What happens when a good-sized pond only has one dock – and access to it is behind lock and key?

That’s the question posed in this story from Reddit, when one neighbor controls who can use the neighborhood pond.

The details are below!

AITA for not letting my neighbors access land that is technically theirs?

I (35m) live outside of a small town, so the houses are quite spaced out.

There’s 2 houses that have residents that are within a reasonable distance of my house, and land plots are mostly 2 or more acres.

Partially on my land, there’s a decent sized body of water (I believe it technically is classified as a pond).

Not all of the pond is on my land, though. About half belongs to me, 1/4 belongs to my neighbor, and the other quarter belongs to someone else (they live farther away so are not involved).

They share the body of water, but not necessarily access to it.

There’s a dock on this pond. It’s on my land, but very close to the property line. It has a gate with a lock that takes a passcode.

The dock is really the only way to access the pond on the side of me and my neighbors house, because of weeds.

My neighbors who own the other quarter of the pond are in their early/mid thirties and have a 9/10 year old son.

My other neighbors, who live a little farther away, are about 40 and have a 15 year old son.

I know the neighbors with the 15 year old better than the neighbors with the 10 year old, and know their son. He is responsible, and asked if he could fish at my pond.

I told him sure, gave him the passcode to the gate, and told him he could go whenever as long as the gate was shut after he left.

He is fine with the folks he know coming on his land, but what will happen when the neighbor with the younger son asks for the same privilege?

My neighbors who live right next to me asked if I minded if they and their son used my dock and kept their kayaks there and fished from it. I told them that since I didn’t know them, I would be more comfortable if they didn’t.

It’s not just the age difference of the son, but the size of the request.

Especially since there’s a difference between one person using my dock for fishing and a family keeping boats there, and a 15 year old is much more mature than a 10 year old.

They got upset at this, because it was the only way for them to access the part of the pond that is theirs. They said that they wouldn’t be a bother and I should let them use land that is theirs.

There’s a pretty easy solution for the neighbors, but it appears that they aren’t willing to put in the extra work.

I still said no, and they got pissed at me and said I had no right to restrict access to the part of the pond that is rightfully theirs.

I told them they could clear part of the plants if they want to.

They wrote a letter to me “respectfully asking” for permission to use my dock.

I still said no, but they won’t drop it, and said since I let someone who lives farther away and doesn’t own any of it use my dock they should be able to use it.

AITA for not allowing them access to the land that they own?

Let’s see what Reddit thinks about this neighborly dispute.

Top comment says he’s not stopping them from using their land, but his dock. And that’s perfectly acceptable.

Why don’t they build their own access, asks this comment.

Not everyone has to get the same deal, according to this commenter.

And then the legal experts chime in. Serious liability could be in play.

It feels like this dispute could easily be solved with a weed whacker and a lawn mower.

But that would be too easy.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.