AIBU to say no to neighbours using my garden daily during heatwave?

[notanEverydayThing]

AIBU to say no to neighbours about dc playing in my garden every day this week?

I live in an end terrace house there’s a gate onto a small lane and then a block of flats , I know a couple of the families as the dc go to the same school. They have a small shared grass area behind the flats but it’s not totally enclosed and a bit over grown / messy.

Yesterday I had the paddling pool and splash thing out for my dc and invited the neighbours round . I’ve set it up again today and on the way home they asked can they come again and I said ‘not today sorry but maybe on Friday ?’ One of the mums said ‘but it’s boiling !’ I said I know but I wanted to just have a quiet afternoon/ evening and I have work tomorrow and Thu to which she said ‘so you won’t be there at all? Can we use the garden / pool on those days?’ I said no !!!! I feel she’s being rude! I said happy Friday for everyone to come over again after school but she tutted and walked off

I know it’s hot but I don’t want them here everyday and especially when I’m not home tomorrow and Thursday!!!

Get a padlock on your gate and never ever invite her again. Certainly not Friday..yanbu. back away and break ties with this cf.

@notanEverydayThing
You know that saying give them a inch they'll take a mile?
There's your prime example
You should never have invited them over to start with, some people will always grab with both hands
As there's an area they could ask the council for help to clean up they should do so
The assumption she'd be entitled to access if you weren't there? Well,
How long before your garden is ruined for you?
Then theyd probably have the cheek to say it was always a mess anyways......

🤣🤣🤣

This has the potential to turn into a cf thread

My lovely friend did this. Let the neighbour's kids come over and play in the paddling pool, and that was it, they were there every day wanting to come over. She wished she'd never offered in the first place.

Oh don't be ridiculous, as you said she doesn't have to do anything. Do you want your neighbours round every day? It's her garden and she was kind enough to let them come yesterday and has offered again on Friday

What do they need “help” with exactly? 🤔

She might be able to afford a nice house with her own garden if she went to work for the next two days like the OP… and every day,,, it’s how we all pay for things…

😂😂

Public pool
buy your own
Garden sprinkler
spray park

Are none of those options available to your neighbour? Don't people realize insurance implications and potential for litigation should an accident occur on OP's property?

No need to go low. 🤦‍♀️

Yes, she must.

Some people are just so cheeky if they wanted a garden they should have bought a house with one.

I agree with your first statement.

However, we can't all afford a house with a garden, especially in this day and age. did you sleep through the last 20 years??

If your dc enjoyed playing with them I wouldn’t cancel Friday. But totally agree with saying no to while you’re not there or don’t feel like it!

I don’t understand why they don’t tidy up the grassy area and use the extra space. You have to 100% supervise children in a paddling pool so the partially fenced bit doesn’t matter.

They have access to a shared grassy area which needs a bit of a tidy and then could be used for a pool.

I've said above that we had neighbours who couldn't be bothered with sorting out their gardens. We children used to refer to them as "The Jungle".

We actually did play in them, I recall. I tried to help my pal turn his parent's section into a proper garden, but it was too much for a couple of primary school children, and a jealous secondary age pupil in the same block dug it up 'looking for worms for fishing'. We gave up in the end, since we had no means of fencing it off and my pal's parents showed no interest in helping out.

If the flat dwellers in the OP's neighbourhood cared enough they could sort something out. As I've already said, they could at least strim their communal garden: the next block to ours had a communal garden/drying green and they managed to at least cut the grass.

We are those people who live in a flat with no outside space communal or otherwise. I wouldn’t live here if I could afford a property with outside space. But I can’t. I managed to move us out of a rented place where we had a garden to a shared ownership flat where we have security. But I’d never dream of taking a neighbour for granted or being a pushy CF. The heatwave is horrendous but it won’t last. I’d rather have my dignity.

The cheeky beggar!

She’s a cheeky bitch. I wouldn’t invite her again. She’s the type that if you said yes, she’d think it was her garden

She is already doing this by inviting them twice in a week, she doesn’t have to literally allow people in daily. And it sounds like they do have some space to do this if they really wanted- it would just take some effort to clear the mess up.

And the adults could have regular clean ups and then they would have somewhere to play outside.

If you let them over when you are not there could you be liable for injury. What if they leave the pool unattended and a toddler drowns?

Its an opportunity for them to clear their shared area so its fit for use. Or maybe they cba and expect others to do it for them. it would be a no from me OP.

What do you lose by letting them use the garden when you're not there? They won't be disturbing you or going inside your home.

I think its really mean to say no.

I know English people (I am one of them) tend to be more territorial about their homes and gardens than the rest of the world but its not a good trait.