Sometimes,being neighborly feels less like a choice and more like an obligation, especially when the kindness isn’t mutual.

What would you do if your neighbors constantly criticized your choices while freely using your land without asking?

Would you ignore them to keep the peace?

Or would you finally draw the line?

In the following story, one homeowner finds themselves in this very situation and wonders whether setting boundaries would make them the bad guy.

Here’s what’s happening.

WIBTAH if I told my neighbor his kids couldn’t play on our land anymore?

In our neighborhood, everyone has a few acres of forest land.

My neighbors decided to use the flat land in front of their house for an addition and garage, building right to our property line.

They have plenty of their own land behind their house, though.

We had a survey done recently, which made us realize how much of our land they had been using, driving on, parking, and keeping a trampoline and swings.

It’s so close to the front of their house that we probably won’t do much with that land.

The problem is, they are the biggest bullies I’ve ever lived near.

We are unincorporated and have no HOA, and they hate basically everything we do on our property and, of course, pay attention to it all.

Fed up, this person thinks it may be time to put them in their place.

Recently, my neighbor mentioned that he checked the county records for construction permits and thought we hadn’t pulled all the necessary permits for our basement remodel (we had).

Now I feel like I have to read the fine print on all the zoning rules, and I am just frustrated with their passive-aggressive text messages about anything we do.

I’m really thinking we should send a certified letter telling them to stop using our land and to remove the kid’s toys, etc.

WIBTAH?

This is a tough situation all the way around.

Let’s see what advice the folks over at Reddit can offer.

This person suggests a fence to solve the problem.

Here’s another great solution.

According to this person, some ugly orange fencing will do the job.

Great advice!

As others have mentioned, the kids playing on the land is a serious liability.

They should send the certified letter immediately and prevent any future issues.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.