Buying a house with a pool is the ultimate suburban dream. It is your own private oasis, a place to relax with a drink after a long week, and the perfect spot to host your actual friends. But for one couple on Reddit, their dream backyard turned into a neighborhood battleground because the people living next door apparently think property deeds come with a “community access” clause.
Our narrators are a couple in their mid-40s who bought a lovely single-family home back in February. It has a pool, no HOA, and they keep to themselves. They envisioned quiet weekends, maybe a few friends over for drinks, and generally enjoying the fruits of their labor without a homeowner’s association breathing down their necks. It sounds like the perfect setup for a peaceful life.
But the honeymoon phase ended abruptly when the neighbors from three surrounding homes decided to have a little chat. It wasn’t a welcome wagon with a casserole. It was a list of demands. It turns out the previous owners ran the neighborhood aquatic center. They let everyone use the pool whenever they wanted, kept the gate open, and even let kids store inflatables there. It was a commune, basically.
Now, that is a lovely arrangement for the previous owners, but these new owners are, understandably, not interested in running a public lido. They told the neighbors they are private people and won’t be continuing the open-gate policy. You would think that would be the end of it, right? Wrong. The neighbors started treating the rejection like a negotiation, offering money and maintenance fees like they were trying to buy a timeshare.
It got creepy fast. The narrator describes trying to enjoy some peaceful gardening when they were cornered again. They tried to walk away, back to the safety of their own property line, and these people followed them. Literally followed them onto their land, yapping about how they “asked nicely” and offering cash. The narrator finally had to turn around and banish them from the property. That is not being neighborly; that is trespassing.
You have to admire the sheer persistence of these people. They just cannot wrap their heads around the concept of private property. They don’t want to be friends; they just want the chlorine. It all came to a head during a party the couple hosted for their actual friends. A neighbor popped up like a whack-a-mole to make a snarky, passive-aggressive comment about how nice it must be to be “invited” to enjoy the pool.
The narrator, finally out of patience, snapped and told the neighbor to go away because they were having company. And honestly? Brava. The entitlement here is staggering. Just because the previous owners were running a free daycare doesn’t mean the new owners inherited that obligation along with the water heater.
Let’s talk about liability for a second. If a neighborhood kid slips and falls, who gets sued? The nice new owners. These neighbors aren’t just asking for a swim; they are asking the new owners to take on a massive legal risk and loss of privacy for people they barely know. Offering to pay for chemicals doesn’t cover the cost of your peace of mind or your homeowner’s insurance deductible.
So, is the narrator the ahole? Absolutely not. N-T-A. Your house, your pool, your rules. The neighbors need to learn that “no” is a complete sentence, and if they want a pool so badly, they should dig one in their own yard instead of harassing the new people next door. You didn’t buy a community center; you bought a home. Keep that gate locked tight.