When my husband Tom and I bought our house, the hot tub was the feature we were most excited about. It sat perfectly in the corner of the backyard, private and peaceful, a little luxury we worked hard to afford. We used it occasionally, mostly on quiet weekends, and never imagined it could become a problem.That changed when our neighbor Lisa casually mentioned the noise coming from our yard one Sunday night. Loud music, laughter, people shouting.

The only issue? Tom and I weren’t even in town that weekend. At first, I thought she must be mistaken, but the uneasiness stayed with me. Something didn’t add up.So we decided to find out. Before leaving town again the following weekend, we set up a small hidden camera facing the hot tub. When we returned and watched the footage, my jaw dropped. There was our neighbor Jim — and his entire family — using our hot tub like it was theirs. Drinks in hand, towels draped over chairs, snacks on the side. They looked completely comfortable, like they’d done it many times before.