A man has been left fuming after his family has been continuously harassed by nuisance neighbours begging for a dip in their back garden pool - despite being told no on several occasions.
The homeowner took to online social forum Reddit to ask for advice on how to deal with the situation, after his family moved into the property recently, reports the Mirror.
The property had the pool built in before they purchased the home, but they did not anticipate the issues it would cause.
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After settling in, neighbours quickly asked the couple if they could pop over for a dip in the pool, and claimed that the old owners always allowed it.
The man politely said no, and explained that they were "private people", and didn't want neighbours wandering into their garden at any moment.
However, the neighbours are continuously making demands that they be allowed to use the pool, and even make subtle digs to visitors that are "lucky enough" to take a dip.
Writing on his post, he said: "My spouse and I bought a house in February with a pool. It's a single family home, and we keep ourselves to ourselves.
"We have friends over occasionally and we enjoy having people over for food, drinks, and of course swimming pool parties now that the weather allows for it.
"We fit in the neighbourhood, or so we thought until the neighbours from three surrounding homes got into a weird conversation with us around their expectations to access the pool for weekend and holiday pool parties.
"Apparently, the owners before us had kids who were friends with the neighbourhood kids. The neighbourhood kids and adults would use the pool when they wanted to.
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"The gate was always open and they even had their inflatables nearby and had arranged to split the payment for the maintenance of the pool.
"We told them that we're fairly private people and enjoy our privacy and don't see ourselves letting neighbours have access to our backyard whenever they want.
"Each time any of us are wandering around outside, they just ask over and over and try to sell the idea of having access to it. They offer money and offer to share the maintenance fees and such."
The man recently felt "cornered" once again while trying to tidy up his garden, and firmly put his foot down when asking neighbours to stop making comments about the pool.
Yet, the message still hasn't gotten through, as when the family recently had friends around, one neighbour sarcastically remarked that it "must be nice" for them to be allowed into the pool.
He added: "I was trying to enjoy gardening and was cornered once again. I just really firmly told them that they really need to stop talking about the pool each time they see us, stood up and left.
"We politely decline over and over, and we are seriously getting tired of the nagging and the pool and their access to it being the only thing they want to connect with us about. It's not like we created a bond or anything, all conversations are just about the pool.
"We had a party yesterday evening and as I was showing the front yard to my friend, my neighbour popped up and was talking about how it must be nice to be invited to enjoy the pool.
"Am I wrong for not wanting the neighbours to have access to my property and seriously losing my patience with their expectations?"
Reddit users were equally as baffled by the neighbour's behaviour, and some even suggested locking up the garden and adding a "no trespassing" sign to deter them.
One person said: "Those are some entitled persistent neighbours. Also the liability of having an open gate for everyone's access. What if a kid wandered in and drowned?
"That will be on you. Stand your ground, I would do the same. Good luck!"
While another added: "You need to consider a lock on the gate if there isn't one already and cameras near the gate and pool just in case.
"Maybe even a nice no trespassing sign on the gate. If they think you're out of town, they might help themselves to a swim and that is a huge liability."
And a third wrote: "They're grown adults. They can buy their own pool if they want one."
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
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