Nothing like a friendly “welcome to the neighborhood” turning into a full-blown cold war…over a shed.

After moving in, they did everything by the book: checked local ordinances, got approvals, even invited the neighbors over to build and hang out. The vibe? Polite but distant.

Fast forward a few weeks, and suddenly there’s a stop-work order, repeat inspector visits, and anonymous complaints rolling in like clockwork. The kicker? The only people who seem to care are the same neighbors who barely acknowledge their existence.

So now the question is: is this a simple case of bad neighbor etiquette…or just bad neighbors?

AITA for building a shed without informing my neighbors?

This is kind of a long one, but the context feels important: My wife and I moved into a new house 2 years ago. One of the first areas that needed attention/work was the backyard.

We(I) made plans to build a shed. Not long after making the plans, whose blueprint were guided by local ordinance, the next-door neighbors returned from travel nursing ~6 months after us moving in, and we introduced ourselves and invited them over for a ‘get to know one another’ kind of thing – it seemed to go well.

We rented a mini excavator to get the land ready, and invited a bunch of friends over to bbq and help out and invited the neighbors, as well.

What a blast (literally).

Everyone has kids and we thought the kids could make some great memories ‘operating’ the machine. The neighbors (lets call them the smiths) declined.

After our friends had left, Mr.Smith came outside with their oldest (same age as our son) and held him up so they could watch me operate the machine while peeking through the thin hedges that seperate our backyards.

I waved them over, which he ignored it/pretended like he didnt see it, and then they went back into their house shortly after. This is when I notice that Smiths are have been ignoring us: they dont say hello/acknowledge when we are outside and when we take our kids outside to play, they go inside immediately.

How rude.

A few weeks go by, the concrete pad is poured and 3 walls for the shed are up. We got a visit from the building inspector.

I told the inspector all of the dimensions, she took measurements, said I “did my homework” and then went on her way saying that I had to wait for the building commison to rule on everything before I could go any further.

Next day I got a stop build order. I went to the planners office, talked to the head of building inspections and went line-by-line through the code to make my case about how the shed was legal. I was told I could continue the build.

Good for you.

Two weeks later, Im working when the same building inspector comes into the backyard and says, “Oh, I thought this address sounded familiar! Ok, youre good, ive already visited.”

I hopped down and she says I “clearly had some nosey neighbors” and then told me that I didnt have to worry about her coming by again, if her office got a complaint she would just text me and let me know.

Another 2 weeks, and I got a text from her, “Same neighbors are calling another complaint in, just a heads up.”

Why can’t they mind their own business?

The smiths have been acting like we dont exist for some time, and then I catch the wife glaring at me **hard** as I pulled out to go get groceries. I immediately called my wife and said to her my spidey sense is telling me it was them that called the city on us.

AITA for not asking for their permission to build our shed, or for not showing them the building specs despite it being to code?

Their backyard has plenty of sun and the view on the side was essentially the other neighbors homes and trees ~50-60ft tall, its not like the shed is blocking a ‘pretty view’.

Reddit largely sided with NTA, agreeing that homeowners don’t need permission from neighbors to build something that’s fully within code.

This person lists all the reasons they are definitely NOT jerks.

This person agrees, and says they’d never be like this.

And this person is also on their side, and just feels bad.

Guess one thing’s for sure..if it’s up to code, it’s not up for debate.

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.