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Imagine moving into a house that you’re renting, and you tell the landlord that you wish there were a fence around the front yard so your dog could play out there. If the landlord agreed to install a fence, would you feel obligated to tell the neighbors?

In this story, one renter was in this situation, and it never occurred to him to talk to the neighbors about the fence. After the fence was installed, the neighbor confronted him and made wild accusations.

Now, this renter is wondering if he really did mess up.

I think the neighbor is upset for a completely different reason. Keep reading to see if you agree.

AITA for not telling my neighbors about a fence my landlord put up in the front yard?

We moved into a townhouse about four months ago that has a small front yard.

Most of the houses on the block have a low fence in the front but the house we rented, and the two next to it, didn’t have one.

When we first moved in we mentioned to the landlord that we would maybe like to have a fence in the front yard for our dog since the the backyard is entirely concrete and very small.

She was completely on board with this, said she had wanted a fence for years, and started the process to get it approved with the city.

This all sounds great.

The fence gets approved and she says she’s picking a fencing company.

We don’t know when or if the fence is still coming during this time.

Flash forward and it was installed just a few days ago; the only notice we got was her telling us that she and the fencing company were on their way the morning of.

Everything’s great, our landlord loves the fence, we love the yard, the dog loves the yard.

Talk about a rough way to meet the neighbors!

Until this morning when our neighbor cornered me literally in the back alley while I was taking the trash out in my pajamas to rant about the fence.

He asked me why we put up a fence, accused me of hating his kid, told me we should have asked him first, and was generally very abrasive.

This was also the very first time he had ever spoken to me. At all.

The neighbors sound really annoying.

His kid, and both parents, regularly used our yard as an extension of their own before the fence was installed, leaving his toys everywhere for us to collect, and essentially making our front yard unusable to us during the four plus hours they were out there every evening.

We literally have Ring footage of the parents doing cartwheels across our yard that we show to people when we tell them about the situation.

Admittedly this was annoying, but definitely not the reason the fence was installed.

OP explained how the fence came to be.

I explained to him that the fence was almost entirely our landlord’s idea, beyond us briefly suggesting we’d like to use the yard for our dog.

I told him that I was sorry she didn’t let him know that the fence was going in, but we had no idea when or if it was being installed until the day of.

I also offered him her contact information and he said he already had it (use it then?).

He eventually stormed off.

OP is wondering if he should’ve handled the situation differently.

He seems genuinely convinced that we, as renters, paid to put in a fence because we hate his family for some reason???

We knew about the fence potentially going up, so maybe we should have shared that, but like I said this argument was also the very first time I ever spoke to him.

I really assumed that the landlord would let them know if she felt it was necessary.

AITA for not telling them about the fence?

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The neighbor is crazy! He’s just mad that his family can’t trespass anymore.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

I completely agree with this comment.

A homeowner weighs in.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops helping his neighbors out with his snowplow after they complain about his farm.

Nobody thinks the neighbor needed to know about the fence.

I understand why the neighbor is upset, but the reason he’s upset just makes it even more obvious how important it was to put up a fence! His family had some nerve to treat two yards as if it were all one big yard.

I’m glad the landlord put up a fence.

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Author

Jayne Elliott

Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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