If a rental feels like too good a deal, there’s probably a reason lurking just below the surface — or in this case, the basement.

With cigarette smoke, screaming fits, and shady visitors flooding the downstairs unit, one tenant devised a frosty plan to get this nightmare neighbor out of their lives.

Read on for the full story!

I froze my psycho neighbor out of her apartment

In college, my two friends and I decided to find a place together off-campus.

We found a beautiful three-bedroom house with surprisingly affordable rent.

The basement of the house was listed as a separate apartment, but as it had a separate entrance and the indoor stairwell had been blocked off, we weren’t worried.

And the thermostat was upstairs.

But then everything changed.

Then the demon neighbor moved in. From upstairs, we could hear everything.

This adult woman would call her mother and scream at her to pay for her cellphone bills and give her “grocery” money (aka Taco Bell and cheap tequila).

She would scream at whatever guy she was entertaining to bring her drugs, and one day, she brought home three puppies to scream at, too.

We were terrified of this woman, and the noise was a nightmare.

The tenants soon realized just how deep they had dug themselves into this situation.

Also, we’d been idiotic enough to sign a lease stating we were responsible for all utilities, period, meaning we were now financing her gas, water, and electric.

But with only two months left on the lease, we thought we could just ride it out.

Somehow things got even worse.

But then she started smoking. Constantly.

According to the landlord, she’d “quit for good” when she’d signed the lease, but “for good” only lasted two days.

Since it was winter, the heat was running nearly 24/7, and the smoke was wafting up from the vents.

Our apartment and all our belongings began to reek with smoke.

They pleaded with the landlord for help, but of course, his hands were “tied”.

We contacted the landlord, because we’d signed for a non-smoking apartment.

He told us we lived in a state where you could technically call an apartment non-smoking even if it shared ventilation with a smoking apartment.

(**** you, leasing laws.)

At this point, my two roommates were heading out for a two-week vacation (they were online students, while I was residential), leaving me alone in the apartment with the demon smoker in the basement.

The smoke was really starting to take a toll on the upstairs tenant.

I couldn’t sleep or eat, because my idiotic stomach decided to react to all the secondhand smoke by aching and cramping constantly.

After three days, I was a little insane. I made a plan.

They made some preparations.

I checked the forecast: lows in the 20s all week.

I borrowed a friend’s ultra-insulated sleeping bag.

I bought one of those ski masks with the holes for your eyes and mouth.

I got out my stocking cap, my silk long underwear, my woolen socks, and my down parka.

I bought tea, hot cocoa, and ramen, and prepared to live off a diet of hot liquids.

Then they sprung into action, and the downstairs neighbor noticed immediately.

And I turned off the freaking heat.

Day 1: She’s screaming at her mother for forcing her to move into this frozen apartment.

Day 2: She’s screaming at her boyfriend (drug dealer?) because he won’t let her move in with him.

Day 3: She’s screaming at the landlord about how she’s freezing.

And that finally woke the landlord from his stupor.

Day 4: The landlord is at my door. I greet him in full ski mask/parka/stocking cap array, looking like I’m heading out to rob Santa Claus at the North Pole.

He asks me if I don’t find it a little chilly in the house. I reply I’d found all the cigarette smoke a little warm.

Day 5: She’s screaming about “THE JERKS UPSTAIRS” to anyone who will listen, and I’m sitting upstairs clutching my car keys and my pepper spray with 911 typed into my phone.

Finally, the tenant starts to see some results.

She finally decides she’s leaving and moving in with Greg, “even though he just got out of jail, and he lives in that creepy house in the woods with all those biting dogs.”

Day 6: She’s GONE. I silently bless Greg.

Moral of the story: There’s a reason the rent seems too good to be true.

What a nightmare!

At least it’s over now.

What did Reddit have to say?

The number of shady rentals on the market may just come close to outnumbering the good ones.

With great power comes great (financial) responsibility.

This tenant did a great job painting a picture.

Maybe this landlord is even shadier than these tenants initially thought.

Some neighbors crack under pressure, but this one froze under it instead.

Turns out, one cold front was all it took to send this nightmare neighbor packing!

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.