Buying a house usually means everything permanently attached to the property comes with it, from the kitchen cabinets to the trees growing in the backyard. But what happens when one of those trees has decades of sentimental value to the person who lived there before you?
That’s the situation one new homeowner found themselves in after purchasing a house with a mature plum tree in the backyard.
At first, a request from the previous owner seemed completely reasonable. The tree had been meaningful to the family for years, and they had reportedly used its fruit to make homemade jam for nearly two decades. So when the former owner asked if she could collect some plums once they were ripe, the new homeowner agreed.
What happened next made them reconsider that decision.
She didn’t come for just a few plums
When the former owner arrived, she brought her husband, two buckets and a ladder. According to the homeowner, the couple picked nearly every ripe plum from the tree, including fruit from branches hanging over the patio, leaving very little behind for the person who now actually owned it.
They also reportedly left broken twigs and fallen fruit on the ground. What had sounded like a sentimental request to collect a little fruit suddenly felt more like the former owners were returning to harvest a tree they still considered theirs.
She expected to come back the following year
When plum season came around again, the former owner reached out to ask what weekend she could return. This time, the homeowner told her they planned to keep the fruit themselves and weren’t comfortable continuing the arrangement.
The former owner was upset and reminded them that the tree had special meaning to her family. She even offered a few jars of homemade jam, while the homeowner’s own sister suggested a compromise of allowing her to take one bucket each year.
Still, the homeowner felt that selling the house meant giving up access to the property, even if certain parts of it carried sentimental memories.
Related: 10 Things You Should Never Do When Selling Your House
Reddit thought she had pushed her luck
Most commenters sided with the new homeowner, and the biggest issue wasn’t that the former owner wanted some fruit. It was that she had been given a generous favor and, in their view, took advantage of it by arriving prepared to collect nearly the entire harvest.
The ladder also raised concerns among commenters about allowing someone to climb on private property simply to pick fruit. Others suggested that if the tree meant that much to the former owner, taking a cutting and trying to propagate it could be a better long-term way to preserve the connection.
A kind gesture that could have become a tradition
The interesting part is that this arrangement probably could have worked. Had the former owner picked a reasonable amount, left plenty for the homeowner and treated the tree and yard carefully, sharing the plums might have become a nice tradition between the two families.
Instead, showing up with two buckets and a ladder seems to have changed the homeowner’s mind completely. And it leaves a surprisingly tricky question: if you bought the house, would you still let the previous owner come back for one bucket of plums each year, or would you tell her it’s time to let the tree go?
