A young homeowner has taken to Reddit to vent about how her new neighbour called the police and accused her of squatting as she didn’t believe she owned the property.
Her neighbour allegedly lambasted her for painting the door to her new home, accusing her of not having permission from the “landlord” and saying she looked “too young” to own her own property. When the neighbour demanded proof of her home ownership, the young homeowner told her to mind her own business.
The 20-year-old took to the Am I the A**hole subreddit to seek outsider opinions on whether or not she did the right thing by refusing to show her neighbour her deeds to the property.
She explained that the house only cost $15,000, and she had to get a new roof put in and make minor improvements such as replacing the kitchen cabinets. The home previously belonged to an older man who passed away before she moved in two months ago.
Her new neighbour “Jane”, a woman in her 50s, introduced herself to the Redditor three weeks after she moved in.
They had a polite conversation about how the young woman was preparing her yard for spring, with Jane remarking it is “nice that someone is doing some work for the old man”. Jane then went on to say that it’s a quiet neighbourhood, and that she shouldn’t have any parties.
When the young woman said she planned on having a housewarming and a Thanksgiving gathering soon, Jane said it is “weird” to throw a housewarming while she was “renting”.
“I told her I own the house,” the woman wrote. “She didn’t believe me, but went home.”
The situation came to a head last week when the young woman was painting her front door.
She explained: “[Jane] stormed over yelling that I better have permission to paint someone else’s house. I again told her I own my home. She started yelling that I was too young to buy a house and she was contacting my landlord. I told her to stop being a busybody and leave me alone. She started demanding proof. I told her it was none of her business and to get off my property.”
Jane allegedly then walked to the edge of the young woman’s yard and called the police, telling them she was a squatter.
When the police arrived, she showed them her paperwork. “Jane is still angry,” she said.
She spoke to her dad the next day to get his opinion on the matter. He said she was an “a**” for “making enemies with [her] neighbours” and said she should have just shown Jane her paperwork to put an end to the matter.
She doesn’t feel that she did anything wrong, but her father thinks she didn’t handle it properly.
The top comment with over 13,700 upvotes was on her side. The commenter said the neighbour made an “a** out of herself in front of the police” and called her dad an “a**hole” too for “having no sympathy” for her situation with Jane.
Another Redditor made the valid point that showing her the deed probably wouldn’t have worked anyway: “Even if you showed her the deed, the way you painted her, she probably would’ve claimed the deed was fake.”
A different user said that, regardless, being 20 years old means neighbours were probably not going to be thrilled to see you move in beside them, deed or no deed. They added: “Misery, jealousy and envy love company so be on the lookout for the Real Housewives of your neighbourhood posse she tries to put together.”
One Redditor asked what we were all thinking — how was she able to buy a home for just $15,000? Another Redditor replied to say the tradeoff for such cheap property is living in the “middle of f***town nowhere” where you have to drive an hour for groceries, medical care, or to go to work. “Also, you have Janes for neighbours,” they wrote.
Although Jane certainly does sound annoying, at least this young homeowner isn’t in the middle of a petty neighbourhood war involving fireworks and alarms.
