‘Not gonna happen’: Nosy resident attempts to stop neighbor from building a fence to keep them out of their business, leading to a property dispute

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    "Good fences make good neighbors"
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    AITA for putting up a fence my neighbour is vehemently opposed to?
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    Throwaway! I (26F) moved into my house last December, a semidetached in the UK. It's just me and my two cats and while the neighbour I'm connected to is great, I'm having problems with
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    my neighbour on the other side (40sF) not connected to my property. On our whole street of semis, the gap between the houses is divided by a fence that goes
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    down the middle of our driveways. They are NOT shared driveways: every house has its own driveway, and we all have parking bays outside our houses too. Mine and my neighbour's are the only houses
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    who don't have a fence between them. The old owner loved her and she was nice when I first met her, but our second time speaking was when I went over to tell her about the fence - legally I'm allowed to put it up,
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    but just wanted to inform her. She switched from being as nice as pie to groaning and sighing, saying she'd lived there for 20 years and liked not having a fence because she'd hated a previous owner's one and
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    convinced the last owner to take it down. I said I wanted one for my privacy and safety, plus my cats, as no fence and gate makes my house extremely open to the road. She
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    then proceeded to tell me, unprompted, that she's divorcing her husband as he was cruel towards her and she now lives alone with her son (13M), who has additional needs but mimics his dad's
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    actions towards her, and she needs space to get him in and out of the car. I've been in several bad relationships myself but I was extremely uncomfortable with how bluntly she told me the information
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    when we'd just met so made my excuses and left. Since then I've found her to be extremely nosy and overbearing. Any time I'm getting work done on my house, she comes over and
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    demands to know what they're doing even when they're clearly painting my house or fixing my front door. My friend once parked in my driveway and she banged on the door and told me to make her move as she couldn't get into hers - she
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    could, she just wanted to park in a particular spot and get out without banging her car door into my friend's car (she's quite a large lady and throws the door open fully when she gets out). She continually walks over my driveway as do her friends
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    and family, setting off my Ring camera daily, but I've bitten my tongue about saying anything as I've still planned to put the fence up and didn't want it to seem petty/just in response to them treating it like a shared driveway. There's been more pettiness but cutting for WC.
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    Where I might be TA is the fact that it WOULD be more difficult for her to get in and out of her car with a fence, and my parents saying it wasn't respectful of her due to the family issues she told me about and that her son is a lot (he
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    often stands on the driveway screaming at her). I just want the physical distance from her though - I'm sick of her being a busybody and it feels like she feels entitled to use my driveway as well as hers because of how long she's lived there. So Reddit, AITA?
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    PurpleMarsAlien · 19 hr. ago Craptain [162] NTA Put the fence back up, but also think about how you're going to deal with her bing and moaning at you for years. She likely "convinced" the previous
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    neighbor to take it down due to an unrelenting campaign of harassment--it worked for her once, she's going to try it again.
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    Altruistic_Comb9825 OP. 19 hr. ago The thought crossed my mind too but the old owner is still good enough friends that she comes to visit her every so often - I definitely think she was incessant until she agreed
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    to take it down though! And I've already planned for her moaning, which is why the fence is going to be a six foot one she won't be able to see over and I won't be able to see her!
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    vinnie_barbell_ino • 20 hr. ago Enthusiast [5] NTA. "good fences make good neighbors" is a saying for a reason. She sounds like a pill. Good luck, OP.
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    Altruistic_Comb9825 OP. 20 hr. ago I have a fence between my back garden and the garden of the neighbour I'm attached to, and he's a great neighbour! It might also be because we moved
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    in at the same time, he's extremely easy going, and our longest conversation was about our cats haha. The phrase is so good though that I think I need to use it with my parents, thank you so much!
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    RoyallyOakie 20 hr. ago Judge, Jury, and Excretioner [332] NTA...Your neighbour sounds like the exact reason people put up fences. Just do it. She'll get over it. Some people are just violently against any changes.
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    Daft_Vaper 20 hr. ago Partassipant [1] NTA. Tell her and her son to keep off your property. Then if it continues you have the perfect reason to ignore her concerns as she ignored you
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    OkeyDokey654 - 19 hr. ago | Enthusiast [9] NTA. Nothing is "disrespectful" just because your neighbor doesn't like it.

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