconsiderate and thoughtless person are high.

      Unless you are built like a brick sh1t house (dunny) and look like an inconsiderate fxxx too, it's likely you'll get nowhere, assuming that you are a guy dealing with other guys. If you are a guy dealing with women, then you be up for harassment charges just for trying to talk to them about it.

      • trapper on 12/08/2022 - 14:50
        +1

        All my neighbours seem reasonable and friendly… maybe because I go and talk to them instead of getting into weird passive-aggressive battles over trivial things.

        • banana365 on 12/08/2022 - 17:41
          +2

          All your neighbours, perhaps not OP's.

  • Powershopz on 12/08/2022 - 13:47
    +1

    1) Go knock on a random door in the apartment building. "Hi, I live next door, do you know who places the bins out for your apartment building?". If they don't know/can't tell you, go to the next door and so on until you find out.
    2) Contact the person who puts the bins out "Hi, I noticed that you've been placing some of the bins across my driveway which is blocking my bins from being collected. Could please make sure they are only placed on the road/nature strip in front of your apartment complex and not anywhere near my driveway."

    They might not realize what they are doing and expect that the the garbage collection team will move/shuffle the bins around to empty them all (this happens in the CBD/Inner Melb for small buildings where they don't have big dumpsters).

    If they continue to do so, be petty - just start moving their garbage bins back onto their property if they are obstructing your driveway. Do this every week, they'll soon get the message - when they have overflowing bins.

  • Kamsi on 12/08/2022 - 15:36
    +1

    Had a experience with my neighbor doing this shit so I tell him off (In a proper manner of coz ) :)

  • Logical on 12/08/2022 - 15:38
    +1

    whenever your bins are not emptied, then failing all else, transfer your rubbish into their bins in the morning

  • Eeples on 12/08/2022 - 15:44
    +3

    Surely if they are placing their bins in front of your driveway (as stated) you would be successful in complaining to the council.

    Nevertheless, I suggest you confront the person doing it at 5am and tell them not to block your driveway with a wall of bins in case you have an emergency.
    (I wouldn't even mention your own bins not being picked up to this person.)

  • sajidmib on 12/08/2022 - 15:46
    +1

    Get a grip and man up.

  • Littlevu on 12/08/2022 - 16:48
    +1

    Put the offending bins in this trailer until they’re all gone.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/716699

  • gromit on 12/08/2022 - 16:51

    Its petty but if this happened multiple times to me I would be setting my alarm on bin day and waiting till it happens and then going out and moving their bins off the road to ensure they don't get collected. would keep doing that till they didn't do it anymore. If I did not catch in time I would be going out and simply transfer my garbage to their bins.

    • Willy Beamish on 12/08/2022 - 16:53

      This, these kind of people don't care until it affects them.

    • serpserpserp on 12/08/2022 - 18:01

      Omg I wrote my reply below and I didn't even see this.

  • serpserpserp on 12/08/2022 - 18:00
    +2

    There are only two solutions for this:

    1. At 5:05am go outside and wheel their bins back in from the curb.
    2. Or after bins are collected, simply empty your rubbish into their bins.
    • RSmith on 12/08/2022 - 19:39

      Option 1 sounds good.

  • CoreJava on 12/08/2022 - 18:49

    These days, people have lost the communication skill and just do it online. Just go and talk, how hard is that?

  • nekro on 12/08/2022 - 19:27

    Bikies will sort it

    • RSmith on 12/08/2022 - 19:38

      Since when did they start doing garbage collection?

    • TEER3X on 12/08/2022 - 19:46

      If bikies fail, they can try bikkies.

      • serpserpserp on 12/08/2022 - 20:00

        But don't try bikkkies. They only take one kind of rubbish

    • bdl on 13/08/2022 - 17:16

      So will Binnies

  • TEER3X on 12/08/2022 - 19:46
    -1

    Who the fark takes their bins out at 5am? I'd be absolutely pissed. Anything after ~9.30pm is rude.

    Unless they don't make any noise?

    • RSmith on 12/08/2022 - 19:54

      Anything after ~9.30pm is rude.

      5 AM is before 9:30 PM

  • xlimit on 12/08/2022 - 22:37
    +1

    I'm sorry you feel unsafe to deal with something like this op.

    I had almost finished writing a scathing comment about why you let people do stupid shit like this to you. I wanted to know why you couldn't stick up for yourself and how you ended up getting blocked in by someone else's bins. I had 5 imaginative suggestions but after my wife read what I was typing she explained I could do all that because I was a guy and there was no way she'd consider doing some of the things I do. Apparently, she also finds raising issues with neighbours/strangers difficult which is why she's always had me do it.

    So after being enlightened I would like to suggest: Find out who takes their bins out (its usually a person living in the block, just ask anyone you see who lives there, or just randomly buzz a unit) and just explaining what's happening, most people are happy to help when they understand what the situation is. Have a friend speak on your behalf if that helps. You can take some pictures and send an email to their strata/real estate agency (can also be easily found by asking one of the residents). If you don't want to do any of the above, just call the council, there's usually a small team who deals with kerbside pickup/bin problems who can help you out.

  • iknowtj on 13/08/2022 - 00:59

    Surely get up, wait for the bin person, and have a straight up chat with them?

    Happens again, you do what you need to, to ensure their rubbish isn't collected.

    They'll work it out quick enough.

  • epsilon on 13/08/2022 - 02:30
    +1

    Put your bin in front of their drive way

  • Hirolol on 13/08/2022 - 09:12

    Put your bin where their bins are and see what happens

  • mousie on 13/08/2022 - 12:36

    What a rubbish post OP

  • ankor on 13/08/2022 - 14:42

    I had a look at the mspaint diagram and while I'm a bit worried about the bin situation, I'm more concerned about the car that's been tipped onto its side.

  • So Was Red on 13/08/2022 - 15:36
    +1

    No matter where you go/live someone can ruin it for you :(

  • joelmuzz on 13/08/2022 - 21:45
    +1

    Just go out early and swap positions.

  • THICKnSLOW on 14/08/2022 - 11:32

    Apartment living woes.

    10 bins for collection..

    Limited road space for collection.

    One resident's car blocking access.

    I suggest talking to all your neighbours to nut it out. If all else fails burn down council building.

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