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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

for not wanting to look after neighbours house!

35 replies

dmo · 02/04/2007 19:45

our old neighbours were fab we used to go out all together and still see them, but they had to sell and move elsewhere.
anyway a young couple bought the house (about 8 yrs younger than us) but they might aswel be 60 yrs older!!!
they moan if the football goes into their garden (we have 2 boys aged 9 and 10) and are forever doing DIY at 10pm
anyway nice as i am i alway post in my old mags for the girl to read
anyway they told me about 8 mths ago that they were getting married on 30th March so i bought them a lovely guest book which they were over the moon with, we didnt get an invite to the wedding which is fine as we havent really spoke to each other for 4 mths, anyway this morning came down and there was a note behind the door from our neighbours saying hi we hhave set off on our honeymoon here is a key could you look after our house for us/turn light on and off etc etc we will be back 16th April [shock WTF dont feel like doing it as it would have been nice to be asked if this is ok. what would you do? need to know soon as its going dark but my thoughts are sod them

OP posts:
BibiThree · 02/04/2007 19:57

I'd post it back with a note saying you're away quite a bit over the holiays yourselves. That could mean day trips or overnight stays. Either way, if you ahven't got the key, you won't feel guilty about not being able to do it.
AND, if you were to accidentally break/damage something, you might get a note saying "you owe us £1000 for that lamp you turned over which set the curtains on fire and a new front door to replace the one the fire service had to bash in"
Okay so that's a little crazy, but you know what I mean. If they'd asked and you had agreed, then all's fair, but this isn't a fair ask imo.

tribpot · 02/04/2007 19:56

Ah, so they have previous for taking the p*ss. You need to tackle this with them upon their return. How could they possibly think it was alright to use your garden without checking with you first?

Original poster
dmo · 02/04/2007 19:55

no phone number nothing
wouldnt know who to call if there was a problem.
they had their gutters fixed 3 mths ago and i was in our front room and heard lots of ladders banging etc so i went out and the men were in my garden standing on my plants while they fixed next doors guttering, the men said next door had said it was fine to use our garden
they were out and by the time they came home i had calmed so didnt say anything

OP posts:
LilyLoo · 02/04/2007 19:53

I wouldn't change your plans just check it looks ok when you passing.

Original poster
dmo · 02/04/2007 19:51

just think it would be nice to be asked in person
my boys are off school from thursday and i have taken their 2nd week as holidays which we could have been going away (but were not) but they dont know that

OP posts:
maisym · 02/04/2007 19:50

have they left a number? call them. Could they get their family or friends to do this?

CristinaTheAstonishing · 02/04/2007 19:50

That's cheeky on their part. Keep an eye on it as you would anyway, just don't feel the need to go inside, turn on the lights, air the bedrooms etc. I wonder if you'll get a postcard.

LilyLoo · 02/04/2007 19:50

Would leave the lights thing etc. That cheeky imo esp if they haven't asked. We normally leave key and alarm code in case of a problem. Just keep an eye on it.

Freckle · 02/04/2007 19:48

Seems like a huge imposition of they didn't take the time to talk to you about it. I'd be tempted to post the key back and say that you can't take on that sort of responsibility in case you are held liable for anything that happens.

Although you may wish them to do the same for you in the future......

tribpot · 02/04/2007 19:48

That is bizarre, do they think you run some sort of charitable "do the lights and curtains" service for the neighbourhood?!

I mean, I ask my neighbours to keep an eye on the place when we're away but the key things here are (a) I ask them (b) I don't expect them to do lights (hello, buy some timers) and (c) we speak to each other quite frequently.

Mad!

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