If we are fortunate indeed, we will be surrounded by amazing individuals and may even form amazing and long-lasting connections. When such is not the case, the excitement of moving into a new house can rapidly be overshadowed by others who seek to trespass on our freedom to serenity. Lately, a homeowner spoke out about being surrounded by entitled neighbours who continue to seek use to their pool. Scroll down to read the entire article, and don’t forget to leave your thoughts on how you would deal with such a situation.
Source: Reddit
My spouse (45) and I (46) bought a house in February with a pool. It’s a non HOA single family home. We keep for ourselves. Have friends over occasionally and we enjoyed having people over for food, drinks, and of course swimming pool parties now that the weather allows for it.
We fit in the neighborhood or so we thought until neighbors from 3 surrounding homes and us got into a weird conversation around their expectations to access the pool for weekend and holidays pool parties.
Apparently, the owners before us had kids and were friends with the neighborhood kids. The neighborhood kids and adults would use the pool when they wanted to. The gate was always open and they even had their inflatables nearby and had arranged paying for the maintenance of the pool.
We told them that we’re fairly private people and enjoy our privacy and don’t see ourselves letting neighbors have access to our backyard whenever they want. Each time any of us are wandering around outside, they just ask over and over and try to sell the idea of having access to it. They offer money and share the maintenance fees and such.
I was trying to enjoy gardening and was cornered once again. I just really firmly told them that they really need to stop talking about the pool each time they see us, stood up and left. As I was walking back towards the gate to the backyard (within our property line), they were following me talking my ears off. One of the lady/mom was STILL going on and on because ‘she asked nicely and offered to pay for the maintenance and that she really didn’t understand why I was so against it”. I turned around and asked them to leave now and never follow me on my property ever again.
We politely decline over and over. And we are seriously getting tired of the nagging and the pool and their access to it being the only thing they want to connect with us about. It’s not like we created a bond or anything. All convos are about the pool.
We had a party yesterday evening and as I was showing the front yard to my friend, my neighbor popped up and was talking about how it must be nice to be invited to enjoy the pool. And I said to her “Can you go now? I’m having company!!!!”. Am I wrong for not wanting neighbors to have access to my property and seriously losing my patience with their expectations?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
