Lauren, a self-described "newbie property investor" who shares her journey on Instagram as @renosandreturns, said she would never hire a skip again after a neighbour dumped rubbish in hers without asking. She had paid around £130 for the hire and was left furious by the neighbour's audacity.
In a "skip update" for her followers, Lauren explained how she got even. She went back to the skip, took out all of the neighbour's items, and put them on the pavement near the neighbour's house.
She told followers: "I went back to the skip, and I unloaded all of my neighbour's stuff that she'd put in my skip, and she saw me do it. And I put it right near her house on the pavement." She admitted she had fantasised about dumping it on the doorstep but was not "brave enough" to be that confrontational.
What happened next?
Lauren left the pile alone for a day and returned to find it gone. She declared the move a "success," saying it had stopped the neighbour's freeloading. She added that she only had the skip for a "few more days" and was hoping no other neighbours would sneak rubbish in before the hire period ended.
Commenters were divided
Some backed her approach. One commenter wrote: "Can you imagine being so entitled that you would just use someone else's skip?!!! They cost a fortune to hire!" Another said a friend had the same problem and did the exact same thing, adding that the same neighbours had done it previously when builders were on site.
But others criticised the tactic. One commenter argued: "I'm all for returning the rubbish, but fly tipping isn't the way to do it. If anyone filmed you or you are on a Ring camera, you would get fined for that. It doesn't matter who's rubbish it is. You put it there, you are the fly tipper. It being gone isn't your success either. Someone probably reported it to the council, who have a duty to clear it because it was obstructing the pavement. Massive fail on your part, love."
Another added: "Fair enough, but don't dump it on a sidewalk and block people with prams, the elderly, those in wheelchairs, etc. Put it in their garden or leave it."
