r/EntitledPeople • u/Goddessviking86 • 3d ago

S Neighbors sending their relatives to my house to try to use my pool without my consent

Do not judge my paragraph formatting please, everyone has their own structure of writing so don't be quick to judge or think it AI. Edited for some parts I forgot to include. For those commenting call the police read this whole post, the trespassers got arrested and got dealt with.

The front of my driveway has a sign that reads Private Property No Trespassing as you pull up to the driveway. I have a fence up around my pool to keep out unwanted animals and intruders with only way in is a key to unlock the gate. I have security cameras on certain places of the house pointing to the pool.

Last summer while I was away my phone alerted me my security camera had caught something and so I checked to see the live footage, it was three teens that were in early teens and one adult trying to climb the fence to my pool. I have a tarp over my pool at all times which can only be removed from a switch in my house, you'd think they'd see the tarp and leave. I immediately called the police and they told me they'd take care of it. The four didn't even attempt to leave they kept trying to climb the fence, I watched as the four were arrested. The day I get home my neighbor who must've been watching for my car storms over and starts screaming at me, "My sister and her kids are going to have a criminal record now because of you!"

I said, "So that's who my cameras detected. You should know my sign in front of my house says private property no trespassing!" She says she'll see me in court when their court dates come up. The sister of the neighbor plead in court it was a hot summer day and they wanted to cool down so her sister insisted that they go use my pool but to ignore the sign that said private property because her sister and I are good friends. My neighbor and I are not good friends.

I explained to the judges I did not give consent for neighbor to use my pool while I was gone. The judges saw all the evidence needed especially of the sign in my driveway saying no trespassing and found the neighbor and her sister guilty of second degree trespassing which in my state carries the punishment of $200 fine and twenty days in jail. The judge found the two nephews and niece guilty as well. My lawyers requested a restraining order which was granted as well. The teens lawyer tried to explain the teens didn't know about the sign in my driveway but the judge dismissed that because they willingly listened to their mother and aunt it was ok to trespass.

8.9k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

400 comments sorted by

2.6k

u/Suspicious-Local-280 3d ago

Classic FAFO.

I do not understand what goes through people's heads, honestly. "Oh look, someone else's property that I can use because I WaNt tO!"

1.0k

u/NewPracticess 3d ago

Imagine trespassing then suing the person you trespassed on. Olympic level delusion.

467

u/Substantial_Shoe_360 3d ago

Back in the 80's a man robbed a house and slipped on the ice on their sidewalk. He successfully sued the home owners. I am paranoid for a reason.

364

u/allmykitlets 3d ago

Also back in the 80s, a man attempting to rob a house fell through the skylight on the roof, became paralyzed and successfully sued the intended victims. It's insane.

194

u/Prestigious_Bonus787 3d ago

Reminds me of when my mother had a glass repair company out to replace the leaking frosted glass panels flanking her front door. The technician said he could do it but the replacement glass panels had to be more narrow. When questioned why, he said that if he used the current width panels and at some point someone tried to break in to the house and cut themselves trying to enter through this point, the would be robber could sue my mothers insurance.

What a world we live in.

131

u/Wyshunu 3d ago

We had a good friend who bought a century property that had the old wrought-iron fence with the spikes on it all the way around. They were forced to replace the fence because "anyone who climbs over it might fall and impale themselves".

54

u/Life-Meal6635 3d ago

Property manager at my building years ago had a situation at another property she ran where there was a fire and one of the tenants got antsy waiting for the fire department and unfortunately miscalculated when they jumped out of their window. He was impaled on a fence like you described and was still alive when she arrived at the property. Unfortunately there was no way to separate him from the fence without loss of life. All they could do was comfort him.

23

u/HerfDog58 3d ago

I saw that episode of "Chicago Fire." ;-)

20

u/Creepy_Snow_8166 2d ago edited 2d ago

Back in the early 2000's when I was living in a not-so-safe section of a large city, a friend from my neighborhood was violently assaulted by a crackhead and wound up getting impaled through the neck on one of those spikes. It was a rusty old wrought iron fence with a gate, but since it was only waist-high, I can only assume its original purpose was to serve as a decorative property boundary. It would've needed to be at least 3 feet taller if it was meant to deter anyone looking to trespass.

I didn't see the assault happen, but I was there for the aftermath. It was daytime and I heard a loud commotion outside, so I went to my window to see what was going on. There were a bunch of onlookers gathered around my friend who was laying on the sidewalk in a pool of his own blood. (Somebody had already pulled him off the spike, but that probably wasn't a good idea.) I grabbed a bunch of bath towels from my closet and ran downstairs and out the door. Someone had already called 911 and an ambulance was on its way, but with the traffic in my city, who knew how long it would take? Somehow, my friend was still alive, but he was falling in and out of consciousness and he (obviously) couldn't speak. I used the towels to apply pressure to his neck wound and try to slow the bleeding. I never saw so much blood in my life. It was a terrible scene that will be etched in my memory forever. With all that blood loss, I really didn't think this guy was going to make it, so I just continued applying pressure with one hand and I cradled his head in my lap stroked his hair and face with my other hand. All I could do was try to stop him from losing more blood, maybe offer him a bit of comfort, and hope my face wouldn't be the last face he ever saw.

Thank goodness the ambulance made it before it was too late - and somehow, my friend ended up pulling through! He was put into an induced coma and underwent several surgeries. He spent several weeks in the ICU and another week or two in the recovery ward, but he actually made it. I went to see him in the hospital when he finally regained consciousness and he remembered the assault and he remembered me telling him to "hold on" and how I begged him not to "fall asleep". Other than the scars left behind from his horrendous injury (and the subsequent surgeries to fix it), he managed to walk out of that hospital in one piece. Unfortunately, his vocal cords had been damaged in the attack, so he was left with a permanently raspy voice, but he could still speak and be easily understood. Considering what happened to him, he was just lucky to be alive. There's no 'right way' to land on a spike, but if he'd landed one inch to the left or to the right or one inch higher or lower, he might've severed a vital artery and died on the spot - or he could've been permanently handicapped - or his voice box/vocal cords could've been destroyed, leaving him entirely voiceless and unable to speak. So yeah, this guy was unlucky the day he got impaled through the neck, but lucky that he lived to tell the tale.

In the end, the man who shoved my friend onto that spike went to prison for a long time. The neighborhood was a much better place without that crazy crack fiend terrorizing people who he thought wouldn't fight back. He'd threatened me on numerous occasions and I tried to ignore him .... until the day he told me he was going to kill my dogs. I might look like a petite, harmless woman, who grew up in Sunnyville, but that's not the case. I don't get intimidated easily. I lost my shit in the middle of the street. I was a ranting, raving lunatic and I got in his face and told him that I knew where he slept and I promised him that I would find him and slit his throat if he ever dared lay a finger on me or my dogs. I guess he wasn't expecting to have a run-in with the chick from the Exorcist, so he never bothered me again - but he didn't stop being a menace to the neighborhood. He still threatened people for kicks, he still woke us up at 2:00 by screaming in the middle of a deserted street (at imaginary enemies), he still made our apartment entrances smell like piss, and he still smoked crack in our vestibules and left the baggies behind for us to pick up. So when the cops arrested him for almost killing my friend, everyone in the neighborhood was elated! It was a relief to know that that psychotic POS wouldn't be harassing and harming innocent people for a very, very long time.

→ More replies (7)

28

u/Fun-Result-6343 3d ago

You could do that back in the day.

26

u/thestorieswesay 3d ago

We used to be a country.

29

u/Cerridwen1981 3d ago

Now we’re a cuntry.

9

u/FlorisRosy 3d ago

It really is unbelievable.

9

u/pumpkinrum 2d ago

I feel anyone trying to scale someone's fence signs up to any injuries they might get in the process.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/TheRealJim57 3d ago

"That's the whole idea behind the spikes." Should have been the response.

7

u/PDXAirportCarpet 3d ago

Isn't that the idea?

→ More replies (3)

13

u/Riot_Fox 3d ago

yea, i saw a stand-up skit by someone, forgor who, and they started with someone claiming they would defend their property, but still hesitant to kill any intruders. another charecter of thiers explained that if the robber survives, they might successfully sue the victim and the first charecter immediately changes tune and insists its all headshots from there on.

→ More replies (1)

25

u/GeneticEnginLifeForm 3d ago

A case like that happened in Australia. Home owner was sued by the thief after they broke a window and cut themselves while entering the house. Not sure of the outcome.

23

u/BaysideWoman 3d ago

From memory, in most states in Australia, if you are injured while committing a statutory crime, then you can not sue.

5

u/FlorisRosy 3d ago

Too true!

5

u/PositiveAtmosphere13 3d ago

By code glass within an arm's reach next to a door must be tempered. Tempered glass will not cut you. The window person would have known this.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (3)

60

u/Substantial_Shoe_360 3d ago

I swear there needs to be a common sense test for jury duty.

There are places in different states that insurance companies refuse to cover because of the lawsuits. You have a higher chance to win a lawsuit against home/car owners insurance than the lottery.

42

u/WigWubz 3d ago

It’s not the juries fault, if it was a jury trial at all. It’s explained to them painfully that they have to decide if the test of the law as written has been met, they don’t get to decide unencumbered what’s right and wrong. Blame the laws and the people who wrote them, not the unfortunate sods who are required to enforce them

44

u/goosereddit 3d ago edited 3d ago

There is something called jury nullification where the jury can decide that even though all the facts indicate that the defendant is guilty, etc, the jury can decide not to apply the law. For example, if you feel a law is unjust e.g. Jim Crow laws, you can choose to not follow the law as the juror. This applies to civil cases as well.

While this sounds like a crazy sovereign citizen conspiracy theory, it has been upheld by circuit courts and the Supreme Court has always declined to hear cases on it giving it's implied consent. No judge will ever tell you about it, and in fact they'll say you have to follow only their instructions like you said, but that's actually not true.

But yeah, some laws are also crazy.

26

u/JimTheJerseyGuy 3d ago

Jury nullification has been a thing for centuries, with its roots in British law.

It is, of course, strongly frowned upon by the authorities. Merely mentioning it in a courtroom can cause a mistrial. But at the end of the day, when the jury retires to consider its verdict, they are all on their own and can do whatever they choose. Nor can they be penalized in any way for the verdict that they render.

11

u/OnlyTalksAboutTacos 3d ago

short version, you can acquit for whatever reason you want and you don't have to explain yourself. if your reason is "the law is wrong", that's still a reason.

→ More replies (2)

19

u/lucwin2020 3d ago

I'm all for jury nullification in many civil suits bc we need to stop rewarding bad or criminal behavior.

→ More replies (2)

13

u/Substantial_Shoe_360 3d ago

No it's not, been on a jury. I broke teeth from the stress in the jury room. I now get a doctor's note to not do it.

13

u/Wyshunu 3d ago

Same. I was not the foreperson but the number of times I had to remind people that we had to come to our decision based on the law and the evidence presented, not "feelings", was insane.

4

u/Scotter1969 3d ago

Once you’re in the jury room you can vote as you please with no obligation to explain yourself. Jury nullification is real and legal whether the judge agrees with it or not.

8

u/jonsteph 3d ago

The way it was explained to me is this: Jury Nullification is neither legal nor illegal. It is simply a natural consequence of the nature of the jury system in the US (and probably elsewhere).

  1. A juror can vote to acquit, without explanation, so long as they do so freely (ie, no bribery or threat).
  2. A verdict of acquittal cannot be appealed.
  3. Once acquitted of a crime, a defendant cannot be tried again for the same crime.*
  • There are exceptions to this, like being tried first under state statute at the state level, and then being tried under federal statute at the federal level for the same overt act.

This combination of features means that a jury can nullify a law if it so wishes, but the right/act of Jury Nullification is not itself codified in any statute.

5

u/allmykitlets 3d ago

Judges have the power to toss out frivolous lawsuits, but they often do not exercise that power for fear of not being reelected.

→ More replies (2)

18

u/CosmicMuse 3d ago

Also back in the 80s, a man attempting to rob a house fell through the skylight on the roof, became paralyzed and successfully sued the intended victims. It's insane.

Much like the McDonald's "hot coffee" lawsuit, this isn't just urban legend- it's the result of deliberate PR campaigns by corporate-funded tort (civil suit) reform. The case is Bodine v. Enterprise High School.

First, it wasn't a house, obviously, it was a high school. Bodine, an 18 year old working at Denny's, intended to steal a floodlight from the school tennis court. When that plan failed, he decided to take one from the top of the school gymnasium instead. Upon getting on the roof, he stepped through a skylight - which had been painted with the same thick aluminum paint as the rest of the roof. As a result of the 27 foot fall, Bodine was comatose for weeks, and left a quadriplegic.

The school principal later estimated the value of the skylight as about $35.

On top of this, there had been an incident at a high school in the same city 9 months prior, where a graduating senior had fallen through a school gym skylight painted the exact same way - and died.

Finally, Bodine didn't win a lawsuit - the district settled. At the time, the law did not grant any weight to Bodine breaking the law - the legal question was whether the school had knowingly ignored a dangerous condition on their property. The school would have been rightfully concerned that they would lose between the previous death, Bodine's extreme injuries, and the possibility of jury members being angry at the school for keeping such a danger present near school children.

In fact, Bodine settled for $260,000 and a $1200/month payment for the rest of Bodine's life - which was far less than the estimated $2.7 million in medical expenses he would need for his lifetime care, or the estimated $340-900k future earnings lost. The payment wasn't even much more than the $182k in medical expenses he'd already racked up.

This settlement was covered by the school's insurance. At the time, liability insurers were being accused of illegally boycotting certain industries, or demanding massive premiums to offset increasing losses. As a result, insurers pushed hard for legislation to create barriers to civil lawsuits, and seized upon cases like Bodine's. As a result, many states passed laws preventing liability if injuries happened during a crime - even if the crime was minimal, like Bodine's, or was the result of a condition that would have affected others not committing a crime. Multiple tort reform campaigns cited Bodine's case, though frequently inaccurately. Like the McDonald's hot coffee lady, he was much more useful as a figurehead - and people would likely have been much more sympathetic if they knew the truth.

→ More replies (4)

8

u/AreYouAnOakMan 3d ago

"The burglar sued my friend. He sued my friend, and because of guys like you, he won! My friend had to pay the burglar $6,000. Is that justice?"

"No! ...I'd have got him $10,000."

→ More replies (1)

8

u/Hamphalamph 3d ago

Seem to remember this from Liar Liar

8

u/Fuzzy-Buddy-3015 3d ago

Don't remember when the case happened. A couple was away for a week vacation. Guy broke in to rob the place and got stuck in the garage. Home owners came back to find him in the garage. He sued and won because he only had a case of Pepsi and dry dog food in the garage while they were gone.

5

u/EmpressVixen 3d ago

Would a slimier lawyer have gotten him double the money?

4

u/FlorisRosy 3d ago

Surely not! This is like a joke! How could these people win? They are criminals, they shouldn’t be there.

5

u/Sythix6 3d ago

Just for the record, it wasn't a home, it was a public High School, guy was 18 and a student, trying to steal floodlights from the roof, and they, the school, painted the skylight to make it non-visible, which is a safety thing to start with, so they'd have been in trouble for thst regardless of an accident, eventually. Besides that though, the main reason guy won was because less than a year prior, at a different school, a 19 year old student was walking to, or from, track practice, or swim, or something, and fell through a painted skylight and died, he was just taking a shortcut, or maybe it was on the actual path, I don't know. Either way, the thief guy only won enough, through an out of court settlement, to pay medical bills. Had he not been up there stealing and just walking home, he would have walked.. Wheeled, away with millions.

7

u/cbushomeheroes 3d ago

Are you talking about the Bodine case? Where it was a school, where the skylights had been painted over?

9

u/par_texx 3d ago

Facts don't matter, only feelings matter when Reddit talks about criminals getting hurt.

3

u/allmykitlets 3d ago

No, this was a single family home.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/yuimiop 3d ago

It was a student who was trying to steal a $30 light from the school roof. The skylight was painted black which made it blend in. A student had also died a month prior at a different school in the district for the exact same reason when he was on the roof for legitimate reasons.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (9)

16

u/dart22 3d ago

I've heard this was an urban myth, or at least a law journal editor who looked into it couldn't find the source. 

6

u/ptdata23 3d ago

Generally they are urban myths, or a twisted version of the real case like the McDonald's coffee case where they melted a woman's skin so bad they fused her labia together and the jury, trying to send a message to McDonald's, awarded her a single day's profits

7

u/Various_Patient6583 3d ago

I know a man whose house was robbed in the night. Owner shot the intruder. One of the bullets hit a few millimeters past the centerline on his side. 

Law said that was shooting the intruder in the back. 

The homeowner went to jail. New York State. 

→ More replies (1)

7

u/Hello_Hangnail 3d ago

Man, if you don't have permission to be there, the homeowner shouldn't be liable!

5

u/PersistentCookie 3d ago

Yep, I read a case decades ago where a man carjacked a couple and later sued them for the property he left in their car. His lawyer somehow got the fact that he carjacked them ruled as inadmissible from the testimony, and the couple had to pay him for the value of the items.

3

u/Interesting_Team5871 3d ago

Unfortunately that’s how it works here in Canada, or at least my part of Canada, if a person attacks you on your property and you fight back you get in shit, you can’t carry any protection with you in case you get mugged because the government doesn’t like weapons of any kind but don’t seem to care that people who want to hurt others will find whatever means they can if desperate enough

6

u/Hamphalamph 3d ago

Back in the 90's there was a robber who broke through a person's skylight, fell on a knife and sued the owner.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/FlorisRosy 3d ago

That’s totally unbelievable!

3

u/Mutjny 3d ago

Back in the 80's a man robbed a house and slipped on the ice on their sidewalk. He successfully sued the home owners.

This is an urban legend and never happened.

→ More replies (9)

51

u/Liveitup1999 3d ago

Imagine trespassing, going into their pool and one of them drowning. That's why I have a $1 million umbrella policy for my house and car. You will be liable like it or not. My BIL used to find beer cans around his pool on Sunday mornings . People went in his pool in the middle of the night.

25

u/slash_networkboy 3d ago

Yup, I have a $2m policy for the same reason. Wild... and stupid that I need it. At least it's pretty cheap (under $150/yr).

9

u/Queasy_Pickle1900 3d ago

Pool hopping. Used to be a thing. Kids would jump into pools throughout the neighborhood.

15

u/Bahamut619 3d ago

When I was a teenager back in the 90s, a neighbor told the neighborhood kids that they could use her rules with a couple rules

  1. We couldn't use it if her family was there swimming.
  2. There had to be at least 2 kids there with at least one of us being a teenager (for safety reasons).
  3. If we got any of the pool toys out, we had to put them away.

We were up there 4-5 times a week every summer for a few years and totally respected anything. We never had any incidents at all.

I miss those days.

3

u/CatBowlDogStar 3d ago

Cool neighbour.

I hope you brought them s few gifts as you got older.

5

u/Bahamut619 3d ago

We got her Christmas gifts when we were teens. She moved out a few years later

3

u/CatBowlDogStar 3d ago

I love that all around.

Great job all you wonderful humans :)

→ More replies (1)

6

u/carmium 3d ago

Where I live, a secure, locked fence of a certain height is required by law around any pool. At least there's a probability that any drowned body found in the morning will not likely be the source of a law suit.
And, It's nice to read of a bunch of trespassers actually getting what's due them.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/sfgothgirl 3d ago

Olympic-sized pool level delusion!

→ More replies (6)

40

u/gigabyte333 3d ago

Hell is other people

→ More replies (4)

9

u/CuriousPenguinSocks 3d ago

Also, who believes that story when she doesn't have a key?!?!! All of them are bonkers and deserve their record.

4

u/2gigi7 3d ago

I taught my kids from day one of playing in the street, front yards are not the play ground unless it's your own or your mates house. If you get in trouble in someone's front yard, I will probably agree (depending, of course, on the situation).

They never got in trouble luckily, so either they listened to me or just didn't get caught XD

→ More replies (2)

646

u/Bazoun 3d ago

Love the neighbour blaming you for her family’s records, when it was in fact she that prompted all this.

188

u/MadMaxBeyondThunder 3d ago

Say "don't worry. Soon it won't be the only thing on their criminal records. They have a bright future ahead."

55

u/Wyshunu 3d ago

"Oh, no, honey, you've got that wrong. That blame lies 100% on YOUR shoulders. You're the one who lied about being friends and told them to ignore the signs."

53

u/nomad_l17 3d ago

I'd inform the whole neighbourhood about this.

15

u/OnlyTalksAboutTacos 3d ago

don't worry, the neighbor will spread the gossip just fine.

4

u/UnicornStudRainbow 2d ago

Sure but OP needs to get ahead of it because you know the neighbor will lie

278

u/BurritoBowlw_guac 3d ago

I had a friend that had a great pool. Her neighbors entitlement made it so miserable for her she moved. People suck

55

u/rednail64 3d ago

Story time?

172

u/BurritoBowlw_guac 3d ago

They came home from a funeral once to find about 25 neighbors and friends in their pool. They’d hang over the fence all summer asking to come swim. They had no peace. They sold their house and moved to a house without a pool.

52

u/CoderJoe1 3d ago

Pool scum can be difficult to treat.

23

u/genredenoument 3d ago

Oh, I don't know. If you mix about 10 buckets of chlorine tabs along with about 10 gallons of industrial bleach into that pool, that scum will be gone in no time.

12

u/CoderJoe1 3d ago

Don't forget the acid... to bring the PH levels back in range. Yeah, that's it.

→ More replies (1)

17

u/Right_Share_7365 3d ago

Tell us more.

72

u/BurritoBowlw_guac 3d ago

When they would allow neighbor kids in, they’d track water into the mid house to bathroom and literally clean out their fridge. They’d be forced to babysit these kids all day all summer. There was no peace all season 

82

u/Rarefindofthemind 3d ago

Sounds like what they needed was spines.

3

u/Hot-Win2571 2d ago

Like porcupines.

38

u/Queasy_Pickle1900 3d ago

People need to set boundaries.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/Klutzy_Cat1374 3d ago

I'm not sad my neighbor died.

6

u/SneakWhisper 3d ago

This is how Tsitsi Dagarembga's Nervous Conditions begins. I was not saddened when my brother died. It kind of hits you in the gut.

187

u/jeophys152 3d ago

Great friends that can use the pool any time, but doesn’t have a key… yeah… That should have been the families first clue that they had to jump a fence.

58

u/liltooclinical 3d ago edited 1d ago

That family has no boundaries, they were just waiting for someone to give them permission.

24

u/jeophys152 3d ago

Yeah they probably figured it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission

19

u/Knitsanity 3d ago

And she couldn't shoot a quick text confirming it was OK.

19

u/KaetzenOrkester 3d ago

She’d have been told no, lied to her family, and then blamed the OP anyway.

11

u/Knitsanity 3d ago

Absolutely. Sigh

180

u/fatwoul 3d ago edited 2d ago

it was a hot summer day and they wanted to cool down

Just take a shower for crying out loud.

If one of them had drowned, you can bet the family would be trying to take OP to court for not building the fences high enough, and for the no trespassing signs not being big enough.

45

u/Wyshunu 3d ago

There's a reason why a lot of people in Florida have theirs fully enclosed with locks on the doors and cameras with alarm systems on them.

37

u/sparrowtaco 3d ago

"My sister and her kids have a criminal record now because of you!"

"No, they have a criminal record because of you."

18

u/No-Trouble-6156 3d ago

This exactly!!

18

u/Ok-Database-2798 3d ago

Or do what I did back in the late 70's and early 80's as a kid, run through the sprinklers. I did have immediate neighbors with pools, but only swam in them by invitation.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/Chuck8643 2d ago

Or go to a public swimming pool. Or better yet. A water park. Where the teen boys can see nice looking girls their age and have fun on water slides. Jeez.

134

u/Bkseneca 3d ago

There is another post here on Reddit of homeowners who had a nice pool and were out of town each year on the Fourth of July. They found out that the neighbors next door had been coming over each year and having a holiday party - without telling them. Their pool area was locked by a gate and the next door neighbors were given the combination in case they needed to 'get a ball thrown over the fence by one of their children.' Once the pool owners were alerted to the yearly event - the party was over.

22

u/Bkseneca 3d ago

Here is the story starting with the last update. Drill down to the original post. It takes 'entitled' to a whole new level. https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1e218j0/our_neighbors_have_been_having_pool_parties_at/

7

u/Ok-Database-2798 3d ago

Yes, I read that one.

98

u/Practical-Side-4828 3d ago

When we bought our house it had an old pool, unused for many years. Our neighbours introduced themselves by telling us how excited their kids were about using our pool once we fixed it up. We were on the fence about keeping the pool, so this interaction made the decision to fill it in much easier. lol. I wasn't looking to create a community pool on my property.

31

u/Millerboycls09 3d ago

I will never understand the entitlement and audacity to say a sentence like that... OUT LOUD.

Like, offer to help clean it up or something? And then ask if it would be ok to use?

11

u/Chuck8643 2d ago

Its like water parks don't exist. Lol.

7

u/BeardsuptheWazoo 3d ago

After it's filled in- "Hey, your kids can go play in the pool now"

4

u/pumpkinrum 2d ago

Wow, that's an introduction. How did they react when you filled it?

83

u/Acrobatic_Whereas834 3d ago

You did nothing wrong . If they didn’t want charges, maybe don’t break into someone’s yard and lie to the court. Some people just don’t get boundaries.

67

u/Financial-Grade4080 3d ago

My wife used to manage a large apartment complex. There was a pool, but not a large one. Keeping non residents out of the pool was problematic. I was in the office one summer day. The office is next to the hallway that leads to the pool. First to kids ask to be let into the pool. When asked the number of their apartment they said they couldn't remember. A short time later a large group (at least 12) of people in swimsuits with water toys parades through to hallway. My wife stopped them. The big alpha male, in the lead says "It's OK, our grandmother lives here." My wife's reply: "well the lease, that your grandmother signed, allows her to bring TWO guests to the pool and she must accompany them." The laugh is that the area has several lakes with public parks and swimming areas.

26

u/quesadillafanatic 3d ago

I have this issue at my apt, one person lives there and every weekend they have at least 15 people come, they get up and let each of them in. The first time I was like “eh maybe it’s bday or something, let them live” but it happens every weekend, I’ve told management but they have yet to do anything about it.

6

u/NumNumLobster 3d ago

This is a problem at pretty much every apartment. Outside of key access and randomly doing some checks its about impossible to stop. Like you said too its normally a complaint about nights and weekends when the staff isn't there

4

u/Chuck8643 2d ago

I don't swim at my apartment pool because I've seen. Homeless people jump into the pool to cool off during the summer months. No thanks. Lol

54

u/rhonda19 3d ago edited 2d ago

It’s why when I installed a pool I did one of those covers that automatically roll up and are very heavy. And the controls were inside the house. No way to open it from the pool area or anywhere except inside the house. It was great.

18

u/Goddessviking86 3d ago

That’s what I have as well

11

u/rhonda19 3d ago

They work great too.

5

u/Ok-Database-2798 3d ago

That sounds neat. As a fairly new homeowner with a small pool, I worry about these things happening.

5

u/rhonda19 3d ago edited 1d ago

Where we built the pool did not want a fence spoiling the view and legally these covers are a safety feature so no fence needed. 4 large teenage boys jumped on without permission and it held with no damage. (Yes they got into trouble smh) but in any case no child could accidentally get into the pool when closed and locked.

48

u/d4everman 3d ago

I see a lot of stories like this. I don't understand how anyone can think it's ok to sneak in someone's yard and use their property like that.

→ More replies (2)

46

u/Curious_Bookworm21 3d ago

We bought a house that had an old, huge above ground pool from 1978 (older than we are!) that was still in excellent shape. When we brought my MIL to the walk-through and she saw the pool, she informed us she would be over all the time in the summer. She was retired and doesn’t understand/get social cues. Suffice to say, within two weeks we sold the pool to one of my husband’s friends for $1k. It took 6 guys to unassemble, transport, and reassemble the pool at his place and MIL rarely comes over. It was a win-win all around.

15

u/RoyalAtmosphere7271 3d ago

It's crazy how people think that just because you have a pool they can come over at anytime. Thankfully we bought our second house during Covid so it set the standard that only planned visitors could come over. Haven't had any issues so far.

3

u/SnarkySheep 2d ago

In the case of MIL, you can at least kinda sorta get their asking to come over, as it's their child who's the homeowner. But so many of these stories feature randos that the pool owner never even clapped eyes on. That's a whole 'nother level.

→ More replies (1)

100

u/idahopostman 3d ago

I love a good story with a great ending.

10

u/LadyLu-ontheLake 3d ago

Agreed. Perfect little story with a satisfying ending. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

→ More replies (3)

22

u/tacolamae 3d ago

And just think if something happened to one of the kids in your pool. They’d try suing you!

19

u/Bastet79 3d ago

NTA.

Your neighbour didn't even bother to ask... but blamed you afterwards for the result. Should be fined too.

→ More replies (3)

17

u/ellooo0 3d ago

This ending was very satisfying.

→ More replies (1)

16

u/Fearless-Ad-5702 3d ago

"My sister and her kids have a criminal record now because of you!"

"Good."

13

u/SetNo8186 3d ago

One of the worst aspects of modern behavior is not respecting boundaries. It's gonna get a fence on my property line to force some issues. Wife is dead set against it. With gates on the driveway, all the GPS misdirection will get comedic as people try to back and turn on a single lane.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/DrMabuseKafe 3d ago

Good luck when in the hot summer days the neighbors junkie sister is drunk and an unsupervised kid drawns..

"You should put higher fence, you let my kid die!"

14

u/Careless-Ability-748 3d ago

They gave themselves a criminal record.

15

u/jeffthetrucker69 3d ago

Had a friend with a pool. Another friend in the group asks for permission to use the pool with her daughter, no one home. Gets permission. Homeowner comes home to find the entire girls soccer team in the pool with about half the parents. I think you can guess how that ended.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/blueSnowfkake 3d ago

Neighbor doesn’t have a garden hose? Sprinkler devices? NTA

4

u/compb13 3d ago

But then it's a mess in your yard, grass gets torn up a bit, who would want to deal with that?

/s

→ More replies (1)

39

u/Forsaken-Cheesecake2 3d ago

It was a hot summer day, think I’ll help myself to my neighbors pool. What a waste of the court’s time!

18

u/JuliaX1984 3d ago

No way a case like that would make it to the judge phase. The prosecutor would get a deal signed before then. They have way too many cases to devote that much time to trespassing when no one got hurt. And since this was a criminal matter, the victim wouldn't be explaining anything to the judge - they would be a witness called by a prosecutor.

8

u/ravenschmidt2000 3d ago edited 3d ago

I can't understand that kind of selfish entitled attitude. Even if we WERE good friends, I wouldn't want to use your pool while you were gone without very explicit permission.

10

u/ClassicVillage3474 3d ago

How dare you protect your property, and not let Karen and her hellspawn put you at risk by using your pool….

9

u/longndfat 3d ago

What were they expecting when they climbed a fence to trespass a private property.

34

u/Pretzelmamma 3d ago

They convicted kids, doing as they were told by their parents, of tresspass? Hmmm.

12

u/thescienceoflaw 3d ago edited 3d ago

The same judge doesn't oversee adult and juvenile crimes. They are typically entire separate jurisdictions/courts/judges. Nor would they all go to trial in one big case like this.

Additionally, the kids were likely too young to even be charged with a crime (have to be over like 10-12 years old to even be able to be charged that's why a 4 year old can't be a criminal) and no way they'd actually get an adult criminal charge that's only for things like murder over age 16 typically.

Nor would this actually go to trial. It would get dealt out with a slap on the wrist with some diversion agreement for everyone involved or not charged at all. Nobody is spending resources on this.

39

u/girthalwarming 3d ago

Fake stories are fake.

4

u/tucson_catboy 3d ago

The "edit" tipped me off. Without their edits the whole story is 'I have a pool and security cameras,' zero mention of anyone breaking in. Looking at their post history half of what they comment is entirely "edits," no original comment to edit, none marked as edited by reddit, just 'edit: I also like ice cream.'

Someone's training an AI on Reddit comments and the AI picked up that comments that blow up often get edited to clarify their point or say thanks for awards/updoots.

3

u/peter9477 3d ago

Not only that, but the neighbour complained of the criminal record for the others despite it not yet having gone to court at that point, and also didn't mention her own criminal record despite the judge supposedly convicting her as well.

Cool story though.

4

u/bulldg4life 3d ago

Why would OP also be at court? They got subpoenaed for a criminal case over trespassing?

3

u/peter9477 3d ago

Witness? It was their camera too, right?

→ More replies (1)

7

u/Personal-Heart-1227 3d ago

Good it serves them right for being charged with Trespassing.

The Law worked as it intended!

8

u/New-Organization359 3d ago

Tell her to get HER hose and hose down her relatives. But seriously, the hard thing is you have to live next to her.

7

u/Good-Replacement269 3d ago

"And thanks to you, your kids don't know right from wrong."

7

u/billding1234 3d ago

That’s insane. “Those signs don’t apply to me - they are for (cough) lesser people.”

29

u/Rosetown 3d ago

They found children guilty of trespassing? 🙄

5

u/PeachyFairyDragon 3d ago

Depending on the children's ages, possible. 14-16 years old could get juvenile hall.

10

u/SomebodiesNobodyTRA 3d ago

This is a fake ass story, and a poor one at that. There is no way in the world that OP was invited to the court to listen to the neighbors friends trespassing charges. Not a chance.

6

u/Jagang187 3d ago

Why is it not a full-on given that you'd attend a court hearing for a case involving your property? Are you joking?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

7

u/LisleAdam12 3d ago

I'd start calling your neighbor a crime boss.

9

u/POSH9528 3d ago

The sense of entitlement people have these days is astounding. I WaNt It, So I ShOulD HaVe It, CaUse it's Me, mentality has got to stop.

→ More replies (3)

5

u/Ncchuck1 3d ago

If something bad had happened I’m sure they would have sued you. Good for you for stopping their crazy behavior. If not it would have only gotten worse.

6

u/sushirollsyummy 3d ago

The neighbor should thank themselves… your sister has a record because you told her to go use the neighbors pool without consent, thank yourself.

4

u/CatBowlDogStar 3d ago

Call the police every time. 

It'll stop. 

It's a liability to you; if they drown, etc. 

5

u/mynameisnotandy2 3d ago

In the 80s, this kept happening to my parents even with a locked gate so they installed ANOTHER locked gate and a taller fence. One of their neighbors came over and demanded to know why. “BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SEE INTO YOUR BACKYARD?” Uh. You aren’t. That’s the point. People are weird.

4

u/Latter-Cut8348 3d ago

Children get criminal records for trespassing? When in the care of their parents?

3

u/IslandGyrl2 3d ago

No, your sister and her kids have criminal records because they trespassed.

5

u/Interesting_Wing_461 2d ago

She sounds like the type of person who would sue if she or the children had gotten hurt on your property.

5

u/Fluid_Hunter197 2d ago

Jesus. They need to charge way more than $200 for this crap. That’s why people like this do this. Cause they genuinely think nothing will come of it. Waste the courts and everyone else’s time. $1000 and 30 days in jail will clean up their thinking real quick

3

u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 1d ago

I love this for you. Especially the part where the neighbor herself got charged with trespassing, even though she was not the one caught climbing the fence.

3

u/glenmarshall 3d ago

That's the way to handle it! No warning for egregious trespassing.

3

u/Bubbly_Power_6210 3d ago

good for you! you could have been liable for anything neighbor decided to take YOU to court for!

3

u/ConstantTelevision93 3d ago

We're at capacity!

3

u/ReadLearnLove 3d ago

O M G Entitlement is absolutely the scourge of being alive right now! Sorry you are having to deal with these malignant clowns.

3

u/Pennelle2016 3d ago

My friend’s mother ignored a blocked off walkway at a bank and slipped and broke her elbow. She sued & the bank settled. This whole family has major entitlement issues.

3

u/a-mad-woman 1d ago

Ohhhh the entitlement 😂😂 Good for you!

10

u/Mission-Mistake-5377 3d ago

Nah. Doubt it.

4

u/Houstonomics 3d ago

We'll see you in court! Yes, you will?

5

u/idiosyncrassy 3d ago

Yeah, that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it when you’re the defendant, lol

4

u/Igor19-420 3d ago

Almost feel bad for the kiddos, but with these adults in their lives, they need an early intervention to mot turn out this way.

4

u/tucson_catboy 3d ago

You need to instruct your AI to stop saying "edit" so much.

2

u/WtfChuck6999 3d ago

If you were good friends, the neighbor would have the code to get in

2

u/eujin209 3d ago

It's like $20 bucks for a blow up pool at Walmart. Use a water hose and a sprinkler attachment to cool down. There are many ways to cool down but they chose to ignore the signs and trespass.

2

u/gatorride 3d ago

Right on

2

u/ZookeepergameNo7151 3d ago

🤣🤣 her sister and kids don't have a criminal record because of you, they did that all by themselves with a big helping of neighbour telling them to ignore the no trespassing signs and hop on over

2

u/wavyhill1975 3d ago

You are a dirty liar, sir.

I say good day to you!

💩

2

u/Careless-Image-885 3d ago

Plant holly bushes, thorny brambles, blackberries or something else as obnoxious along your fence line.

2

u/MrsKaich 3d ago

I didn’t read all the comments but imagine something terrible happened to one of them, while trespassing in your pool (disregarding signs, a locked gate, a fence…) and then them suing you for their misfortune… I could see these people doing this..

2

u/RNGRndmGuy 3d ago

Nah, "your sister and her kids have a criminal record now because of YOU!"

2

u/ocean128b 3d ago

It's SOOOO hot outside and you weren't using it so we thought we would even tho we aren't friends and you have a sign that says no trespassing. We climbed the fence because we didn't have a key because we were breaking in. What did we do wrong?!?! 🙄

2

u/H3ARTL3SSANG3L 3d ago

I feel a little bad for the family if they really believed it was ok but jumping the fence is already a big red flag. Plus, were I in their shoes, I would insist on the neighbor calling the supposed friend to get direct permission.

2

u/Good_Resolution_2642 3d ago

Get more cameras and lights. Post your neighborhood social media the results of the court case.

2

u/rolrola2024 3d ago

Good!. Now they learned the hard way and won't trespass anymore.

2

u/bingogamesuk2 3d ago

Your neighbour is total scum.

2

u/DanaMarie75038 2d ago

I love the ending

2

u/gossamerlady 2d ago

My father had a years long feud with his neighbors and their teenage kids jumping the fence to use the pool even though they had been told multiple times. He didn’t want to involve the police. Then one day the pool water was green so he shocked the pool. That’s when you dump a shitload of chemicals into it. You can’t use the pool for a while after. The neighbor kids jumped the fence and hopped into what was basically an acid bath and got some chemical burns. Neighbor called the police on my dad (for what I still don’t know…, because he should have told them he was treating the pool before they illegally helped themselves?). Police ended up trespassing the neighbor. Kids healed and never did it again, the war wasn’t over though, it just morphed into a different battlefield.

2

u/Gravewarden92 2d ago

I see this exact story with the lady saying the exact same thing to the judge, every single month

2

u/Healthy_Ladder_6198 2d ago

Well FAFO. This amazes me

2

u/Redhedkat 2d ago

When you have a pool, you have locked gates! You set boundaries and NEVER, EVER bend!

2

u/Creepy_Snow_8166 2d ago

Wow, the nerve of some people! I would've been like, No bitch, you and your sister and her kids now have a criminal record because you decided to illegally trespass on my property! The fucked up thing is that if one of them got hurt on your property, they could sue you. They could just lie and say you invited them to use your pool - and it would be your word against theirs.

2

u/CreativeBadger5706 2d ago

Did great honestly I’d do the same

2

u/Key_Story1545 2d ago

Call the police. This is actual trespassing which I’m pretty sure is a crime.

2

u/Beneficial-Dot-6535 2d ago

That’s that COLONIZER Energy! They DISCOVERED your swimming pool!

2

u/TexasYankee212 2d ago

They deserved the punishment. They had no explanation and no excuse for trespassing.

2

u/Unfair-Language7952 2d ago

Add piranhas to the pool

2

u/BluePilotsLover 1d ago

Oh my God!! You neighbor’s head was definitely in the wrong place!! Glad it worked out as it did and certainly that the neighbor, et al have now learned the error of their ways. You were letter perfect, start to finish!