I have lived next door to wonderful neighbors who were considerate and friendly. We got along so well that we even joked about combining our driveways so we’d both have more room to park. We never had a fence and never felt the need for one.

But I’ve also lived next to neighbors who were absolutely horrible, and even with a fence, I dreaded having to interact with them. They were inconsiderate, rude and and obnoxious.

In today’s story, one homeowner is dealing with the inconsiderate type of neighbors, but he’s wondering if he overreacted by putting up a fence.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITAH for putting up a fence after my new neighbors dug up part of my yard?

Got new neighbors. Our backyards were totally open with no fences, no clear boundary, except my driveway.

Their 700 sq ft house is crammed with family like parents, grandparents, uncles, etc.

Whatever, not my business.

He noticed the neighbors building something in their yard.

One day some uncles were unloading wood and I asked if they were building a deck.

They said, “No, a garden!”

Cool. But a few weeks later, they bring in a mini excavator and start digging.

Their “property line marker” was literally a stick in the ground. No survey, no clue where the real line was.

OP got a survey.

I didn’t know either, so I ordered a plot survey while they were still working.

Tried talking to the foreman uncle he’d straight-up walk away whenever I approached.

Survey came back after their project was done.

Surprise: they’d dug into my yard.

They finished their deck and garden.

They ended up with a ground-level deck and garden beds. Not on my property, but they didn’t bother leveling the ground they tore up while the machine was there.

Now they’re outside all the time.

Not a problem on its own, but I hate feeling like I have to wave or chat every time I’m out there.

It gets worse.

Then they started having big family gatherings.

People park all over the front lawn and use my driveway/yard as a cut-through.

Their kids (5–16) play in my driveway, run on my rock wall, and generally treat my property like it’s theirs.

No one has told them not to.

He finally decided to make a big change to his own yard.

So… I put up a privacy fence. It’s about 7–8 inches inside my property line so I can still mow/maintain outside it and keep them from putting stuff against it.

I didn’t tell them ahead of time sort of like they didn’t tell me they were landscaping half my yard, so I figured we were even.

But next I’m also going to put up a stone wall in the front part of the yard to make it a little harder for them to drive in and park using my land as a cut-through…

AITAH?

The neighbors are really inconsiderate. As the saying goes, good fences make good neighbors.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Putting up a fence was a good idea.

It’s his yard. He can do whatever he wants.

I agree that the neighbors will probably claim the extra 7 to 8 inches as their own.

This person thinks OP is “too nice.”

He needs to talk to the neighbors and set some boundaries.

These new neighbors sound like a nightmare.

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