AITAH for saying “No” to my neighbours?
Me and my partner moved into our 1st home last August. We have no children and 1 well behaved dog. We are end of terrace and our attached neighbour moved out as we were moving in. 4 months in, we had new neighbours and they are a nightmare.
They have 2 young kids, a newborn baby and 3 frenchies. They are messy, leave rubbish around and it comes into our garden. They don’t pick up the dog mess and their garden smells and I’m dreading it in the summer heat They are loud, the dogs are always barking and the kids are always screaming and we can often hear the parents arguing. I work nights so sleeping is very difficult as they’re so loud but I’ve not once complained as Im trying to be thoughtful and imagine having kids is hard enough.
Last Saturday night our dog was playing in the house at around 8pm with a toy that squeaks and she’ll get excited and bark at it. We soon had a knock at the door from both of them asking us to stop our dog barking as she is disturbing the baby. My partner apologised and they left, I was a bit annoyed as we’ve had nothing but issues and noise since they started and my dog barks once and they knock our door!
Around 10 minutes later my dog was playing again, I kept her calmer and quieter but lo and behold they knocked the door again. This time there was another lady with them who I think was her mother. They called me selfish and started swearing and shouting at me. It was quite intimidating and embarrassing having them shrieking on my doorstep.
I spoke to them alone this time and said it was 8(ish) on a Saturday and we have accepted their noise and due to them having a young family, but my dog was allowed a few minutes of zoomies and play in our own home that we paid for.
They got really angry, the mother threatened to call the police and then the council, to which I said they’d be worse off because they were usually much louder. They said we should respect their boundaries as it “takes a village” to raise children. I said if they choose to have children that’s on them and not something everyone should bend over for and they all left in a right huff.
My partner has told me I should go and apologise because he duesjt want any bad blood but I don’t think I’m wrong at all, I was polite and clear and never raised my voice or swore.
AITA?
