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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Zahna Eklund & Nia Dalton

'My neighbours demand to use my pool - they ignore me when I say no'

A family with a swimming pool in their garden keep being hounded by neighbours who insist on taking a dip in the water, despite being told no several times.

The homeowner has taken to Reddit to ask for advice after him and his spouse recently moved house into the property, which already had a pool in place.

But after getting settled into their new neighbourhood, the people in the surrounding houses were quick to ask if they could pop over for a swim, claiming that the old owners always let them.

The man politely declined and explained that they're "private people" who don't want neighbours wandering into their garden whenever they want.

The previous homeowner let people in the neighbourhood use it whenever they wanted (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

And yet, they continue to demand he gives them full access to his property, and have even make sarcastic comments to visitors 'lucky enough' to use the swimming pool.

Writing on his post, he said: "My spouse and I bought a house in February with a pool. It's a single family home, and we keep ourselves to ourselves.

"We have friends over occasionally and we enjoy having people over for food, drinks, and of course swimming pool parties now that the weather allows for it.

"We fit in the neighbourhood, or so we thought until the neighbours from three surrounding homes got into a weird conversation with us around their expectations to access the pool for weekend and holiday pool parties.

"Apparently, the owners before us had kids who were friends with the neighbourhood kids. The neighbourhood 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 to split the payment 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 neighbours 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 offer to share the maintenance fees and such."

The man was recently "cornered again" while trying to tend to his garden, and had to firmly put his foot down and demand that his neighbours stop talking about the pool.

He keeps being pestered and cornered despite shutting them down multiple times (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

But the message still doesn't seem to have gone through. When he recently had friends over, one neighbour sarcastically said it "must be nice" for them to have been allowed access to the pool.

He added: "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.

"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 conversations are just about the pool.

"We had a party yesterday evening and as I was showing the front yard to my friend, my neighbour popped up and was talking about how it must be nice to be invited to enjoy the pool.

"Am I wrong for not wanting the neighbours to have access to my property and seriously losing my patience with their expectations?"

Commenters on the Reddit post were equally baffled by the neighbours' persistent actions, with some suggesting the man get a lock on his gate and a "no trespassing" sign, and others pointing out the dangers of letting strangers onto his property.

One person said: "Those are some entitled persistent neighbours. Also the liability of having an open gate for everyone's access. What if a kid wandered in and drowned? That will be on you. Stand your ground, I would do the same. Good luck!"

While another added: "You need to consider a lock on the gate if there isn't one already and cameras near the gate and pool just in case.

"Maybe even a nice no trespassing sign on the gate. If they think you're out of town, they might help themselves to a swim and that is a huge liability."

And a third wrote: "They're grown adults. They can buy their own pool if they want one."

What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.

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