If you live in the path of tornados, it can be helpful to have a storm shelter.

In today’s story, one neighbor wants to use another neighbor’s storm shelter, but there’s a locked gate that the neighbor refuses to leave unlocked.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

AITA: Making my storm shelter inaccessible?

I don’t think I’m a jerk here but, I do kinda feel like I may be one.

We purchased our home less than a year ago.

Anyway, I live in tornado alley and while shopping for a home we decided that not having a storm shelter was enough to disqualify any home we liked, even though it increases the home cost.

Storm season is headed this way as it does every year and so far while my particular house has not been hit, my neighborhood has.

OP has a tornado shelter.

We have an in-ground tornado shelter in our yard. It was put in by the previous residents.

I don’t know the exact number of people this shelter is rated for, but it is larger than I need for my immediate family.

The other day I was putting out the trash when my next door neighbor approached me.

We are neighborly, not friendly, but we wave and say hi when it would be to hard to avoid doing so.

This neighbor is a single mom and has 2 kids, one teen and one preteen.

OP explained why they have to keep the gate locked.

So, we got to chatting and we got on the subject of storm season.

She mentioned that the last family living here left an open invitation for her and her kids to run into the yard and use the shelter whenever needed, whether they (the owners) were home or not.

Now I have no issue letting others use our shelter, but, we put in a pool.

One of the requirements for our homeowners insurance is to have a locked fence around the pool at all times.

I informed our new neighbors that we keep our fence gates locked now, however, they are more than welcome to come knock on our door and we will let them into our yard to use the shelter.

She made a good point by saying that in an emergency, it isn’t really practical to knock on our door to use the shelter.

OP doesn’t want to leave the gate unlocked.

Our neighbor got pretty upset, not mean, just upset saying her family is at risk.

She asked if we could leave the fence unlocked on stormy days or when storms are predicted and leave the gate unlocked when we go out on these days.

I apologized and told her that was not possible.

I have liability requirements due to insurance for my pool, I also have a dog, and I simply like to have the gates locked, this is my yard.

I know I could unlock the gates on stormy days but it is just a matter of time before I forget to lock them again, or even forget to unlock them to begin with.

Giving her a key is not practical as this is a picket fence with locks on the inside.

OP isn’t sure what to do.

Part of me says I am in the right by locking my yard and that I should just let this go and move on with my life.

Part of me says I’m wrong because, while I am technically in my rights to keep my yard locked, I could unlock it during storm days and hope that no one unwanted enters the yard.

AITA?

I agree with OP about not wanting to leave the gate unlocked, but I feel conflicted about wanting to help the neighbors too.

Let’s see how Reddit responded…

This reader points out the dangers of swimming pools.

Another reader agrees that the pool is more dangerous than a storm.

This person has a suggestion for the gate.

This person offers another compromise idea.

Another reader wouldn’t even try to compromise.

I like the idea of perhaps calling or texting if there’s a storm.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.