Keeping in mind the answers from this thread on doing welfare checks for an absent neighbor, I present the following story.
Okay, here’s the situation. [del]My parents went away on a week’s vacation [/del] I live in your standard Manhattan doorman building. This is where neighborly behavior means let’s pretend we don’t all live side-by-side, cheek-by-jowl, sharing walls with each other like cows for the slaughter so we can stay sane, got it? and we only say a brief murmured “hi there” in the elevators.
The exception to this: my sister and I, who each live a floor apart. I’m on the 9th floor, she’s on the 8th. Needless to say, we’re close, and I often stop by her floor to say hello.
For the past week, as I’ve left the elevator, I noticed that the apartment that happens to be directly below me (my downstairs neighbor, about whom I know nothing except she’s a single woman roughly in her upper 40s) has been targeted by our landlord’s friendly process server for not paying rent for two months (at least).
Instead of slipping the notice under the door, or taping up the notice folded up, the habit is to post the “You’re two months late, asshole, pay up by the end of the month or we begin eviction proceedings!” notice so that it’s completely visible to all and sundry, including the amount of your rent, your name, etc.
Anyway, this notice has been up for a week. Trust me, when we get these things–yes, I’ve been behind once or twice myself in 20 years–we rip that thing down ASAP. It’s embarrassing and public (as it’s intended to be, and I understand why–they want the money owed them).
But this neighbor hasn’t done so. Fine, I guess she’s just been away for a week, right?
However. I’m feeding my sister & brother-in-law’s cat while they’re away for the weekend, and have been down each day. Yesterday curiosity got the better of me and I brazenly walked up to the neighbor’s door to look a bit more closely at the details. Yes, I’m nosy. She lives directly underneath me and has the same apartment layout, so I was curious to see if she paid the same as I do.*
As I approached, I discovered that there wasn’t just the regular notice: there was also a folded/crumpled-up set of “Notice of Court Appearance” papers crammed against her doorknob, which when I turned my head I could see were dated early July.
No one could have entered or left that apartment without those papers falling to the ground. This means the clock rolls back to late July since anyone’s been inside/outside the apartment.
Maybe she just skipped town. Unusual but not impossible. However, weird thing #3 that I noticed today when I went to feed my sister’s cat: I saw a cockroach on the floor not far from the neighbor’s door.
I know what you’re thinking: “OH NO! A COCKROACH IN AN NYC APARTMENT!! CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD!” But see, the thing is, I haven’t seen a cockroach in my building in at least ten years. And until a couple of years ago, I was ill and a clutterer/hoarder, with garbage and yuck everywhere. (I’ve outlined this in a thread elsewhere on the SDMB.) If I didn’t have cockroaches, there are no cockroaches!
So this has me worried. Has she left food/pets/who knows what out that’s now rotting away for months and attracting vermin? Even worse: Is… is she attracting vermin, if you know what I mean?
I admit I went up to the doorway and took a sniff. I didn’t notice any, uh, smell, but we do have air conditioning. I’m not sure if that’ll prevent any major corpse-related odors from wafting outside, so I’m probably worried for no reason.
My question, at long last, is: I’m going to ask my super about whether anyone has seen this woman recently. If not, should I call the police for a welfare check? As I understand it’s not the landlord’s business and he’s not legally allowed to enter the apartment except in an emergency–as in, when the police ask him to. But am I worrying for nothing? Thoughts? The problem will resolve itself without me, but I don’t like the thought of a possible corpse rotting away right below me.
Anyone want to take any guesses as to what the story is here?
(This apartment seems to be cursed. The last person who lived there burned her kitchen up and was subsequently evicted.)
If nothing else, I need to mention the cockroach because fuck that noise! I live right above her, as I’ve said, and I don’t want those bastards crawling up into my place. They… they may already have done so. (choie promptly gathers cats around her for protection…)
- And holy crap, is she getting ripped off! $2300 for 600 sq. ft! This is a semi-decent building on a nice block in the upper East 50s, and there have been some renovations done, but $2300 is unusual, to say the least. I’m rent-stabilized having lived here for 20+ years, so I’m really getting a major deal–$1000+ less–but I’ve looked into market prices for this building and $2300 is normally what you’d pay for an alcove studio, aka a “junior one” in apartment lingo. Girlfriend is getting ripped off. Assuming she’s alive…