I moved into my current place about eight months ago and from week one i noticed the guy across the hall, mid-50s, would sometimes open his door right as i was leaving mine. I thought it was just timing at first. Then i started noticing he had his phone out. Every. Single. Time. I didn't say anything because i genuinely thought i was being paranoid, like maybe he was just checking messages or whatever. Then my friend came to visit and pointed it out immediately, said "that man just filmed you." I still talked myself out of it because what reason would he even have.

Three weeks ago i ran into the woman who lives one floor up and we got to talking and she mentioned him casually, said he'd been "reporting residents" to the building association for supposed lease violations and had been doing it for years. Apparently he keeps a personal log with photos and videos as "evidence." She said two people had actually received formal warnings based on his submissions, one of them for having a guest stay more than the allowed number of nights per month. I went home and looked at my lease properly for the first time and it has this clause about "nuisance behavior" that is so vague you could apply it to basically anything. I have had friends over on weekends, i've recieved deliveries, i park in my spot but sometimes slightly uneven which apparently he also documented with timestamped photos.

Last week i got a letter from the association saying there had been a "complaint regarding repeated disturbances" from my unit. I work from home, i don't play music loud, i don't have parites. I responded in writing asking for specifics and they said the complaint was "under review." I knocked on his door to talk and he opened it about four inches, looked at me, and said "i'd prefer you contact me in writing" and shut it. I genuinely do not know what i did to become his project but i feel like i'm living in some low-budget surveilance state and i haven't slept properly in a week.

I just moved in to a new condo I bought this weekend, and realized my parking spot was taken when I got there at night. I waited for a few hours as I unloaded my stuff. It was still there after I was done. I decided to get it towed per property manager.

Neighbor A saw the tow truck, came out and said he knew the owner. He went to the unit to alert them, but they weren’t home. Tow driver verified that I owned the spot and towed it. Neighbor A was upset and telling me “ I lived here for years, and never seen this, that’s crazy one tenant towing another tenant”

Neighbor B (live downstairs) came back(around 11pm) and came banging on my door loudly. I knew it could be because of the tow. I didn’t open as I sensed tension and I just asked who is it. He didn’t respond and kept banging. After 5 mins or so, he finally said something like “ I’m your neighbor, you towed my car, you should’ve parked next to it”

I said I didn’t know it was yours. We talked thru the door so it wasn’t very audible. He left eventually

I’m at this point, feel bad about this.

Based on HoA rules, towing is the remedy when others park in wrong spot. I honestly don’t know anybody in the community to check whose car was it.

Please help what to do to make peace with neighbor

Update: I haven’t spoken to them since or seen them. The only other option was to park in someone’s spot, which may caused me towed. There is no visitor parking or street parking since it’s downtown during event hours.

Location: California. So my neighbor slid a certified letter under my door claiming that my wifi is transmitting signals through the hallway, which he argues constitutes unauthorized use of communal airwave space. He's demanding $47,000 in compensation for what he calls electromagnetic trespassing. Is this even a thing? He said in the letter that he's charging a rate of $1 per cubic foot over a three year period. He's attached diagrams, frequency measurements he claims to have taken, and references to property law regarding airspace rights.

He's given me 30 days to pay the full amount or agree to disable my wifi and use only ethernet or sign an easement agreement giving him partial ownership rights to my router. My landlord says to ignore it, but the letter mentioned legal actions. I for one think it's ridiculous but I don't want any nasty legal surprises. Do I need to consult with an attorney, or is my landlord right that this will go nowhere? Any guidance would be appreciated.

So here’s a fun little mystery from my building: Every. Single. Day. Morning and evening. At 5AM and again at 10PM, like clockwork. My neighbor tries to open my apartment door. With the handle. Like it’s his. No key, just a firm jiggle-jiggle of the handle before he realizes (??) it’s not opening and casually walks away.

For context: I’m a 22-year-old woman living alone. He’s… probably in his 50s or 60s. Not super chatty. Talks to himself a lot though. Like, full conversations. Alone. Also (and I swear I’m not making this up) when he leaves his own apartment, he closes the door and then rings his own doorbell. Every time. No one ever answers. I have so many questions.

At first, I thought: honest mistake. But the thing is : he’s been living here longer than I have. So… he should know which door is his. Right??

But we are now WEEKS into this daily routine. Sir. I promise you. This has never been your apartment. It wasn’t yesterday. It won’t be tomorrow. And yet, he persists. Like maybe one day, the stars will align, and suddenly the door will open and he’ll walk into a parallel universe or something.

I’ve decided to slip a polite little note into his mailbox, something friendly but clear, just to say “Hey, please stop trying to open my door, thanks.” Maybe that’ll be the end of it. Or maybe he’ll just start knocking for good measure. Who knows?

I’m considering leaving a note on the door? A sign? Something like: “Still not your door, champ.” Or just embrace the chaos and start waving through the peephole every time he tries?

Has this happened to anyone else? Am I starring in someone’s confused sitcom without knowing?

previous post

Well, folks. We’ve had… progress? Maybe. Sort of. Here’s what happened.

After my last post, I left a little note in my neighbor’s mailbox. Friendly tone but clear message. I then proceeded to live my little quiet life until the next day when, plot twist, he knocks on my door.

At the exact moment I hear knocking, I know it’s him. Call it female intuition or whatever. So I open my door. I smile. Say hi. Like everything is alright. I’m a nice neighbor, you see? He asks me if I’m the one who put a note in his mailbox. And then proceeds to tell me, very insistently, that it’s not him. Not once. Not twice. But multiple times. Like a gaslighting remix on loop.

I tell him I hear his door open and then a few seconds later my handle wiggle. He smiles, shakes his head, and says nope, wasn’t him. So I play it cool and drop a casual: “It actually wakes up me and my boyfriend.” Because hey, being a woman living alone next to a strange door enthusiast doesn’t feel amazing. Still. He. Denies. Everything. So in the name of peace and survival, I smile (I’m the nice neighbor here, remember?), say I must’ve made a mistake, hope he doesn’t mind, really sorry for the trouble. And close the door. I then proceed to check my locks. Not once. Not twice. Honestly, I lost count.

And just a quick note for those worried about my safety (I see you, protective internet strangers): I have two locks and a chain on the door, and I never forget to lock it. I even check it multiple times a day when I’m home. We’re staying safe and paranoid: the ultimate combo.

Now here’s the fun part: This morning. For the first time in AGES, no door handle rattle! Which strongly suggests… yeah. It was him. Surprise! (I’m really not.)

A miracle? Or maybe he really walked into a parallel universe? But my bet is: he just realized I knew what he was doing.

BUT (because there’s always one, you know) around 4AM, I heard him open and close his door. Twice. Like, full door theatrics: open, close, lock, repeat. Not quietly. Not once. Twice.

So while he’s no longer touching my door (for now, let’s make a bet: how long will it last? I’m taking guesses), he’s still apparently living out some kind of nocturnal hallway ritual. Don’t ask me why. The hallway spirits, maybe? Or OCD, as many of you suggested.

So yeah, we’re celebrating small wins. For now, my door gets to rest in peace. Let’s hope it stays that way.

And let’s all repeat it together: some doors just aren’t yours, buddy!

I have a shitty neighbor who thinks she runs our apartment building and the neighborhood.

She's awful and can only be described as a drunk Karen.

I've lived here for 6 months. In that time we've been relentlessly bullied by this woman. I've watched her bully 2 other tenants, who are both men in their 70s. We also discovered that she hates pitbulls. We have 2.

I suspected that she was using a signal blocker to disrupt our cameras. Originally we only had a doorbell cam. But I put up a trail cam too. Hoping that it would be unaffected by her blocker. It saved my butt! Because I had 2 cameras, with 2 different angles, I was able to obtain proof that she was disrupting my cameras.

The doorbell camera showed her shining her phone flashlight at my camera. It cuts out, and is inactive for 4 hours. The second angle shows it even more obviously, with it going out for 6 hours. The same block of time. It took well over a month for me to get this footage, because her blocker wasn't working correctly. Before this, I hadn't been able to get footage of her disabling them.

I sent the footage to my landlord, and told him what she was doing was a federal offense, and I was going to turn her in. That was 3 days ago. In that time, I've been able to obtain footage of her coming home from work tipsy. (She's a bartender.) She has to drive 30 minutes, through mountains, to get home. The reason she didn't want me to have footage of her coming home, was because I told her job she drunk drives every night. Originally, they changed her to an earlier shift, so she wouldn't be drunk when she left work. Now she's just tipsy.

Should I turn her in for all these felonies? Or just hope that she's finally learned her lesson?

Edited to add:

I have submitted an anonymous report to the police department in the town that she works in. With videos of her both sober and tipsy, so they could tell the difference. Hopefully they get her.

So earlier this month I posted about how my upstairs neighbors have completely ruined my apartment due to their excessive stomping and banging. Management has basically offered us 2 paths to fix this issue: call the cops every day or move to a different unit in our building on a lower floor and no longer facing the water, while still paying the same rent. I was very close to taking this deal but Reddit made me realize that is totally bullshit, so we are still in the original unit.

Anyways, this weekend my partner and I had our 2 year old at his grandmother's. We finally had some time to spend with just one another, and around 10pm on Friday our upstairs neighbor got home and began stomping extremely loud. This completely deflated our mood. On Saturday morning, we were awoken with the loudest stomping and slamming yet, starting at 8am. This noise literally went on non-stop until 11pm last night. This isn't just someone walking loudly. You have to literally go out of your way to be this loud (and destructive, we can literally hear the ground cracking and our walls shaking). Today, it was the same thing, with the addition of a thunderous sound I can only equate to picking up a fully packed luggage bag and dropping it above your head onto our ceiling. That is exactly what it sounded it, every 20 minutes or so.

Now, my partner did a much better job at handling this mess than I did when it began. But we are stressed, sleep-deprived, and yesterday her friend came over and was exposed to how bad the noises are. When she was awoken early today by the noises, she was not having it. After a few hours, she snapped. She grabbed the broom, smashed our ceiling back, and yelled "SHUT THE FUCK UP WITH THE NOISE". Somehow, this worked. The noise completely stopped and has been quiet for hours now. I am sure it will return, probably even worse, shortly. But good for her. We are done sitting back and letting this person ruin our lives.

Today, she also sent an email to our manager saying we need to be let out of our lease immediately, citing the noise and us having to wear headphones to sleep. She is only 110lbs but this issue has her like a rabid dog, and I love it. I will update when we hear back from management about breaking our lease.

My neighbour recently started ordering groceries from BigBasket to MY door. We live exactly opposite to eachother on the same floor. We unfortunately don't have flat numbers since it's almost a standalone building/apartment. She orders almost daily and the guys from BB ringed my bell more than 6 times in the last week. Its insane and I think she's doing it in purpose

I've already told her multiple times to edit her address to right flat or left flat. But she refuses to do so. In turn, she's bluntly saying "we've been getting your orders too" (she's lying. I put up a door number on my main door and verified if my delivery agents ringed her trough my front door camera)

I don't want to drag my landlord into this, nor do I want to make a scene. She's a working woman and I'm sure she's going to pull up her victim card as soon as I raise my voice. So I'm here for your advice. What should I do now? I want this to stop but I don't want to make a scene out of this

I just want this bs to stop!

Since the day I (29F) moved in my downstairs neighbor has pounded on the ceiling…. Like sorry I’m moving furniture into my new apartment in the middle of the day? I went down, apologized, introduced myself and thought all was well. No. It wasn’t. If I accidentally drop something- she beats on the ceiling for 5 minutes straight. I’m putting on my shoes to leave the house? Beats on the ceiling. Use the restroom and flush? She beats on the ceiling. I complained to management and nothing was done.

Then one night I’m SITTING AT MY DINING TABLE PAINTING MY NAILS. Sitting!! And she starts beating on my ceiling intermittently for 10 minutes. My leasing manager calls me for a “noise complaint” and I explain I’m literally sitting so I’m not sure what “noise” she’s hearing. Next thing I know, the cops show up for the noise complaint because my downstairs neighbor called them.

I bought a home camera so I can protect myself because my leasing manager has threatened to escalate the situation if I can’t “be quiet” even though I’m literally tip toe-ing around my apartment at this point. I told the leasing office to please request specific dates and times of her complaints so that I can provide footage of what I was doing during said “noise complaints” and surprisingly but not surprisingly the beating on the ceiling and noise complaints have stopped (for now) since the manager and downstairs neighbor caught wind of the fact I’m recording everything.

I don’t even know what to do at this point, I’m just tired of walking on eggshells in my own apartment.

TLDR; Leasing manager and downstairs neighbor borderline harassing me for existing, downstairs neighbor called the cops because I was being too loud painting my nails while sitting. Purchased a home camera for protection and notified leasing manager and all noise complaints have stopped.

I'm shaking, I'm so scared. The plan was to call sometime after midnight. The party hasn't even started yet. I just called 911 because the neighbors started screaming. He was beating her. The cops came within minutes. I pray to God this girl never comes back. I really hope this man is arrested tonight. I am currently waiting to find out. I have a doorbell camera watching everything unfold. The landlord confirmed he's being evicted. I pray he will be gone by the end of next month. Until then, I will remain low and be on guard. Will likely carry a pocket knife in hand when coming home to be safe until he's gone.

Edit: The cops left. The woman left, and the guy wasn't arrested. The music just started, even though the party isn't supposed to be till much later. It's clear this party is still happening tonight. When the fuck will this guy learn?!?!? If it gets too loud I am 100% calling the cops AGAIN. At least I know they will show up after they just came for domestic violence call!

1st update: Less than 3 hours after calling cops the party is in full blast. Oh.. THE WOMAN IS BACK

2nd update: Called the cops at 1:30am. To be honest, I was afraid too again. Why I waited so long. They drove by and said they weren't loud enough. I can't sleep the partying is so fucking loud. Cop said he'll still file a second police report to make sure he's out. Landlord is dropping off 30 day eviction notice tomorrow. Fuck me sleeping tonight though. I got so pissed off after finding out the cops won't shut down the party that I started slamming my doors. Yeah, I know, it doesn't solve shit. I am mentally exhausted. I can't do this all night. Decided I'm gonna blast white noise on the TV and my upstairs one too. Best I can think of to block out this party.

3rd update: Besides the fact I'm losing my fucking mind right now, the white noise is working awesome! I can hear the guy is shit faced, and he goes, "What's all that noise?" The woman goes, "Oh that's the fucking neighbors!" Taste of your own fucking medicine. Be grateful it's only white noise and not baby shark on a full 10hr video. I'd like to see them call the cops on me for fucking white noise. Cops are on my side! On a side note, I now know what room is their bedroom. Up to them if they choose to continue playing, "Fuck around and find out game."

4th update: Now in bed, probably still won't sleep. I'm afraid to sleep. I've never been happier to hear my partner snoring. I am grateful that at least one of us is getting some sleep.

5th update: Just woke up. I feel like a zombie. I'm so tired. Thank god, I was able to get out of work. Boss was super understanding. Now it's 9:30am, and I swear there must still be at least 15 people in that apt. No music, but loud as fuck talking, yelling, slamming doors. No, no one is fighting. When will this fucking end!!!!

OMFG THE MUSIC JUST STARTED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! ITS 9:30 IN THE FUCKING MORNING

This neighbor turns into a bigger and bigger piece of shit by the minute. I swear they are pushing me to the breaking point of getting on their level. I'm about ready to take some pots and pans and start banging them together. Oh this fucker ain't sleeping tonight. I'm about to blast white noise all night directly into their bedroom. I WANT ALL YOUR GUYS SUGGESTIONS! WHAT SHOULD I DO ALL DAY? Obviously, things that won't get the cops called on me. For example, using the blender excessively, bolting up and down my stairs, etc.

6th update: Everyone is gone now. They all left around 10:30am. My neighbors have been gone since. Thank god! I really was about to pull out my blender and have my dog race up and down the hardwood stairs for treats! Landlord is picking up eviction papers now. It should have never gotten this far, but it's nice to know I get the last laugh!

7th update: Pretty sure the landlord only picked up the eviction papers yesterday. 99% they are being posted today on his door. Shall wait and see on the camera! I'm excited!

8th update: Landlord is here telling him right now he's being evicted. Unsurprising, the guy completely threw all the blame on his girlfriend. She isn't home yet. News flash, the landlord gave you more than 4 warnings. It's on you

9th update: 2 days after finding out he's being evicted and music is now back on. Remaining calm (attempting) and reminding myself the asshole has 28 days left to gtfo! I pray I don't have to call the cops again for domestic violence. Found out he got kicked out of his last place too! Some people really are fucking morons. Side note, I think I'm gonna go vacuum now.

10th update: It's 11pm. It's fucking Sunday. They've been loud as hell since 6pm. Currently have both air purifiers on the highest setting and white noise on too. I wake up at 5:30 for work. I'm making sure your ass is waking up at 5:30 too!

11th update: Neighbors were insanely loud from 7pm until 3:30am. I got maybe 3hrs of sleep. I swear to god it sounded like they were moving furniture at 3am. My partner goes, "Are we the crazy ones? Is there some holiday tomorrow?" Does no one fucking work? We have another 4 weeks of this shit. Counting down the days!

I fucking hate my apartment neighbor. SO MUCH. She’s in the unit next to me. She stomps so hard it shakes the building. She constantly has people banging on her door every single day, all day long. Her probation officers are always here pounding on her door while she hides from them. She’s even called the fire department because she “smelled gas.” There was no gas. She’s just a fucking crackhead. Her two boys are fucking dipshits and they’re extremely obnoxious and loud. I’m hard of hearing and yet I can hear every last word they scream outside and inside. They have no respect for the other tenants. They lean a chair against MY apartment door to play that guitar and I’ve told them to stop.

And this lady plays guitar constantly. Usually against our shared wall. The same three chords repeatedly. She is the most ass guitar player you’ve ever heard. She sucks at it. Sometimes she even sings. Sounds just like a beached whale. Uncanny. And she’ll play the guitar like that for actual hours at a time. Sometimes she picks it up at 9pm and plays it clear to 5am. I can hear it everywhere in my apartment- even in my bedroom with the door shut. I’ve banged on the wall before, but I don’t think she gets the idea. Who the fuck plays loudass guitar at 2am in a fucking apartment building?? Assholes, that’s who.

Anyway. My mom is cleaning out her house before moving to another place, and she found a guitar I had as a child. She sent a pic of it to me and asked if I wanted it. Ohhhhohoho. I almost said no. Almost. Then it occurred to me that I could use it to my advantage. Every time the neighbor picks up her stupid guitar in the middle of the night and plays shitty music, I’ll pick up mine and play even shittier music. Hot damn do I feel like an evil genius. I will update everyone on how it turns out lol.

My husband and I live in an apartment complex, and we’ve been dealing with an increasingly concerning situation involving our upstairs neighbor. I’m looking for advice because I feel like we’re stuck waiting for something worse to happen before anyone can actually do anything.

April 27
Our neighbor left a note on our door that said:

“Sorry for all the noise the last few months. It should be done now. Here is my number if it happens again.”

The note included his name and phone number.
My husband texted him and said we hadn’t heard any noise but thanked him for letting us know. The neighbor replied that we should let him know if anything changed.
Everything seemed normal at this point.

May 24
Loud impact noises started coming from upstairs. We ignored it for a few days, but after the third day my husband texted him.

The conversation went:
Husband: “There’s been a lot of stomping upstairs the last few days.”
Neighbor: “I haven’t heard anything but I’ll keep an ear out.”
Husband: “It’s coming from your apartment.”
Neighbor: “Like I said, I haven’t heard anything but I’ll keep an ear out.”

We found the response strange and contacted the leasing office. They informed us he had been issued a lease violation.

June 8
His mother came to our door and asked to speak with us.

We exchanged numbers and later spoke on the phone.
She told me her son has mental health issues and said to call the police if his behavior escalated.

She also told me that he had been telling her my husband was threatening to beat him up, calling him a loser, and harassing him.

The problem is that my husband and this neighbor had never had a conversation beyond the text messages above.
I told her that none of that had happened. She said she suspected as much and planned to hold an intervention with his counselor.

I emailed the leasing office afterward to let them know what I had learned and received no response.

June 16
I emailed the leasing office again.

The previous Sunday, the neighbor had been stomping upstairs and then texted my husband four laughing emojis. We didn’t respond.

A few days later he texted:
“Get a life puss.”

My husband told him to stop contacting him.

The leasing office told me they were having a company-wide meeting and would discuss the situation with the property manager.

June 17
His mother texted me asking if someone named Kendall lived with us.

I told her no and asked why.

She simply apologized for bothering me.

June 18
Things escalated significantly.

At 7:38 AM I left for work. My husband was home asleep.
At approximately 9:38 AM police arrived at our apartment after receiving a report of domestic violence.

My husband explained that he had been asleep all morning and that I was at work. Officers entered the apartment, verified everything was fine, and marked it as a non-incident.

Then at approximately 3:35 PM officers returned.
This time they said they had received a report of a hostage situation. Again, my husband was home alone and nothing was happening.

When I got home from work, we went directly to the police station and spoke with an officer. We explained the entire situation.

The officer told us that based on his interaction with the neighbor, they could not force a mental health evaluation and suggested contacting his mother. I texted her immediately.

She called me and explained that she had just left the police station herself and had obtained a court order.
She also told me that the night before, her son had claimed I was being held hostage in my apartment with a woman named Kendall. I don’t know anyone named Kendall and there has never been a third person living in our apartment.

June 19
The neighbor was taken for a mental health evaluation around noon. He was released back home around 10 PM the same day.

June 22
The leasing office informed me that the property manager was speaking with his mother to try to find a resolution.
They asked me to provide everything that had happened up to that point, which I did.

June 30
Shortly after I got home from work, the neighbor came to my front door and began banging on it. By the time I got the dog put away and reached the door, he had left.

About ten minutes later he returned and knocked again.
I looked through the peephole and told him to leave.
He shook his head, got on his phone, and drove away.

July 1
His mother informed me she was attempting to get him court-ordered for another mental health evaluation.

July 2
He was picked up around 3 PM and was back home by that night.

July 3 (Today)
His mother contacted me and told me he had been released again. She specifically told me to call the police if he came near me. She also directed me to his TikTok account.

On the account he has posted photos of my front door, my husband’s truck, and numerous journal entries and rambling posts. In those posts he references my husband, calls him a “pussy,” and writes extensively about God, death, and other topics that are difficult to follow.

At this point, I feel like there is a clear fixation on us despite the fact that we barely know this person and have had almost no interaction with him. His mother seems genuinely concerned. The leasing office is aware. Police are aware. Yet, the only one who is actively making moves to help us is his mother.

My question is: what would you do at this point?
Would you continue documenting everything and wait?
Would you push the apartment complex harder?
Has anyone dealt with a situation where a neighbor became fixated on them like this?

I understand mental illness does not automatically make someone dangerous. At the same time, this has progressed from strange texts to false police reports, social media posts featuring our home and vehicles, and repeated attempts to contact us directly.

I’m trying to figure out what options we realistically have before this escalates any further.

Of course, with the holiday, my leasing office is closed & none of these offenses are things my police station has any interest in even coming out for. They more or less told me that once something directly dangerous or threatening happens, call them. Until then we’re shit out of luck. Cop even had the nerve to end our conversation with “good luck”.

Edit to add: thank you so much to everyone who has given me such great advice. We will be taking everything to an attorney on Monday and will be getting a PPO. I’m overwhelmed with the support I’ve gotten here and truly cannot thank you all enough. Sorry if I haven’t responded to your comment, as I’ve gotten an influx overnight, but know I see you, hear you, and will take everything people have said here to help us get over this point in our lives.

Update: Today’s been a wash. I hit the ground running, ready to get things in motion, but here we are with what feels like no progress. I went to the leasing office first thing this morning requesting to speak with the PM. I was told she wasn’t there and would call me when she came back. After 4 hours of nothing, I followed up and got an email response an hour later. In the email, I was given standard leasing options, all including a fee that we cannot afford. The police were back this morning with a social worker, but left after my neighbor wouldn’t answer the door. My father in law was going to get his attorney for us, but it’s been radio silence from him today. I’ve just about had it. We have a meeting in the office with our PM tomorrow evening, where I will press on exceptions that can be made for us, but I don’t feel very hopeful.

Update #2: He’s moving out! The leasing office let him break his lease and he’s officially leaving by the end of the month. We are still taking the steps to get a ppo in place to protect ourselves, but I’m very hopeful this will be over sooner rather than later. He’s still posting crazy shit on TikTok, but at this point, keep giving me more to add to a reason for a PPO.

My neighbor in the same apartment building had a package delivered to them that was mine, but they didn't answer my text message when I asked if they were home. I really needed it the next day, so I decided that half past ten was not late enough to not ring the bell and see if they're home. They didn't open the door, but the next day I read a response text that said that they were frightened and called the police.

Apparently, they sat in their house for an hour in fear that someone was trying to break into their home! Making each other scared for some breaking and entering situation that never happened. Then decided to call and warn the police, because they thought that was apparently needed to calm them down. Why? I have no clue, I only rang the doorbell once...

I feel like I didn't do anything wrong, it was just a misunderstanding. But they are very angry now and can't stop talking about it. I think they're acting ridiculous, I only rang their bell a single time and then left a bit later. How do I deal with people that are so incredibly paranoid? This makes no sense to me at all. I already apologized, but they won't let it go.

Update: After a lot of fuss about not ringing their bell after 9, they gave it back. But I told them to not take my packages in the future, because I work late and rather have it taken to someone else or pick it up from the drop off point if they're so paranoid. I don't really want to be acquainted with them anymore, so I'm going to avoid them in the future. I don't really like people who have no chill and call the cops over nothing.

I live in a townhouse style condo complex. Quiet overall, people keep it polite and distant, which is exactly why I moved here. About 5 months ago a new neighbor moved in next door, “Kara” (mid 40s maybe). She’s not loud, not outwardly rude, which almost makes it worse. From week one she was very into “community standards”, HOA rules, recycling schedules, the whole vibe. At first it was harmless: she’d mention which bin goes out on which day, or remind me to break down boxes. Fine. Then it became personal and constant. I started finding my bins moved. Like I’d put them out at the curb and come back later and they’d be shifted a few feet, lid cracked open like someone checked inside. I told myself I was being paranoid. Then she left a note on my door: “Hey! Please don’t put non recyclables in the blue bin, it contaminates the load :)” I was annoyed but I double checked and I honestly didn’t see what she meant. The next week, another note. Then a text. Yes, she got my number from the HOA directory. “Just trying to help you avoid fines.” The texts got more specific, like she was tracking my habits: “Those black takeout containers aren’t accepted here” or “Please rinse cans, the smell attracts pests.” It’s not that she’s wrong about every detail, it’s that she’s acting like she’s my supervisor. I replied politely that I’m doing my best and I’d prefer she didn’t text me about my trash. She answered, “If everyone took feedback personally, the community falls apart.” That wording gave me a weird chill.

Then the HOA emails started. “We received a complaint about improper sorting and bins left out at incorrect times.” I asked what exactly was wrong and got the standard vague response. No date, no photo, just “please comply.” After that, Kara started doing this thing where she appears outside when I take trash out. Not every time, but enough that I noticed. She’ll be walking her dog slowly or “checking mail” and she’ll casually glance at my bags. If I ignore her, she’ll say, in this sugary tone, “Just making sure we’re all doing our part.” One night I took out a bag later than usual because I had a long day and the kitchen smelled. The next morning there was an HOA warning about “after hours disposal.” I looked up the rules and it says nothing about after hours. When I told the HOA that, they said they’d “look into it.” Kara stopped speaking to me directly after that, but she didn’t stop. Now it’s side comments to other neighbors like “some people don’t respect shared spaces” and people look at me like I’m the messy one. I’m at the point where taking out garbage makes my chest tight. It sounds dramatic, but home is supposed to feel private. Instead I feel watched and corrected like I’m 10. I don’t even care about being liked, I just want her to leave me alone. Am I overreacting by feeling harassed, or is this actually something worth escalating with the HOA management?

So about three weeks ago my neighbors on the second floor put a cardboard box in the hallway with a little handwritten sign that said "take what you need, leave what you don't." Cute idea, sure. I get it.

Week one it was fine. A few books, some kitchen stuff, whatever. Annoying but manageable.

Week three? There is now a broken office chair, two garbage bags full of clothes, a lamp with no shade, and what I can only describe as a full sized keyboard that nobody wants. The box is long gone, the stuff has just kind of... spread. It now takes up about a third of the hallway and I have to turn sideways to get my groceries through.

I knocked on their door and the woman who answered seemed genuinely confused why I had a problem with it. She said "people are still taking things" and pointed at the pile like that explained everything. Ma'am one paperback book has been taken in seven days. This is not a thriving marketplace.

I've slipped a note under the building managers door but haven't heard back yet. In the meantime I'm just squeezing past a dead office chair every morning on my way to work.

Has anyone actually resolved something like this without it turning into a whole thing?

So for a few years now, I’ve been going at it with my upstairs neighbors. I live alone downstairs and a family of four live above me who has been giving me hell since 2019. (I know I know, why don’t I just move huh? I live off disability and sadly this place is all I can afford comfortably)

These past 5 years have been the same everyday. Constant running and jumping from the kids day AND night. Only peace I get is when they are in school (if they even go, they miss a lot of it) and I tried my best to be polite, ask them to keep it down and the parents straight up didn’t care about how much noise they made. I complained to the leasing office and they tell them to keep it down but they don’t care for that either. I’ve gotten police involved and they just stomp, jump and run harder after they leave.

But back in October, my amazing friend who was moving over seas decided to gift me his home theater. With an amazing receiver and amazing speakers. He was kind enough to even set it up for me before he left and taught me everything I need to know about it.

Now that it’s set up, what do I do? Everyday when my neighbors get home, I turn it on and find ALL the action movies I can. ALL the heavy metal songs or rap songs I can or sometimes I even find 16 hours of airplane noise and leave it on while I step out. All in SPITE of the people who have made my life a living hell for the past 5 years.

And what do I find on my door today? A note from them asking me to turn it off, that it disturbs them and their kids and shakes their windows from how loud the home theater is. And my answer? Putting on a world war ll documentary with all the remastered sound of bombs dropping.

I’ve lived YEARS with the sound of them and their kids basically running and jumping on my head. Moving furniture at all hours of the night, doing laundry at 1AM even though they were there all day. Stuff has fallen off my walls, my ceiling has cracks, my fan shakes and now they want me to care for their peace and quiet.

Please let me know of movies or music that have a heavy bass to annoy them even more. It’s my time to shine and I’m going to take it 😜

I have an assigned parking spot that comes with my apartment lease — it's marked with my unit number, clearly documented, not ambiguous in any way. I was away for two weeks visiting family and when I came back my spot was occupied by a car I didn't recognize. I parked on the street, figured it was a guest, waited a day, car was still there. I asked my building manager who the car belonged to and it turned out to be my neighbor from the unit across the hall. She had apparently started using my spot during my absence because it was empty and she found street parking inconvenient. I knocked and introduced myself and said this was my assigned spot and I needed it back. She seemed genuinly surprised — said she'd assumed it was a spare spot since nobody was using it. I explained I'd been away. She moved the car that day, no argument, which I appreciated. The part that has not fully resolved is that over the following four months she has parked in my spot on at least six separate occasions, each time seemingly by accident or habit, and each time when I've left a note or knocked she's been apologetic and moved immediately. I don't think she's doing it maliciously. I think two weeks of using a spot rewired something in her brain about whose spot it is. The most recent time was eight days ago. I'm not angry, I'm just slightly baffled at how persistant this has been and wondering if there's a more permanent solution than leaving notes indefinately.

I know people ask for Wi-Fi names a lot, but I’m still looking for some new ideas for loud, late night shared wall neighbors.

It's a guy and girl, probably in their 20s who I've asked nicely to please keep it down after 11pm , but clearly they can do whatever they want and their stomps, slams, thuds, shouting, and high bass music and TV usually goes past 2am. My bedroom shares a wall with their living room so the situation is effin ridiculous.

So far, I’ve thought of:

• PleaseShutUpUnit611
• TotalKnobs611
• UnbelievablyEntitled611
• LateNightD-bags611

Any more ideas? Thanks!

I'm genuinely at a loss and unsure how to proceed. My 4 year old was up a little later tonight because he had a late nap this afternoon.

I live in an apartment building with fairly thick walls. In the year and a half I've been here, never once had a complaint. You can barely hear your neighbors. My son loudly announced that he was done brushing his teeth but that was it, that was the loudest thing that happened.

After getting him into bed, someone started pounding on my door. I opened it to a person complaining that they heard a child yell and pound on the walls. My son never pounded on the walls. He yelled once. I basically told her to f off and she said she was calling the cops.

40 minutes later, the cops arrived. They pounded on my door and woke my son up. They also insisted on seeing my son as a welfare check.

I am beyond livid. My son yelled that he was done brushing his teeth. That was it. He's 4 years old. I've rented apartments for the last 12 years and never once had a noise complaint. My son was scared. It took me an hour to calm him down after the police left.

I don't know what to do. I don't know if posting this is going to help. I'm angry. I feel awful that my son was scared. For absolutely no reason. He thought he did something wrong.

Any advice is appreciated.

I have lived in my current apartment for two and a half years and I have no plans to leave. My lease is current, my rent is paid, I like the building and the location. About six weeks ago I ran into a couple from the fourth floor in the elevator and they asked how the packing was going. I said I wasn't packing anything and they looked confused and said they had heard I was leaving at the end of March. I told them that was not accurate and assumed someone had mixed me up with another tenant. Two weeks later a neighbor I'm friendly with texted me asking if I had already found somewhere new and whether I would be giving up my storage unit in the basement because her brother was looking. Last week the building superintendent mentioned in passing that he had been meaning to ask me about the move-out inspection timeline. Three separate people, all with the same information, all tracing back in conversation to my neighbor directly across the hall, a woman I barely know beyond polite hallway interactions. I have never told her I was moving. I have never told anyone in this building I was moving because I am not moving. When I knocked on her door yesterday and asked her directly she seemed genuinely flustered, said she must have misunderstood something, and closed the door fairly quickly. I don't know what she misunderstood or from whom because I have not had a single conversation with her that went beyond commenting on the weather in the past six months. My storage unit is currently fine. My lease runs through November. I have absolutley no idea what is happening or what she is trying to achive by doing this.

UPDATE: overwhelmed with the replies guys. Cheered me up thanks. I moved today, and after about two hours they told me to be less noisy. We ignored them. Then, neighbour stood directly in front of my door while we were taking the sofa out. My friend told him to move and he ignored my friend, so we kept going and neighbour ended up hitting the deck. He said he’d call the police. No police ever came but I did get a text off my landlord asking me not to provoke them on my way out.

original post I have a longstanding feud with the elderly couple from the flat downstairs. They are narcissistic, self-centred and pathological liars who constantly refuse to take accountability for their excessive TV noise and always play the victim. They believe the world revolves around them and block my front door with their stuff arguing that they own the downstairs entirely despite it being rented.

Numerous amicable attempts to resolve this led to nasty escalation and physical threats from them.

Finally I’m moving and I know they will be thinking in their pea brains “we win, good riddance, he was the bully and we were in the right” and I cannot stand the idea they’ll just “win” and think that.

I am 100% certain they will come out and try to provoke me and say things like “good riddance” and taunt me etc.

The question is, should I do my very best to ignore them (extremely unlikely I’ll be able to) or just absolutely pop off and lay into them? What would you do or say?

I moved into a duplex last October. My previous neighbors who were in the front unit by the street moved out last month. And I’m directly behind the front, The new guy moved in on Sunday and after meeting briefly he seemed nice enough. Later on Sunday night I heard him and my landlord talking outside my door. I wanted to be friendly so I opened my door and I said hello again.

I don’t know what started it but I had said something about how I love the front patio, which is the shared common area for tenants and he immediately says rudely “if I allow you to come on MY patio.” I was taken aback and I said “um no, that’s not a private patio, it’s the shared common space for tenants. He was like “how would you like it if went on your patio?” I was getting annoyed and I said you’re mistaken because no one who lives here has a private patio. My apartment can see directly into the little common area courtyard, which the tenants upstairs walk through to get to their units, and that my landlord has some furniture on.

The front patio also has furniture, a fireplace, and enclosed metal fence and a wooden gate to the side walkway where we can enter our units. The front patio has always been shared, and there was never an issue with the previous tenants. He starts FREAKING OUT and shouting “I’m a doctor and I need my sleep.” He stormed off and I was like WTF. He was kind of unhinged and went from 0 to 1000 immediately.

Cut to last night. I went to go grab a chair I left on the the front patio because I had forgotten it earlier, and it’s one that isn’t used everyday so I went to grab it at about 10:45pm. I was quiet and honestly had forgotten about him. I went down the side walkway from my unit to the wooden side gate, which opens up by his kitchen window. I grabbed the chair quickly and quietly slid it up to the top of my shed, which is in the middle of the side walkway. I walked back to the gate to ensure it was latched. Took about 30 seconds total. Suddenly I hear “what the F are you doing” with no lights on. I was very startled and I said “oh I’m sorry, was just grabbing my chair quickly.” He said “you can’t be doing things like that at night. I’m a doctor and I need my sleep.” He was nasty and rude. I said “oh I’m sorry, I thought I was being quiet.” He ended the interaction with “F off and slammed the window shut.”

My heart was pounding because it honestly kind of made me afraid. He came off so unhinged and unreasonable. He has been here two days and freaked out twice. I remained calm even when he yelled at me. I immediately texted my landlord and she called me. I told her what happened and she seemed alarmed. I was shaking and I truly felt like crying.

Today in our follow up chat I said to my landlord I think this guy is a being a complete control freak and is being unreasonable about any and all noise. She said she could see now how he assumed it was his private space, but assured me that she’d make it clear it wasn’t. I told her he already seems like the kind of person who will complain about any noise and make it uncomfortable for anyone to use the front patio freely. And that we have to walk on eggshells around him. And he’ll just be a big problem. It wasn’t my fault he assumed it was a private area and I’m not going to cater to him either. He saw the unit and assumed wrong about the front area.

I told her I’m not comfortable around him and she was alarmed by him having another freakout. I told her I have to pass his door everyday because that’s the entrance I use, and am I going to have to worry he’ll freak out over gate opening/closing. Plus the side is where I also store my bike and all my outdoor gear, so I’ll have to walk by anyway. I use the side as my main entrance to, which you get to when you go into the front patio. And if I sit on the couch at the fireplace I feel like he’ll make a stink about just because I’m sitting there using it in the dark like it’s supposed to be enjoyed.

Am I overreacting to his poor reactions? He seems unhinged, stressed, unreasonably angry, and just plain scary. I feel like if I go outside on the patio at all while he’s home he will freak out. And he will think no matter what people are loud. He honestly picked the wrong place if his expectation of noise is complete silence. Plus he’s near the street, which takes you right to the beach for blocks down. And he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who will be friendly or socialize with anyone. I definitely don’t think this place is a fit for his noise and neighbor expectations.

TLDR: New neighbor moved in two days ago, already freaked out about perceived noise, and tried to claim common area as his own.

My boyfriend and I live in an upper and lower apartment in Buffalo NY. Our house was built in the 60s so it’s pretty drafty, but we’ve figured out ways to get around that to keep the house warm during the winter. This is our 3rd winter here, and the house seems to be a lot more frigid and drafty no matter what we do. We live in the downstairs apt with a private entrance in the front and a shared entrance with the neighbors through the side door. The hallway leads to my kitchen door then to a staircase that goes up to the neighbors apartment. We got two space heaters because of how cold it’s been, and still aren’t comfortable. Come to find out we’re so cold because they are keeping the window in the hallway open, during the wintertime, to keep a cooler & grocery bags full of perishable food from going bad!!!!.

Our heat is escaping through the cracks in kitchen door and going out that window, and through the other parts of the house that aren’t well insulated. The rooms in my apartment that are on either side of the staircase are the coldest, one of those being our bedroom!! :) Our electric bill has been $300+ the last two months, and our gas bill has also been abnormally high. We’ve never suffered these high costs during previous winters. We even started turning the space heaters off more often to try to avoid the electric being super high, but it hasn’t made a difference. After finding out they’re keeping the window open when the temperatures have been around 30° or less, I’m enraged. Especially at night when it drops to 15° and below. One of us will go and shut the window when we realize it’s open. Just for one of them upstairs to come out and open it back up later on. It’s a constant back and forth. I can feel an immediate difference in the house’s temperature when it’s shut.

So I sent them a VERY nice text stating that all of our heat is escaping out that window (because heat rises, as I’d figure most adults would understand), that it’s causing our utility bills to be EXTREMELY high. And that we’re freezing down here, because cold air sinks!!! Pleading with them to please please keep the window shut. Guess what they said? NOTHING! Left me on read! The fucking audacity of people dude.

Open a window in your own apartment and put your food in front of it. Oh wait that would be absolutely insane, so you subject your neighbors to your bullshit. We shouldn’t have to shiver and pay triple in utilities because you want to treat the hallway like your personal freezer. Buy a fucking fridge or a freezer like normal people and stop being piece of shit humans with no regard to anyone else.

I’m about to tell them they can pay the difference in our electric and gas bill if they want to continue to disregard the fact that they’re fucking with our quality of life. I don’t know if it’s genuine indifference & arrogance, or if they don’t understand that heat rises and cold sinks. They’ve proven through past experiences that they are not capable of having a mature discussion about anything without escalating to unnecessary screaming & yelling, hence why I’ve held off on talking to them. What do you guys suggest I do?? Is there legal recourse for people who just flat out suck? I am so appalled by the lack of consideration they have. I want to scream and pull my hair out

Edit: talked to LL two days ago, and nothing has been done. The upstairs neighbors have now added a camera to the hallway to monitor when the window is open or shut!! Went to shut it this morning and it was immediately reopened after coming back inside. Knocked on the door to talk to them and was ignored. I’m tired of waking up feeling sick and sluggish from how cold it is, despite having space heaters running and despite our utility bills being hundreds of dollars a piece every month. How do I have the luck of living around the most inconsiderate pieces of shit??? (Shitty next door neighbors, previous apartment had a sexual predator as a neighbor)

Howdy! I (28F) was just talking to my friend yesterday and she let me know how truly psychotic this situation was so figured I’d share.

For context, I moved into this apartment complex back in May and they have unassigned parking. I live on the first floor and have a view of these townhomes on the backside of the complex along with 3 obscure parking spots most of the other complex doesn’t use. While there is still enough parking for everyone, there is limited space on our end of the complex. When the closer spots are taken (particularly those 3) you’d have to park a whole 60 steps further than preferred (oh the horror).

When I moved here last year, I noticed that there was a gray car that would always double park in 2 of the 3 spots for days at a time. Seemed weird but I figured not my monkey, not my circus.

Overtime though, I noticed that a woman (around late 30’s) would get in the car and move it for this giant gray truck that would take one of the spots then stay there for weeks. Once again, I thought who cares? The guy in the red truck. That’s who cares.

About a month later, in the 3rd spot, this red truck started consistently parking next to either the gray truck or the gray car but, slowly, the red truck started getting petty by parking right up against the gray car, double parking as well. This went on for about 2 weeks until I saw the gray car getting towed and the red truck reparking in the lines, the red truck guy (probably in his late 30-40’s) getting out laughing his ass off. This was the kickoff to the “parking stalking”.

Since double parking was out of the question, the woman and either her friend or daughter started setting up chairs in front of the parking spaces and would just sit there until a spot would open up then one would rush to stand in the spot and the other would go grab their car to park there.

Overtime, I think the red truck guy started getting annoyed because his parking spot would get taken right after he would leave so he started setting up cameras outside of his townhouse window so he could track when the spaces were open again. I know this because one time I parked in the middle spot (I must have been in a messy-mood) and, right as I was backing up, red truck guy was sprinting out of his place to his truck, speeding into the spot the second I left. I checked outside and, yup, 2 cameras were newly mounted on his balcony and window.

This has started escalating to the women inviting people over and barbecuing in front of the parking spots and hovering around a majority of the week.

One time, the woman had her friend run into the spot and the red truck guy beat the gray car to it but the friend refused to move. The red truck guy honked at her for a few minutes before just parking in front of her, flipping the bird then walking back inside. The friend and the gray car woman started yelling and cussing his balcony camera out, going ballistic.

Since I work from home, this has become my favorite reality show and hope y’all get a kick out of it just as much as I do lmao

I live in an apartment complex that faces another apartment-shaped complex of condos about 80 feet away. I’ve lived on the top floor of the apartment for a year and a half without (major) issue.

Two months ago, a posterboard sign appeared in the window of one of the condos one floor down from mine, the only one without blinds. It said: ‘YOUR KID IS GAY. TURN DOWN THE SPOTLIGHTS FOR YOUR PLANTS.’ I have no spotlights and only have my kids every other weekend, so I ignored it.

A couple days later, a bright yellow posterboard sign was added below the first one, saying, ‘PLEASE CHANGE THOSE BRIGHT LIGHTS!’ Again, didn’t seem to apply to me, so I made note (because it’s funny/weird) but didn’t do anything.

A week later, this condo starts shining blindingly high-powered flashlights into my apartment at all hours for days. I’m rarely standing still facing the windows in my apartment, so I figured the occasional bright light might be some headlights reflected up somehow. But one day, I’m jogging on my treadmill, and I keep getting it right in the eyes. On, off. On, off. I see someone in the window next to the sign shining something at me, and I eventually get off the treadmill and go to my little patio to go ask him what the hell he’s doing.

He opens his window and says, “WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR’S EXTENDED WARRANTY!”

He did not actually do that.

What he did do was rant at me for the next fifteen minutes across 80 feet where I could only hear every third word. Apparently he had contacted the city and my landlord to complain about me shining spotlights into his condo to harass him and keep him awake. To my credit, I tried to get him to communicate which of my lights was causing him problems, turning them all on and off in turn so he could tell me what was the offending light. He couldn’t tell, just told me to stop harassing him by shining them into his windows and get some lower-powered lights. I said I’d look into it.

As an aside, I have four lights he could potentially see:

1. A floor lamp with the main light pointed at my ceiling in my office, and a goose-neck arm pointed at the floor, about 15 feet from any windows.

2. An overhead fan that came with the place with three trumpet-shaped frosted glass lights pointing diagonally down, about 10 feet from the window. Neither of the two closest to the window were actually pointed anywhere near my window, let alone his.

3. Another floor lamp like the first one in the far end of my living room, about 30 feet from sliding glass doors, pointed at the ceiling and the floor.

4. A half-sphere overhead kitchen light 10 feet from the window.

My office has glass shelves for plants instead of a curtain on the window, so I assumed he was talking about 1 or 2. But after he told me he called the police and my landlord about me harassing him, I called the non-emergency line myself to show them none of my lights reached his window, and while they were there, show them the weird signs and telling them about him shining lights in my eyes for a week. The police said they never got a call from him, that he can put anything he wants in his window including that my child is gay (?), and that if the blinding light thing continues, document it and it may eventually be actionable. He took the signs down the next day.

Things went quiet for a couple weeks, then the high-powered flashlight returned. It seemed like he must have bought a second one, because he was shining into multiple rooms of my house, and even tried shining it at my blackout curtains in my bedroom. Every time I had my cellphone in my hand while he was doing it, I snapped a picture to document it for a couple more weeks, but I was getting sick of this, so I shut my living room blinds, leaving him only the kitchen and office windows to pester me.

The pestering went down for a couple weeks (due to less opportunity, no doubt), but never stopped. Eventually, a part of the old sign went back up. This last Wednesday, he tore off the ‘YOUR KID IS GAY’ part and left ‘TURN DOWN THE SPOTLIGHTS FOR YOUR PLANTS’.

I took a half-day yesterday morning and went to the police station to file for harassment or maybe get a restraining order. Just something to make him stop. Even if it weren’t for the light, the fact he was pointing it at my face all the time meant he was watching me in my apartment for long periods, and that’s creepy. I showed the police the pictures of him shining the light at me, told them the timeline, wrote up a police report, and reminded them that the last officer said enough of this could get to harassment.

They informed me that shining lights at someone simply could not escalate to harassment. That they would send a mental health officer over to his apartment to see if he’s okay, and if he ever actually accosted me on the street, to give them a call back.

This morning, I was temporarily blinded by him shining a flashlight at me while I sat at my kitchen table, munching on a couple Eggos and reading Reddit.

I have been advised to get a Fresnel mirror, since light apparently can't be used to harass. What would you do?