The neighbors from hell

[demnan]

Here is my letter to my condo association:

Someone in my Condo area (I’m at .........) is throwing cigarette butts and cigarette waste in the common areas front and back of my condo. When I first moved in I complained to the people upstairs because a lighted cigarette sailed into the grass one afternoon when I was on my patio. This was before all the rain we’ve had and the grass was dry and it smoked on landing. Luckily I had my hose out as I was watering my flowers and I put the cigarette out. After this I complained to the young couple who lives in the condo directly above mine. They denied doing it.

But thereafter I not only found cigarettes on the common areas, but I also found them on my patio! So it looks like my neighbors upstairs had a problem with my complaints! Now I have to worry about whether I have anything on my patio that might be set on fire. Because of this I purchased an expensive security system and fire detection system because I was so afraid after the Kingstowne fire that the same thing would happen here.

Now these same neighbors have obtained a very large Labrador, a lovely dog, but when the young man plays with the dog in the condo it makes an extreme amount of noise. Last night a framed poster fell off my wall and the glass shattered and the frame broke. I took this upstairs to show the neighbors the consequences of their thoughtlessness and all he could say was “ok”.

I have not been living here a month but I can’t tell you how this young couple have violated my home life, making the front of the condo area look trashy with cigarette butts and turning my patio into their own private ashtray. I love dogs but a large dog needs to be played with outside, and there are plenty of areas in my neighborhood where they could run the dog without damaging my property.

Please look into these matters, I’ve complained to the guilty parties but they don’t seem to care that they violate and damage my property. I’m at wit’s end.


I doubt this will come to anything. So what do you guys think? Time for me to buy a gun, or what?

[truthspeaker]

1. If the condo association won't help, it's time to move

[demnan]

2. I just got there July 6!!!

I'm not moving again, easier to kill them than to move!!!!

[GOPisEvil]

3. Go to the condo board!

Get them involved.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

4. No, don't buy a gun,

but I can understand your frustration. I lived in a condo a long time ago and the association had a rule on pets. Any pet could weigh no more than 25 lbs. Maybe your condo has a similar rule.

Keep complaining and keep a journal of the things they do that might be in violation of condo rules (remember to include dates).

Regarding the picture frame, go out and buy a new one and send the bill to your neighbor with a nice note (keep it nice, you don't want to get a bad reputation) stating how everyone needs to be aware that all of the neighbors in a condo are very close and need to be mindful of other people's privacy and how one person's behavior affects the other neighbors.

Good luck!

[demnan]

5. I thought about that but it would only piss me off more

They could have at least said they were sorry when I showed them the broken frame, but they didn't have enough sense to do even that so I know they wouldn't pay to replace it.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. As ashamed as I am to admit this, I was worse than your neighbors.

To be perfectly frank, I was a nightmare of a neighbor until Mrs. Cat and I calmed down and got married. Keep in mind that the cops coming to ticket me for noise never stopped me; neither did being kicked out of a few apartments. The motivation for me to keep my insanity at a manageable level came from a neighbor who knocked on the door one day, explained that "we don't need to have animosity between neighbors," invited me over to a gathering of other neighbors who said the same thing. The experience spooked the shit out of me, and I soundproofed my apartment. I also made it a point to be practically invisible.

You may think that your neighbors won't be as flexible as I was; perhaps that is correct. But keep in mind, I was a bit scary, myself: 6'3" tall; blue hair; eyebrow and tongue piercings; combat boots; a girlfriend (now wife) who cursed like an EMT and looked like a funeral fairy; and a band that apparently refused to play in any discernible scale or rhyme scheme. I was a walking profanity, and yet I was brought low by a man who spoke softly and apparently had read The Art of War.

Anyway, I'm the model neighbor, now--and I've had to "mainstream" my appearance a bit, too, but that is another story.

Good luck with your crew of numbskulls! I hope this helped.

[demnan]

8. The sad thing is

I was really friendly and tried to be nice when I moved in. I'm always really friendly and nice to people in my building but I've never lived anywhere where the people were as unfriendly as they are here.

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Is it more that just the ones upstairs?

Did you go from city to suburbs, or something? How many other units feature antisocial freaks? What other "unfriendly" things have happened?

[demnan]

10. Yeah

I went from Arlington to Woodbridge VA - but I grew up in Woodbridge so I knew what it's like.

One other unfriendly thing happened, but it was my fault. I had painters in before I moved in and they parked in someone's reserved spot. This young woman came down livid and banged on the door. I apologized and quickly had the painters move their vehicle to my space (actually I had asked them not to park where they did before but there were language differences). Although she was in the right I must say she was really unfriendly toward a new person who had not even moved in yet.

I actually am friendly with another couple who lives a few doors down. They wave and say hi.

[demnan]

7. I just phoned the condo association

I should hear back from a board member soon.