Couple Refuses To Let Their New Upstairs Neighbors Use Their Private Yard And Laundry Room, But The Neighbors Accuse Them Of Being Entitled
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Being a good neighbor might mean collecting someone’s packages, keeping the noise down or occasionally lending a cup of sugar. But apparently, some people think it should also include sharing your laundry room and backyard.
One couple is questioning whether they were too harsh after refusing a request from their brand-new upstairs neighbors.
The couple has lived in the first-floor apartment of a converted townhouse for six years, paying considerably more in rent for exclusive access to a backyard and basement with laundry facilities.
When a younger couple moved into the upstairs unit, the woman wasted little time asking whether they could share those amenities.
She even suggested establishing a laundry schedule and claimed the landlord had encouraged her to ask.
Unfortunately, the downstairs tenants weren’t interested in opening their private space to strangers.
And after checking with the landlord, they discovered something that made the request even more irritating.
Now, their new neighbor is publicly complaining about how unwelcome they’ve made her feel.
AITA for not letting my new upstairs neighbors use our yard and basement??
My finance and I (30M+F) live in a townhouse that has been converted to apartments. We live on the first floor, and have been living here for six years now.
Since we’re on the first floor we have private access to a backyard and a basement, but we also pay so much more in rent than the upstairs units. Today we saw that a couple moved in to the upstairs unit. They have to be a bit younger than us.
When we were going to the grocery store, the woman flagged us down and asked if we would give them access to the yard and basement. Specially the basement since it has a washer and dryer.
Excuse me?
She said we could have a laundry schedule so she wouldn’t be disturbing us, and then asked if we could give them backyard access so they could use it from time to time.
She followed it up, “the landlord said to ask, but should be ok.” I said, “respectfully, no. I don’t know you guys, and quite frankly, don’t want to have strangers coming in and out of our unit while we’re working. We have a cat, we don’t want her to get out through random open doors. We pay rent for this unit, and have access to these things because we pay almost triple than the other units in rent. If maybe we want to get to know each other for a bit my answer may change, but at this moment, no.”
I also have a really good relationship with our landlord so I asked him, and he said, “she never reached out about that, but my answer would have been no since they pay rent for upstairs. You pay rent for downstairs. They knew what came in the unit when they signed the lease.”
Liar liar pants on fire.
Since then, she’s been standing outside on the phone with whomever talking about how we’re not neighborly, I’m an entitled a*****e, and that she doesn’t want to carry her laundry around the corner whenever she needs clean clothes.
She thought when she signed the lease the backyard was communal (I don’t know how she got that…like you can see it from the window but it’s not even in the listing…) and that we’re making her and her boyfriend feel really unwelcome in this neighborhood.
AITA for saying no? Like should I have said yes and made them pay to use it?? I work from home so I don’t fear anything stolen, but the brazen entitlement for a laundry schedule was all I needed to hear to say no. Like would anyone want to say yes in that situation?
The downstairs couple isn’t wrong for refusing to share amenities that are included exclusively in their rental agreement.
They pay significantly more for their apartment, and allowing unfamiliar neighbors to regularly enter their living space would create legitimate privacy and security concerns.
The possibility of their cat escaping through an open door is another perfectly reasonable consideration.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the upstairs neighbor asking about access, particularly if she genuinely misunderstood which amenities were communal.
However, claiming the landlord had already suggested the arrangement, when he says no such conversation occurred, makes the situation considerably more questionable.
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Her subsequent complaints about the couple being entitled also seem unfair. Wanting to use someone else’s private facilities doesn’t automatically make those facilities available.
The downstairs tenants could choose to share their space in the future, but they certainly aren’t obligated to do so or negotiate a payment arrangement.
Ultimately, being neighborly means treating the people around you with consideration, not expecting them to surrender privileges they’ve specifically paid for.
This person says to just ignore all phone calls.
This person says they’re most certainly unwelcome.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who sees the chance for revenge after a neighbor who refuses to share wifi needs help with a parking issue.
And this person says it’s OP’s property, end of discussion.
The new neighbors wanted to share the backyard and laundry room, but apparently forgot that sharing a building doesn’t mean sharing a lease.
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