In early September, I moved into a rental townhouse. I moved out on my mentally ill wife after getting a restraining order against her, because she had completely gone off the deep end.
The first three weekends in my new place, the neighbor to the south listens to music at very high volume, both friday and saturday nights, until after 2am. I said nothing, although it was extremely annoying and prevented me from sleeping.
I was also having a bit of a problem with them watching TV until all hours of the night, also loudly, in the upstairs bedroom right next to mine. I rearranged the room to move my bed away from the common wall and turned to using a fan for white noise, to cover the TV noise.
The fourth weekend of loud music, I decided that enough was enough. I spent a good 20 minutes, at 1am, triangulating the sound to be absolutely, 100% certain that it was coming from that unit, even though it was pretty obvious that it was. Then I went over and knocked on the door. Knocked, waited. Knocked again, waited. Pounded the crap out of the door. I hear person approach door, then nothing. I yell “Ok, if you won’t turn it down, then I’ll just go call the Police!”.
Music gets turned down. So I DO NOT call the Police, I simply attempt to go to bed. 15 minutes later, music gets turned back up. Damn, but that pisses me off. I call the Police.
Police don’t show for 45 minutes. By that time, person is in bed. She claims that she was spending a quiet night at home and doesn’t know what this is all about (Lying to the Police. Smart.)
On Sunday, I try to talk to them three times. They don’t answer the door. In a foolish, angry move, I leave a note on their door saying;
“You have until Midnight on Friday and Saturday Nights.
You have until 11pm the rest of the week.
After that, you WILL turn it down.”
Monday I wake to a note on my door threatening to file harassment charges on me if I ever call the Police on them again or if I dare to knock on their door. And calling me an asshole. I go to see the complex manager, who proceeds to yell at me. I am accused of calling the Police three times, of making physical threats, of all sorts of nonsense.
Complex Manager is total twip. She believes them and not me, because these people have been there for five years and I just moved in. The entire time she does nothing but interrupt, yell and contradict me. I remain (mostly) calm and continue to argue my side.
Mid-day, woman invites CM over to view their TH. They don’t have a stereo, so it couldn’t possibly be them. (Ahem, they do have a sound system and digital cable, so they have the music channels and the ability to play CDs) They don’t have a TV in that bedroom, so I’m simply delusional.
Afternoon, I encounter husband in the parking lot. While I’m talking to him, the CM comes up. Husband says that he wasn’t home those nights, so he doesn’t know what happened. When I say something about the TV (in front of CM), he says “I was wondering why the TV was in the closet”. Hubby admits that wife is a bit unstable and can fly off the handle rather easily.
So. We have shown that the Police were called at least 3 times in less than a month, by not just me, but by others. That she lied to both the Police and the CM. That she’s a total nutball. And damned inconsiderate.
Complex manager asks me to call her first if anything more happens.
A week later, a bunch of perfume is thrown on my deck, which is directly attached to theirs, with a short wall between. I am deathly allergic to perfume. My neck swells, my skin itches, I have a little attack and am forced to stop opening my windows because of it.
Complex workers are overheard discussing how evil I am for badmouthing these people and accusing them of having a loud TV upstairs when they don’t have one in that room. Despite the fact that it has been proven that they do.
Over the next 6-7 weeks, I knock on the common wall 3 seperate times to get them to turn down the upstairs TV. Most of the time (since they use the TV a lot more than that), I give them a pass. I only knock when it’s really loud.
Saturday night was the third time. I knock at 12:30am. They don’t turn it down. So I call the CM and leave a message. At 1am, they turn it up! I bang on wall again. They do not turn it down. At first, I just wanted to sleep, so I go into my second bedroom, thinking of sleeping on the futon. But it’s so loud that I can hear it in there too. So I go downstairs, thinking that I will take a second sleeping pill and sleep on the couch. But I can hear it in my kitchen, at the opposite side of my unit.
Damn. So I call the CM again. At 1:15am, the TV gets turned way down. I hear them talking. At 1:25am, I hear their front door slam. At 1:45am, the TV gets turned back up. Turns out that the CM went there, they turned it down before answering the door and swore up and down that they had been listening to it at that volume all night, while I had been wildly banging on the wall and swearing at them.
At this point, it should be noted that the CM has not returned any of my calls or spoken to me since the first problem encounter, roughly 7 weeks earlier. I guess my good manners, combined with calmly telling her that I didn’t appreciate her aggresive approach, didn’t go over well.
Today I go to speak to the CM in the office. She has gone home “sick” after the couple came in and complained to her, once again, about how evil and abusive I was. I try to call CM. She doesn’t answer and doesn’t return my call. Other office person tells me that CM is talking to the President of the parent company to see what she can do about ME.
sigh
So after this, I have contacted a Lawyer and left a message at the state Tenants Union. I’m trying to find out the parent company (which hasn’t been easy), so that I can also talk to her boss about this.
Unfortunately, my lease runs until the end of February. I hate moving in winter, but I guess I’ll have to. If they try to force me out earlier, it will be a legal fight. Especially if they file an Unlawful Detainer, as that would prevent me from being able to rent another place.
