Patience is a virtue, but three years of property damage, fence tagging, and backyard trespassing will test even the most reasonable person.

A renter who had already dealt with multiple break-in attempts found himself at a breaking point after destructive neighborhood kids continued to ignore every polite attempt to rein things in.

He tried polite notes, he tried reasonable pleas with parents, but the notes went unread and the conversations went nowhere.

So finally after exhausting all other options, the renter decided that if he was going to put a stop to this, he would have to take drastic measures.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for warning my neighbors about my houses response to their children?

I rent a house with 2 other guys in a neighborhood that already has its issues.

I work days, they work nights, so someone is almost always sleeping.

Unlucky for them, this particular neighborhood was a very noisy one.

For the last 3 years, neighborhood kids have constantly played around our house — balls hitting the siding, nonstop ding-dong ditches, toys landing in our fenced backyard, etc.

Kids have also jumped our fence, and we used to have a dog that wasn’t great with strangers or kids.

The renters tried to get ahead of the issues, but ultimately, things only continued to get worse.

We left a polite note asking people to be patient and that we’d throw toys back over when we could on our door.

When that didn’t work, we also talked to parents, saying that otherwise the kids should probably play elsewhere.

Instead, things have escalated.

The destructive behavior is getting less and less subtle.

Fence boards have been pulled apart and damaged, we know kids have been in the backyard, and now the fence has been tagged.

Normally we’d shrug some of it off since it’s a rental, but we’ve also had at least 3 attempted break-ins in the last 1.5 years.

So now the renters are considering taking drastic measures.

Because of that, we’re on edge about people being around the property at night or in the backyard.

I’m considering going door-to-door to explain the situation to parents and basically say: we’re already nervous about break-ins, and the kids messing with the property is making things worse.

AITA for approaching it this way, or is there a better way to handle this?

This situation would put just about anyone on edge.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an apartment tenant who is being called petty for blocking her parking space with trash cans.

What did Reddit think?

The landlord definitely needs to get involved in this situation.

Perhaps there are other ways to escalate the issue too.

This commenter continues, saying it’s best to leave a paper trail for matters like this.

A simple security camera may also be helpful.

Three years of notes, conversations, and good faith efforts, and the response was pulled fence boards and graffiti? That’s just inexcusable.

At the end of the day, no one can accuse this renter of not trying. He did his due diligence by trying the polite route at first, talking to the parents directly, and giving the neighborhood every opportunity to course correct.

But when none of it landed, it’s completely reasonable that he would now be considering other avenues.

The neighborhood kids can’t be allowed to continue to treat the property like a jungle gym — full stop.