Man Decides To Lock Up His Entire Alley After His Neighbours Threatened To Sue Him If They Tripped And Fell There

"I was not looking at starting a war so I just kind of let it blow over"

Maryjane

• Published in Interesting
• January 22, 2024

On a normal day, the alleyway belongs to the city. Therefore, people have the same right to use the alleyway as they do on a public sidewalk or street.

But there are times when we see some people who tell you that you have no right or no business being in an alleyway even if that is public. The fact remains that you are free to wander up and down an alleyway as often as you wish unless it is private property or has a no-trespassing sign where it might belong to someone, the county or state authorities.

The narrator of today's story bought a house in his area, and he says that it is a really wonderful old red brick. When the OP was in the process of buying it, he discovered that the purchase also included the entirety of the alley.

The OP asked the realtor if this was true, and they said yes. The OP didn't fully believe him, so he went to the courthouse to double-check and he confirmed it to be true.

The OP went ahead to buy the house, and he met some of the neighbors as well. He made a joke about charging them rent to use his alley, but they flipped out.

Winter comes, and this same neighbor tells the OP to plow it every time it snows because he owns the alley and is responsible for it. Well, the OP did and went further to lock it down, which got the neighbors riled up.

The headline

The OP's not looking at starting a war so he just let it blow over

OP hired some local contractors and had them build a gate at the entrance of the alley

OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the AH:

I may be the AH because I've decided to bar all my neighbors from using an alley I own because they threatened me with a law suit.

The Reddit post got more than a thousand comments and here are a bunch of them

Limiting the ability by blocking it off

The OP blocked the access to the hazard

They are used to doing that

They can easily get an easement judgment

They're acting entitled to something of the OP's

Glad to be an AH all day long

There's a good chance the OP could be sued

The neighbours picked up on his humor

When someone threatened to sue the OP, he literally blocked access to everyone else's garage and some Redditors say that it's because he doesn't want to sell them access rights. The OP made sure it was legal and this was after he made jokes about being the "alley landlord" and "charging people rent" as soon as he moved into the neighborhood.

Some Redditors said the OP shouldn't be concerned if being "right" and "it is perfectly legal" are more important to him than getting scowled at every time he leaves his house. Still, he was declared not the AH.

Maryjane