There’s nothing quite like buying a piece of property and building yourself a brand-new home. It gives you the total freedom to do what you want, when you want.

So, how would you feel if the townspeople had been using your land as a shortcut for years and got upset when you stopped them?

Would you allow them to continue using the land? Or would you stand your ground?

In the following article, this very thing happened to a new homeowner.

Let’s see what he did.

AITA for not letting the police and neighbors use my driveway

Going to begin with saying that legally I am in the clear. It’s my property, and I can do as I wish with it.

I bought a piece of land and had a house built on it recently. There was a gravel road (now paved) that has become my driveway.

I guess before I lived there the locals used it to get around faster.

I’ve been told that if they can’t use my driveway it makes the travel 15 minutes longer.

This started when I moved in. The stuff like the yard and surrounding area was not finished but it was complete enough to move in.

This was going to be a problem.

My driveway is long and can be exited or entered from two sides.

With how the house is built for them to use my driveway as a shortcut a lot of traffic would pass right by my house and cars every day.

This isn’t just people driving.

People on bikes and walkers want to use it too.

I simply do not want the whole town driving through my driveway every day.

I realized it was a problem when I moved in and could constantly hear cars driving through all hours of the night.

Or voices of people talking and people walking right past the cars.

To stop it from happening, they had to take some drastic measures.

I understood that this property was vacant for a while so I put up signs saying that this is private property.

You can clearly see a house there and I’m sure they saw it being built.

No change. So I put up gates that only me and my wife have access to. It doesn’t deter the walkers but I have plans for that.

This caused a big fuss. I’ve had numerous people knock on my door asking why I put a gate up. Saying they will be late to work or school. I had a guy say I made him late to an interview.

Private property is just that.

I just tell everyone that this is private property and that this house didn’t just appear here. You saw it built. You saw the signs if this were a route you used daily.

Apparently the police used this as a speed trap area and I’ve had police ask me to open the gates. I tell them no.

My wife normally is the type to let people use the driveway but this wasn’t normal.

Imagine the whole town using it like a shortcut. There was so much traffic constantly.

The complaints keep rolling in.

The first complaint I got before the gates were up was when I parked my car on the driveway and not on the part in front of my house.

Because it was “blocking the traffic.”

I responded “the traffic of my property?”

I’ve had cops tell me I am obstructing their work.

My direct neighbors understand but town people are just upset that their shortcut is gone.

They are pretty upset about the house being here all together.

People would park their cars all over the driveway and my property during sport events (high school football is important around here).

I’m not trying to be an evil neighbor.

AITA?

It’s called “private property” for a reason. The locals should simply plan better and find an alternative route.

Let’s see how Reddit readers weighed in on this situation.

This person brings up a good point.

Here’s someone who thinks that even the police are being lazy.

Checking with a lawyer may be a good idea.

This comment is hilarious!

Ultimately, the townspeople are being very selfish.

Bet they wouldn’t want to share their land.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.