'My neighbours made a petition to get rid of my dogs so kids can play in my garden'

When house hunting, you'll likely have a checklist of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and negotiables. However, one aspect you might overlook until it's too late is the neighbours.

A couple were left rather taken aback by their new neighbours, who initially offered friendly greetings but later began dictating what they could and couldn't do on their own property. A 36-year-old man took to Reddit to share how he and his wife had recently purchased their first home, specifically chosen for its "huge back garden".

Initially, their new neighbours politely asked if their children could continue using the expansive back garden, but then things took an unexpected turn. It comes after Brits are told to never put one banned item in garden bins as you could face punishment.

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The man explained: "The previous owners of our place were an elderly childless couple who were well known in the area for basically being grandparents to everyone and the husband had built multiple tree houses and bridges in the trees for kids to play in. The property is fully fenced but has three swinging gates into it.

"When we first moved in we were approached by the next-door neighbour who very politely asked if her kids could keep using the backyard to play in. We agreed that it was OK so long as she understood that if her kids got hurt it wasn't our problem and we wouldn't be supervising kids playing or anything.

"She was fine with that and seemed very appreciative and brought over biscuits and juice when she came over to watch her kids. Word went around and eventually we had around a dozen kids coming by each week, some supervised, some in groups of two or three, but everyone was polite and tidy so we didn't really care."

However, after Christmas, things took a turn when the man's parents moved into a retirement home and could no longer look after their two dogs - an 11-year-old Belgian shepherd and a 12-year-old German shepherd cross Belgian. The man decided to adopt the dogs, which were adored by the children, until one day an irate neighbour stormed over to complain about them - insisting they get rid of them.

He continued: "The problem started when a lady we didn't know showed up at our house and started screaming at my wife, apparently her six-year-old had come home with his friends and they had dog poo smeared all over their hands. She basically told my wife that if she didn't get rid of the dogs then her kids wouldn't come over anymore and she'd press charges for endangerment.

"My wife basically told her to eff off and that it wouldn't have happened if she'd been supervising her child. The woman left and came back with a petition and around six signatures for us to get rid of the dogs. We told her to do one and that kids were now no longer welcome. We locked the gates and put signs up explaining and left it at that.

"Several of the nice neighbours have come by to beg us to change our minds but we don't want to risk it and we don't have the time to supervise the kids so the gates stay locked. We are now arguing with a couple of people who feel it's unfair that the entire neighbourhood is tarred because of one person's actions."

Nevertheless, the man was left questioning whether he'd been too harsh by shutting off the garden completely.

"There is something seriously wrong with people who think it's OK to sign a petition telling other people to get rid of their well-behaved, confined, senior dogs. Like beyond simple entitlement wrong", someone raged.

"I would just explain to your good neighbours that it's a decision you had to make to protect yourselves and your dogs and it would cause way too much trouble if you let some children in and not others. Honestly just telling the parents you aren't liable if their kids hurt themselves may not be enough to protect you, if you do choose to allow children in again, [I recommend] talking to an attorney first."

Another fumed: "I would choose my dogs over any human - especially children. I'm child-free and love dogs more than anything. Make sure to tell them which lady it was".