Woman calls security after discovering neighbor is renting pool to FB strangers. UPDATED.

To narc, or not to narc, that is the question.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a woman asked if she was wrong for calling security on strangers using her gated community pool. She wrote:

"AITA for calling security on strangers using the gated community’s pool and amenities?"

Never thought I’d sound so much like a Karen, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. I (38F) live in Fort Lauderdale, FL in a community of about 40 homes and it’s fully gated, so after some time you really get to know who lives in what house and who they typically have over as guests. Also, if you know anything about FL, this is the time of year many tourists flock to the area for warm weather.

In our community, there’s also a small rec center for families and a gym and outdoor games/hangout/pool area that’s paid for with residents’ monthly HOA fees. My house is also directly next to the rec center, so my backyard is essentially attached to it and I can see everyone who uses the pool area.

In the last 2 months, I’ve noticed huge groups of strangers and families show up for hours on the weekends to use the space. Music absolutely blaring until 1-2am, screaming kids everywhere, and they’ll just ruin the space by leaving their trash hanging around and not cleaning up after themselves.

I haven’t done or said anything to the guests directly, but last weekend was kind of my breaking point. I have a trampoline in my backyard for my kids, but kids of the random families using the pool ran into my backyard and started jumping around on the trampoline. My dog was also outside during that time and they tried to feed him chips and other snacks they had.

The whole situation just made me so anxious because I didn’t want my dog to get sick or have the kids soaking wet from the pool to slip and get hurt on my property and have it be tied back to me.I immediately went into the pool to try and find their parents and when asked whose guests they were, all of them said one guy who lives down the street, Quinn (30s M).

After talking to him I found out he’s basically been putting up ads on Facebook marketplace where he’s “renting” out our community rec center to random families and tourists in the area for cheap. Primarily, it’s for families who are staying in nearby hotels that don’t have nice amenities, and they come here instead.

I thought it was absolutely absurd that he would do this with no thought for the others who live here, and let strangers in who he knows nothing about and won’t even clean up after themselves.Myself and multiple other residents asked Quinn to take down his ad on Facebook and he refused.

So we called the security on his guests and they were asked to all leave and Quinn is facing huge fines from the HOA for overstepping the guest policies. He’s now calling me and others an AH and “elitists” for not wanting strangers here, and while the majority of families here are happy and side with us, there are a few who think we should’ve just let it be. So AITA?

Redditors were fully invested in the situation.

FitOrFat-1999 wrote:

"He’s now calling me and others an AH and “elitists” for not wanting strangers here"

He's not doing this out of the goodness of his heart, he saw a "business opportunity" in renting out facilities that aren't his to make $$$. Lotta chutzpah there, guy. NTA. BTW, how much was he charging?

And OP answered:

The ad we found online said $100 for the whole day and you can bring as many people as you’d like.

DragonBard_Z wrote:

NTA: this is absurd. You talked to him. Absolutely time to take it to the next level. He's profitting and causing problems for the rest of you. That's not okay at all. He should absolutely be fined for all the cleanup and inconvenience but also he should have in NO WAY been making money from something that was not his to sell. I hope the fines are well in excess of anything he got.

RavenclawEC wrote:

NTA. It is a gated private community and he was renting a space that is not his to do so.. what he was doing is illegal and that is why he is now facing the consequences and has fines to pay. He is angry because his "side easy bucks" are now gone...

RebeccaMCullen wrote:

NTA. The few that disagree with you taking this to the HOA need to understand that by Quinn bringing in these people, he was opening up the HOA, and you specifically, to a potential lawsuit if anyone got hurt. Y'all are paying for the pool and amenities, y'all are allowed to have rules on who is allowed to use private property.

You approached Quinn to resolve the issue, and he refused. So, the best course of action was to make it an HOA problem, as the HOA is the one using the fees to maintain the facilities.

anonymousforever wrote:

He should have to pay for cleaning the pool clubhouse etc too, and then owe the money he made to the community, as he shouldn't get to profit off of things he doesn't own. And what about owing you and every immediate neighbor by these unwanted rentals compensation for lost quiet use of your property?

OP is clearly NTA here, this is a situation that called for intervention.