It can be annoying to buy a home only to have the neighbors tell you what the previous homeowners used to do. Often, that involves the previous owner doing some sort of favor for the neighbors such as letting them use the swimming pool, play on their property, walk through their yard, or even set up elaborate holiday decorations.

I’ve heard stories about all those types of things, but this story is about neighbors complaining that the homeowner won’t let them walk through his yard as a shortcut when the previous homeowner used to let them do this.

The new homeowner does not want his neighbors walking through his yard. He has quite a few good reasons to feel this way, but really, he shouldn’t feel the need to justify it at all. It’s his yard, which is private property, not a public sidewalk.

Now, he feels conflicted about his plans to put up a fence. Keep reading for all the details.

AITA for “ruining” popular neighborhood path?

I recently bought a home in a dead end street. My home is at entrance to the street but the yard/property itself is on the larger side, and the old owners used to let people walk through the yard to reach the connecting street.

Now I’m not a bah-humbug sort of guy. I like having neighbors and I’ll say hello, wave, make small talk, etc.

However, I also like my privacy and space and I’m a big lawn sort of guy, so I’ve started personalizing it and have asked numerous people not to cut through my yard.

I’m in the process of having a large privacy fence installed around my property to prevent it from happening.

He has multiple reasons why he wants the neighbors to stop walking across his yard.

Now if I had many acres and someone was walking along the edge, I wouldn’t care.

But this is 20 feet from my home, and I feel uncomfortable having so many people go through my yard and I don’t want to leave my curtains closed 24/7.

It also wore a path in the yard, which is unsightly and I was hoping to set up my lawn ornaments, do some landscaping, etc which wouldn’t be possible with strangers coming through.

Not letting them use my yard adds maybe 2-3 extra minutes to their walk.

The neighbors are obviously unhappy.

A few neighbors have expressed their complaints and feel I’m being unfair.

I’ve gotten a lot of looks and whispers as well.

In particular, a family with like 6 kids who used to use the yard are very rude now.

I’ve never been rude or hostile, just asked they don’t use the shortcut and am now putting up the fence.

He’s not doing anything wrong. The neighbors got used to the shortcut, but he doesn’t owe it to them to let them walk across his yard, which is his private property.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Exactly!

Another person agrees that he’s not doing anything wrong.

This person compares it to a vacant lot.

Another person was in a similar situation and was able to solve the problem without building a fence.

The neighbors may be unhappy, but that’s not his problem. It’s his house and his land. His neighbors are trespassing if they’re walking on it without his permission. He doesn’t have to let them walk across his yard just because they’re used to it.