AITA for telling a neighbour she can’t expect only old people to live in our street?

A Redditor shared a tense exchange with an elderly neighbor who expressed frustration over younger families moving into their street. After enduring a stream of complaints about noise and a longing for the “good old times,” the Redditor responded bluntly, suggesting that eventually, they’d all age, and the street would change again.

Curious about how the conversation escalated? Read the full story below!

‘ AITA for telling a neighbour she can’t expect only old people to live in our street?’

I moved into my house about 2/3 years ago. I’m 30 (look 20) with a family. It’s also a british town and my house is semi detached in a street of terraced houses.

I’m quite the introvert so apart from my direct neighbours I really made no attempt at getting to know the rest around my house. That being said, if someone speaks to me I will happily speak to them.

Cue to the incident, a OAP came up to me while I was taking stuff to my car and she started asking questions. The usual stuff you ask new neighbours but then she asked me when I planned on moving which I thought was quite unusual.

I told her I had no plans to move yet and then she went on to talk about how young people have started moving into the street and it is much so noisy, especially those with families
(She knew I have kids but they barely spend any time outside) and how she wished it went back to a street of old people.

For about 10 minutes there was nothing but low key insults about young people. I couldn’t really excuse myself as I had stuff to do with my car that was time sensitive.. So in the end I just said

“You can’t expect only old people to live in a street, eventually they grow old and die. Maybe wait a few years and we’ll be old and you’ll have your street back if you’re still around.”

She looked at me as if I just murdered her family and walked off. In the heat of the moment I felt justified but thinking back on it, I pretty much told her she will be dead soon which no one really likes hearing.
She just wouldn’t stop talking about the good old times.

These are the responses from Reddit users:

Hexaline −  NTA. This woman wants to stand around in your yard and insult you, ask when you plan on leaving, and make you feel unwelcome… Yet she can’t handle you saying anything back? Being old doesn’t automatically entitle her to respect, nor does it give her a free pass to act like that.

Olives_And_Cheese −  Oooh. Similar situation, here; English Town, previously full of old people, a few young people have moved in. The old folks are genuinely horrendous.

Everyone 55 (or maybe 60’s? Basically those not retired) and under is trundling along, trying to get along with their neighbours, being respectful while still living their lives.

And then there’s this huddle of old assholes 65+, constantly moaning about gardens being a mess, people sitting outside after 7pm, anyone has a BBQ? Better not go on past 6.

Want a bit of appropriately volumed, non-offensive music playing mid – late afternoon? Well, you may as well be Hitler.
NTA, and I don’t know when it got to be standard that older people are the shittiest, most entitled, unrelenting, horrible human beings but this is definitely the case today.

Doctor-Liz −  NTA even a little bit. As somebody who’s been told to “keep it down” when talking on the phone in *my own garden* by an interfering old biddy whose garden backs diagonally on to mine, and had the *police called* over looking at something on the outside wall in the evening and thus being “suspicious persons with a torch looking into windows”,

I am just out of patience for old people and their selfishness/entitlement to others’ business. If they want to live around nobody but the old, they can move into to a home.

zukolover96 −  NTA. She decided to harass you, not the other way around. You just responded to her insults accordingly. If she doesn’t like it there then *she* should be the one to move.

nopenope4567 −  NTA. US-based here – specifically Florida, the land of old people. When I moved into my condo about six years ago the residents all sat on a bench as I hauled 25-year-old carpet and wallpaper to the dumpster.

Each time I removed some decorative element they would tutter about how that was the previous resident’s choice in curtains or whatever.
Guess what people, she doesn’t live there anymore! It took them years to stop referring to my unit as “Phyllis’ old place.”

Fendergirl69 −  NTA.
Also, I definitely assumed (from contextual clues) that OAP stood for “old-ass person” until I Googled it.

manofmatt −  NTA- people like that are the reason we lost the brexit vote.

AnselaJonla −  NTA. She was being rude. If she wants to live somewhere that has no young families, she needs to move. There’s plenty of retirement villages and managed housing out there.

tanzy95 −  NTA. I live in a British village with a similar vibe. A while back all the old folk were talking on Facebook about how they are sick of people not originally from there walking around like they own the place (whatever that is supposed to mean).

And they weren’t even talking about immigrants, just people that had moved in from neighboring towns and weren’t around during the “good old days” lmao.

FrescoInkwash −  NTA she started it by basically telling you to move out. If she can’t take it she shouldn’t dish it out

Do you think the Redditor’s response was too harsh, or was it a fair reaction to the neighbor’s constant complaints? How would you handle unsolicited critiques about your lifestyle from neighbors?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!