Resident allows neighbors to use their backyard gate as shortcut to school, until neighbors start making demands about the yard's appearance: ‘It will never end’

How far are you willing to go to make your neighbors happy?

If your answer is somewhere along the lines of "honestly, not that far", well then, congratulations! You are pretty normal people. Why would anyone go out of their way to ensure the happiness of someone they barely know? We can excuse doing it for family members or close friends, but random neighbors? What would be the reasoning behind it?

The resident below is asking themselves these questions as they struggle to make the neighbors happy with their current arrangement. You see, this resident has a gate in their backyard that leads to a school area with lots of parking. Before they moved in, the former resident allowed the neighbors next door to use that gate as a shortcut to the parking lot, and even had another gate installed between the two yards to make the journey easier for them.

When the current resident moved in, they found out about the arrangement and didn't mind agreeing to it as well, since it didn't bother them that the neighbors crossed their backyard to reach the gate from time to time. For a while, this worked out perfectly fine, and both neighbors were happy. Until the neighbors using the gate started making demands. Suddenly, it bothers them that the resident's dog is using the backyard area, and they think the compost bin is an eyesore. Before the resident knew it, what started as a small favor snowballed into a demand-fest to keep the neighbors happy.

But here's the thing: this resident doesn't owe the neighbors anything, and definitely doesn't have to adhere to their demands regarding their own backyard. In fact, if so many things in the backyard bother the neighbors, maybe it's time they stopped using it altogether…

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Shadows of three people talking against a wall.
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Neighbor’s gate opens in our yard.

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Is it time for the residents to finally put a lock on the gate and refuse to let people use their backyard as a communal path, or should they try to find a middle ground with their neighbors?
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A path leading through a fenced field.
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