When you live in an apartment building, you have to expect that you are going to hear your neighbors from time to time, but sometimes it can get excessive.

What would you do if your neighbors were constantly fighting in the middle of the night and even got a dog that barked at all hours?

That is the situation the tenant in this story was facing, so he played the long game and gathered all the evidence needed to get them evicted.

Neighbors refused to be quiet, so I played the long game and made them move out

A few years ago I got hired at a job in a big city with expensive rent.

I slept on my brother’s couch for a few months while I struggled to find a place, but eventually found someone in an old building who wanted to get out of their rental agreement.

The apartment was pretty close to work and in a nice area, so I took it, almost too good to be true.

Turns out it wasn’t too good to be true.

It didn’t take long for me to realize I made a big mistake.

The building was old, and the walls were made of plaster.

Any sound reverberated like crazy, I could hear people cough and sneeze like they were standing in my place.

What’s worse, I shared one of these thin walls with my neighbors, who were absolutely insane.

They just would not shut up.

That would get old quick.

I would hear a man and woman argue constantly, often until 2 or 3 in the morning, and by arguing I mean literally screaming and shouting and throwing things against the wall.

When they weren’t arguing they were always just LOUD, shouting and whining at each other like little kids constantly.

Pretty much the quintessential toxic, obnoxious couple.

And the stuff they would argue about was so stupid!

Here are some examples of stupid arguments.

I remember hearing an argument about who’s turn it was to steal shampoo from the drug store.

One time the boyfriend decided to yell “THE BIBLE SAYS WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS” over and over again for some reason.

Almost every day it would be something different and uniquely annoying.

One day, the noise was even worse.

The first real incident happened when I was woken up by screaming and banging against my wall at 1am.

I did what I usually did (blasted Kenny G through my speakers at the wall until they shut up), but this time it didn’t work.

The banging got louder so I stopped the music, but then it got worse and sounded like a fight. It was hard to describe, but it sounded like the woman was getting beaten up.

At this point I was more concerned than mad so I called my superintendent, who told me to call the police (not the US).

There were more concerning sounds the next day.

The police came, the neighbors told them everything was fine, the police left, it was quiet, I went back to bed.

Literally the next night I am woken up again at 1am by my neighbors having another argument.

This time I heard a BOOM, then the woman say “oh my god” in an weird voice, and then banging and what sounds like someone being strangled.

The noises were freaky and way more concerning than even last time so I called the police again.

Well of course they are being quiet now.

The police came, the neighbors told them everything was fine again, the police left again, and it was quiet again, but this time the police called me back and basically told me I was an idiot for wasting their time.

They said there was no evidence of any fight and both neighbors denied anything even happened.

Even the superintendent said that no one else on the floor complained and intimated that I was starting to become a nuisance.

I decided from this point forward I was going to go full Spielberg with video evidence.

He started compiling evidence.

The noise was bad for the next 6 months, and I would get woken up at least once a week after midnight by yelling and screaming.

I made a few written complaints, a few videos as evidence, and sent them to the property manager.

There was enough to serve them an eviction notice and go to the landlord/tenant board, but somehow the property manager messed up the date for the hearing and it never actually took place.

Thankfully the noise stopped anyway (for now…), so I assumed the neighbors finally got the message and would be quiet from now on.

I didn’t fight for another hearing because the eviction notice gave the neighbors an opportunity to be quiet, which they sort of did.

He’s pretty proud of the evidence he collected.

As an aside, the video evidence I gathered during this time was BEAUTIFUL.

I was pleasantly surprised that my phone was very good at picking up their voices. It got to the point where I would get excited when I was woken up in the middle of the night, because I would run out into the hallway and film their door and room number as the noise blasted out and echoed down the hall.

I gathered some clear, unambiguous evidence, pure gold, and it was all timestamped at around midnight or 1am. But because the hearing got cancelled I didn’t get to present my evidence (at least not yet…)

Things calmed down…for awhile.

For a few months, everything was reasonably ok.

They were still loud during the day and there were a few times after 11pm on weeknights where I went to their door and asked them to keep it down, but other than that things were mostly better, and I was starting to be able to relax in my place for once.

Yet again it was too good to be true…

One day around 2:30 in the afternoon I start hearing this weird, high-pitched screeching coming from my neighbors place.

It went on and on…

And it doesn’t stop for hours. I’m sitting on my couch trying to figure out what it is. It sounds like a giant tropical bird moved in next door.

Well it turns out, after all the stuff we went through a year ago with the noise complaints and eviction notice, my neighbors decided it would be a good idea to get a dog.

And of course these obnoxious people couldn’t just get a quiet, normal, well-behaved dog.

They had to get a completely untrained, 4 month old, tiny, yappy Pomeranian that was INCAPABLE of being quiet.

It was a very noisy dog.

This thing would yap and screech and bark over and over and over EVERY DAY for HOURS.

While I’m still coming to terms with how miserable my life is about to become, I get a note under my door.

On it, my neighbor writes that she just got the dog as an emotional support animal for her mental health, and asks the whole hallway to please try to tolerate the noise.

I’d already been living next to and listening to these neighbors scream at each other for over a year. They were confirmed morons; two insane, toxic idiots in a mutually abusive relationship.

Why do people think a dog is going to help an already stressful situation?

I knew with CERTAINTY that they weren’t capable of taking care of this dog properly and the noise situation would go crazy.

And regarding the mental health, I was going through my own troubles during this time (in part due to lack of sleep) and was seeing a therapist.

The last year of complaints should have made it clear to anyone that noise was a problem for me, especially getting woken up at night.

Of all the things this neighbor could have chosen to help their mental health, they chose the most obnoxious thing possible.

They knew getting a loud dog was going to be a problem and they did it anyway.

Time to collect more evidence and do some research.

It was time for WAR.

I realized if I wanted this noise to stop, or to be even taken seriously, I needed a mountain of evidence against my neighbors.

I researched the evictions process and everything that was required.

I checked the forms my superintendent would have to send out for an eviction notice.

I read threads on reddit about slumlords and neighbor disputes.

It became clear to me the only way to win was to be religiously disciplined both in gathering evidence and refusing to retaliate (no more Kenny G).

He eventually submitted another noise complaint.

I became a noise-complaint monk, taking a vow of disciplined log taking, and relying on mantras like “shut up… shut up….”

Once I submitted my first written complaint, things got bad.

My neighbors flipped out when they realized I was complaining again.

I heard stuff like “OF ALL THE APARTMENTS IN — WE HAVE TO LIVE NEXT TO THIS GUY?!” for a few days.

Then the loud arguments in the middle of the night started all over again.

Now there’s even more noise.

And one of the neighbors got into the new habit of SLAMMING their chest of drawers against my wall at 2am.

The barking also got much worse.

The emotional-support-animal letter said that the barking would get better once the dog was trained, but from what I could hear my neighbors methods of training began and ended with screaming at the dog just like they screamed at each other each day.

“NO! BAD DOG!”, “BE QUIET!”, “SHUT UP!” came through my wall in new and varied combinations every day.

And every time an argument started between my neighbors the dog would always join in, even in the middle of the night.

The constant level of noise was insane.

This went on for over a year!

For over a year, l logged every instance of yelling, shouting, and barking coming from my neighbors apartment.

It didn’t matter if it was after 11pm or not at this point, I was trying to demonstrate how I can’t get peace at any time of day.

And when I say every instance, I mean I had minute-to-minute logs of every loud noise and every word I heard from my neighbors wall. If I was woken up in the middle of the night it went in the log. If I heard the dog bark from 12pm-1pm on February 2nd it went in the log.

If I heard someone yell “YOU PEED ON THE FLOOR AGAIN” at the dog it went in the log.

Honestly it sucked and made me almost lose my mind, but by the time I was done I had pages and pages of notes

He knew that wouldn’t be enough.

Obviously written logs wouldn’t be enough.

I already had a decently fat stack of video evidence to demonstrate the true character of my neighbors, but I needed current evidence if there was going to be another hearing.

Now I was Coppola in the heart of darkness.

I got more videos of screaming and shouting coming out of their door.

I got videos of banging and barking against my shared wall.

I got videos of screaming, shouting, banging, and barking all at the same time, or in any combination.

It was a lot of evidence.

I had amassed a war-chest of video evidence to be deployed at the next available hearing, but I was getting war-weary

At this point I was like 6 or 8 months into the complaints process and I could barely take it anymore.

I was getting woken up like 2 nights a week and would be a zombie at work (I complained about my neighbors at work often).

I can only imagine, this sounds insane.

I was finding it harder and harder to keep myself from blasting music, or banging on their wall, or kicking their door down.

But I managed to stay strong, and I followed the eviction process like it was my religion.

I sent in a second written complaint, then a third which resulted in an eviction notice, which gave the neighbors an opportunity to be quiet.

This time they didn’t care, if anything they were louder than ever before.

Finally, good news.

I was looking for other places to move into when I finally get good news from the property manager: there’s a hearing date!

There was light at the end of the tunnel, but once the neighbors heard about the hearing date they did everything they could to mess me up.

There were no attempts to stop the barking anymore, it was constant.

The screaming matches were back in full force, and when they started yelling and screaming the dog would go nuts!

It was just an insane amount of noise.

They were intentionally annoying him with noise.

And the drawers were ridiculous! Honestly I never expected the slamming drawers to be that bad but they easily eclipsed the barking and the shouting.

They would SLAM and SLAM and SLAM the drawers over and over again against my wall.

And because of the plaster it would BOOM BOOM BOOM and echo through my whole place. These people were definitely doing it on purpose.

Are they trying to make him mad?

3 days before the hearing date I go to bed at 9:45pm.

At 10pm I’m still not asleep but I’m startled by BOOM BOOM of the drawers, I log it and go back to bed.

At 11:30pm I wake up to BOOM BOOM BOOM again, and I’m upset.

It takes me half an hour but I fall asleep again.

Then at 12:45am BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM there it is again! I call my superintendent, tell her what’s going on, the super calls them and tells them to stop.

I fall back asleep. Then at 1:30am BOOM BOOM BOOM I wake up super angry, it’s obvious they’re doing this on purpose to make me mad before the hearing and get a reaction out of me.

The neighbors are liars too.

I call the super again, and go back to sleep again.

Then at 2:45am BOOM BOOM BOOM I can’t take it anymore.

I scream “DO IT AGAIN!!!! DO IT AGAIN!!!”

I lost it, I couldn’t help myself.

My discipline broke. My superintendent calls me and tells me my neighbors just said I yelled a death threat through the wall (what the heck?) and that they’re calling the police (WHAT THE HECK?).

He didn’t even try to sleep there the next night.

Everything just feels messed up now, I can’t sleep so I just wait until morning.

No police show up and I go to work.

I realized I couldn’t even stay at my place anymore until this hearing was over, so I went back to my brothers couch for the next 3 days.

Finally the big day arrives.

He was ready.

I gather my evidence: Over a year of meticulously logged noise complaints, 6 instances of video evidence (I cherry picked the gold out of 20 good ones), the previous eviction notice the neighbors received, 4 written noise complaints (including the 2 from the previous eviction notice), a letter from my co-worker about poor work performance due to lack of sleep, and even a letter from my therapist about how my neighbors’ excessive noise was affecting my mental health.

I got there and met the property manager and superintendent, who were there with the owner of the property management company and a slick looking lawyer.

I wonder if they were surprised at all the evidence.

I handed the lawyer all my evidence.

I gave him a USB stick with the videos.

I even handed over my big Bluetooth speaker to make sure the videos were loud enough to hear (laptop speakers suck).

I look over to my neighbors and they are wide-eyed.

They look scared! Finally!

Mediation wouldn’t be the worst idea.

We all go into the landlord/tenant board room with everybody.

The adjudicator first asks if anyone wants to mediate instead of going through with the hearing.

My neighbor’s hand immediately shoots up.

I say in front of everybody “I don’t want to mediate!” but apparently it’s not up to me and the lawyer takes me aside.

The lawyer tells me if it goes to mediation, the neighbors and the property management create an agreement (e.g. no more noise at x o’clock), and if that agreement is broken once it results in an immediate eviction.

Going in front of the board would be more of a risk.

He explains if we go in front of the board instead it’s a 50/50 chance they either get evicted or get off completely.

Obviously mediation is the better way to go, I know these idiots are already incapable of keeping quiet, so I agree with the lawyer.

We go out to find the neighbors and they’re nowhere to be found.

Turns out they opted for the free legal counsel ( I wonder why) and won’t be available until the afternoon.

Suddenly everyone finally listens to him.

While waiting I explain to the property manager, owner, and lawyer what happened a few days ago with the slamming drawers all night long.

When I made my complaints before no one really took them seriously, but today everyone is very interested in everything I have to say.

The afternoon comes, and I’m excluded from the mediation meeting because it’s between the neighbors, the lawyer, and the owner.

I can’t hear what they’re saying but I can hear my neighbors yelling and shouting from inside the room so I know it’s not going well for them.

Mediation didn’t work.

Everyone leaves the room and the lawyer comes up to me.

He tells me the mediation failed, the neighbors refuse to change their behavior and won’t accept any terms.

The lawyer says they have to go in front of the adjudicator again but by now it’s almost the end of the day.

I wait another hour or two and everyone comes out.

I see my neighbors leave as the lawyer comes by again and explains.

The neighbors keep changing their minds.

Apparently, after the mediation failed, the property management owner offered my neighbors 2 months rent FREE if they agreed to move out in 2 months.

The neighbors agreed, but when they all went in front of the adjudicator the neighbors changed their minds and said no!

And apparently a second offer was made, which they said yes to, and then no again, all in front of the adjudicator!

They ended up running out of time and the adjudicator cut the hearing short and said it would have to be resolved in a second hearing.

The neighbors’ behavior would surely backfire.

I was disappointed, but the lawyer assured me that because of how capricious and insane my neighbors behaved in during the hearing, they would almost certainly be evicted during a second hearing.

I was dismayed that it wasn’t over, but hopeful the end was coming soon.

I also felt vindicated, it was finally clear to everyone that my neighbors were actually insane and I wasn’t just making this up.

He kept compiling evidence.

The next two months weren’t as bad as before.

I continued my long steady march of logs and videos.

But the noise definitely let up, especially the drawers.

One day near the end of the second month I started to hear insane barking, it would not stop.

It went on for hours and hours and hours.

This must have been such a relief to hear.

I called the superintendent to complain when they told me it was probably because the neighbors were moving out today.

YES! HAHAHA! FINALLY!

Apparently she couldn’t tell me earlier because of privacy reasons.

As they were moving out I blasted ‘Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye’ on loop, put in some earplugs, and took a 2 hour bath.

My apartment is quiet now and I can finally sleep.

It wasn’t exactly the satisfying crushing blow I wanted but my discipline paid off and now I can live in peace.

How can people live like this? And when were they getting sleep?

Let’s see what the people in the comments on Reddit say about this story.

Now here is a good idea.

Here is someone who would have gotten in trouble.

This person thinks the neighbors really won.

This commenter would have escalated things sooner.

This person says he didn’t really get revenge.

It took a year of misery, but he won in the end.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.