Imagine living next door to a neighbor who is having construction done on their house. If they asked you for pictures from your outdoor security cameras to prove their contractor did something wrong, would you comply, refuse, or explain why if you refuse?

In this story, one woman is in this situation, and she explains that it would be really difficult to find pictures that would be helpful for her neighbor. But she hasn’t explained this to her neighbor, and her neighbor keeps asking for pictures.

Keep reading for all the details.

AITA? New Neighbor Requesting Surveillance footage for a 30 second activity within a 2 week time frame – I’ve said no twice and they keep asking

My neighbor from a few doors down purchased the house next door to me and is actively renovating it. They’ve been pretty respectful and so have I.

I recently gave the owner my phone number after I saw a pretty extensive water leak from their renovation flowing into my driveway to the street. Not a big deal but obviously they would want to get that turned off immediately and repaired.

I’m in construction and real estate and recently had a similar leak from my house – so being neighborly, I texted them a link to the part they needed to fix the specific issue.

The neighbor had a request.

Flash forward about a month later, neighbor is texting me asking if I have surveillance footage of their renovation property – especially the outdoor breaker boxes.

They referenced a two week period that a (now fired) contractor allegedly flipped a breaker that they weren’t supposed to (pool pump came and stayed on, ran dry, & burned out).

I immediately let them know that my surveillance system is not in any way aimed at their house and I wouldn’t have a view of that.

The neighbor doesn’t seem to be willing to take “no” for an answer.

They asked again in pretty much the same words as if I hadn’t already replied.

I did not feel so inclined to send them all sorts of camera screen shots that were none of their business, but I did send them two where her property line was just on the edge of the screen.

They replied with a zoomed portion of the one of the pictures – maybe equated to less than 1% of the entire view – circling and drawing arrows all over it and “this is the breaker box!” “Please send me pictures.”

Mind you I already said “no” twice at this point.

She explains why this request is so unreasonable.

I have not replied again since the last text, but for those not understanding the request: there is no “quick way” to watch 2 weeks of surveillance footage of a tiny zoomed in 100×100 pixel area awaiting any type of movement – your eyes would have to be on the screen the entire time.

This is very different then watching for something stolen or broken – where you can easily narrow it down.

This is not reasonable request, even from a neighbor on friendly terms, much less from a random acquittance that I’ve spoken to maybe 5 times.

She’s wondering if she’s in the wrong.

Aside: I manage property all over town, have a lot of surveillance systems, and have been asked MANY times for footage by police, neighbors, strangers, etc. Even the policy, when investigated a crime, don’t ask for things that obscure.

AITA for not replying again, not saying no a third time, not explaining why, or not being willing to watch 2 weeks of video footage looking for a possible 5-60 second period of an extreme closeup?

I think she needs to explain what she explained here to the neighbor. She needs to explain why this is an unreasonable request. Otherwise, the neighbor might resent her forever thinking she’s just being rude.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person suggests lying.

Another person would tell the truth.

Here’s a suggestion to set a boundary.

Another person thinks they make a couple mistakes.

Nobody has time for that!

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