A mum has hit out at her neighbour after they demanded that she or her son "cough up" and give her money after damage was done to her property.
The woman took to parenting forum Mumsnet to ask if she was being "unreasonable" to refuse to give the "elderly lady" £100 following an incident that caused a picture frame to fall off a wall and break.
She explained that her 20-year-old son shares a wall with the woman's house, but he was not home at the time the picture fell down, so he could not have caused the damage.
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The mum wrote: "My neighbour is asking me to 'cough up!' So earlier this month I took the DC (dear child) to the beach for the day.
"When I arrived home there was a letter from the next door neighbour (elderly lady, lives alone) saying that all the banging from my house had caused a picture to fall off the wall, and she expected a contribution to the cost of having it reframed.
"I promptly popped over to get more detail. She said that it had happened at around 9:30pm the evening before and claims that there was horrendous banging coming from my house, I explained that my 20yr old DS (dear son) sleeps in the room adjoining her house and that he wasn’t home until gone 11:30pm and went straight to bed, therefore he couldn’t have been banging anything."
She continued: "The wall between the two houses is also solid brick so I can’t see how she would hear any noise that couldn’t be heard from inside my own house, let alone cause such a vibration that it caused a picture to fly off the wall. After I explained, I thought that was the matter dealt with.
"Anyway yesterday she knocked round telling me that my DS has a big bill coming his way, I asked what for? And she said about the picture (no longer asking for a contribution, wants DS to foot the whole bill).
"I explained again that no one was in the room so we cannot be responsible for her picture falling, her response was 'So you’re not going to cough up?'"
She added: "I stayed polite and sympathised that her picture was broken but firmly let her know we would not be paying anything.
"She’s now saying she’ll get her family involved, which is fine, I will explain the same to them (If no one was there how could they be banging!)
"We are new to a small village and I fear this could escalate quickly into us being the scum of the village. AIBU (am I being unreasonable) to think it’s unfair for us to take the blame?"
Before long, the post had received dozens of replies from fellow Mumsnet users. Many agreed that the neighbour was being unreasonable.
One said: "That's really weird.....sounds like she's just trying it on but God knows why. You handled it really well though!"
A second commented: "A solid brick wall cannot be banged so that a picture on the other side falls off without mechanical or natural disaster involvement.
"I just went and banged my one brick walls as hard as I could. It didn't move at all. Sadly I think you just have to be patient but firm in your refutal of responsibility and hope that a family member will be more reasonable if they do get involved."
A third wrote: "She's heard the banging as the picture fell to the floor, gone into the room and seen the damage, then wrongly assumed that the noise was the cause of the incident than the result of it.
"Best case, she has dementia. Worst case, she's just a troublemaker. If her family come round ask them to keep a closer eye on her because she's clearly not herself."
A fourth shared: "Tell her to put her picture up properly next time. Banging on a wall will not knock a properly secured picture down on the other side!"
However, others stated that the neighbour was "unlikely" to make the story up, with one writing: "Just because she's old, it doesn't mean she's doolally! I mean, it seems unlikely she'd make the whole thing up."
"She may be spiteful, but I would show her kindness, sometimes loneliness can provoke issues to just have an interaction whether it be bad or good," a second suggested.
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