Revenge On
The Threatening Neighbor
Dear RG,
I am uncertain where to start save to tell you that the creepy sociopath who
has the unit upstairs from mine has not only made my life absolutely
miserable for the past 10 years but is now posing a very real threat to my
personal safety (which I will only be able to prove and do something about
presupposing -- God forbid -- this guy is actually successful in harming
me).
I purchased a unit 10 years ago in a small (7 unit) building. The
"President" (and Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, you get the idea) of
the board was this creepy little one-legged (I kid you not) man who had/has
the unit above mine. It was originally a building inhabited by elderly women
-- all of whom thought the sun and moon rose and set in this horrid little
man's navel. As it turns out, once the old women began to die off and the
units turn over in ownership, it was revealed (by yours truly) that this
little idiot had grossly mismanaged the cooperative building's affairs
(e.g., he had neglected to file a state corporate annual report in excess of
15 years and our corporate status had long-since lapsed which cost several
thousand dollars to put right in order to reincorporate and operate legally,
he had "repaired" things himself and misappropriated corporate funds to
"compensate" himself for his efforts, etc., etc., etc. . . . the list goes
on and on).
The bottom line is that I managed to get the affairs of the building back in
shape and operating legally and properly with the help of two other newer
owners -- both of whom have since sold their units. In addition, other units
have also sold so we have several nice new people who haven't a clue what
transpired in the past. As a consequence, this little creep has presented
himself as the older, all-knowing person who is only too willing to "help
everybody out" -- that is, he is attempting to make himself into little Mr.
Indispensable once again.
I had intended to sell my unit because I was simply fed up with dealing with
him. Towards that end, I moved out for a couple of months while I renovated
my place completely in preparation for its eventual sale. Please understand
that this little creep bounces across his floor/my ceiling each and every
time my telephone rings (I cannot have a private conversation and I
certainly cannot have guests in my home while he is up there), I have had to
call the police on him (when I first moved in) because he was creeping
around my windows at all hours of the night and early morning, he runs a
motorized plumbing pump (that is all I can figure out that it is because he
is too cheap to get a plumber and his garbage disposal evidently broke down
-- when I had mine replaced, the plumber told me that it was really
difficult to access the pipe behind the wall and it was not cheap for me to
have a new one installed) that he runs down his sink at intervals during the
night, thereby setting up a vibration that is adequate to disturb my sleep
(at regular intervals such as midnight, 2:30 am and then again at 4:30 am)
but apparently, no one else is disturbed by it in the building (???), and
well, you can well understand why I wanted to move. He has simply made my
life hell for the past 10 years and I obviously wanted to get out.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that the sale of my unit would be based on
comparables within this building, I will not be able to get my money out of
my unit and cannot afford to reinvest elsewhere. Plus, I have to tell you, I
genuinely like my neighborhood and my neighbors and I don't really want to
be pushed out of my home because of this little creep.
The bottom line is that I have moved back in and now I have a car. This
little creep thought he was really going to be rid of me and when he found
that he wasn't, he elected to make my life so miserable that I threatened to
initiate a lawsuit against him for harassment and made no bones about
letting everyone else in the building know how he had screwed up the
building's management for years. Now that I have a car parked in the
carport, my transmission hose mysteriously developed a hole in it (I could
have been seriously injured when my car ran out of transmission fluid on the
freeway and began sputtering -- I thank my guardian angel that I was able to
pull over on the shoulder and get help rather than stalling in the middle of
the freeway and getting killed and perhaps harming someone else) and most
recently, despite the fact that my car was checked out thoroughly and is
still under warranty, the other day my brake light went on for no reason. No
reason, that is, until a friend who knows what I have gone through with this
guy upstairs informed me that he could have been tampering with my brake
fluid or brake line. I cannot afford to park my car off-site and I will
obviously have to have it towed into the shop rather than chancing driving
it (via the freeway) into the auto dealership/repair shop.
I really need help. This guy quite obviously considers me such a threat that
he is going to get rid of me one way or another. He is a real
obsessive-compulsive nut in that he always keeps to a very rigid schedule
and I can time him down to the minute, if that helps. I want to get this guy
so thoroughly that HE moves out. I don't want close friends telling the
police that this guy was responsible for putting me into the hospital or
worse yet, killing me (due to the tampering with my car) and as I said,
because I cannot prove this until it has had a deleterious outcome, I can't
do anything in the way of reporting him. He DOES have a car of his own
parked on-site. How do I make this guy's life as miserable as he has made
mine for me and get HIM to get out? Light-hearted revenge is not the answer
here. I desperately need some serious suggestions and FAST.
Thank you in advance for helping me out here.
K - The woman who lives below peg-leg Pete.
Hi
K,
My first suggestion is this:
Write down in detail everything that has transpired over the years. From
dates, times, events, feelings about events, everything.
Then call a "meeting of owners "of the other 5 units. Hand each of them a
copy of what you have. Tell them of your suspicions of recent events. Ask
that they begin a small "community watch" in your building to look after
each other.
The danger here is that you don't want to become the one that seems
paranoid, but you do want to let everyone know, calmly and plainly, what has
happened and how you fear for your safety.
Continue these meetings monthly. Make sure that your neighbors understand
that you want them watching your back and your car.
My second suggestion is get yourself a "for sale" sign for your unit. Be the
private seller you always knew your were. In that I mean pick a price that
is too high for anyone to actually buy your unit, or at least make yourself
a tidy profit, and warn Mr. Pegleg that unless he flies straight, your unit
will never sell. Detail to him what needs to be fixed about his unit that
affects you selling yours. If his hope is in moving you out he should be
somewhat cooperative about repairs. Let him be "Mr. Indispensable" for you.
Other small notes:
You can work on his obsessive/compulsive personality several ways.
One is to have some oil, transmission fluid, etc, seem to have leaked from
his car by pouring some on the pavement in his parking spot.
If it is covered parking, a wild bird suet feeder block strategically placed
above his car will deliver all kinds of nastiness onto his car from the
birds and other creatures that find it. Pencil lead into his locks can cause
almost untraceable annoyances as he forces the key into the lock, breaking
down the evidence but causing frustration that the locks don't work. Great
for car, home, etc.
If your city offers health inspections, start making calls about "odors,
noises and such" that draws their attention to him.
City bylaws usually offer some sort of protection from noise, smell, even
the number of pets a dwelling can have.
The SPCA can be called upon for immediate inspections of the poor conditions
of the animals (?) in his care. Whether he has any or not. Often they can be
called anonymously.
Although mail subscriptions cannot be interrupted without braking federal
laws, you could subscribe him to the worst smut... and report such things.
Your main reaction to his action is in pivoting the new owners onto your
side negating his effects on them, transpiring to work him into a nervous
lather through changes in routines, and making his calm existence
interrupted with social and public services checking up on him.
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