When you live in a condo, it is extra important to try to get along with your neighbors. One way to do this is to talk to people directly when there is a problem rather than reporting it to the city or HOA as a first step.

What would you do if your neighbor was always reporting things and trying to get everyone in trouble, but then just before they were going to move out, you found yourself in a situation where you had the power?

That is what happened to the couple in this story, so they thought back on all the times their neighbor caused other people problems and made sure to return the favor.

Let’s read all about it.

Neighbor in condo association acts like a jerk and we get her to move away

I live in a city in the North East in a relatively small condo association (6 units).

It’s surrounded by new construction, but this particular building is a very old 1850s mansion that was converted into condos back in the 1980s.

Because of this every unit is totally unique with different square footage and layouts (important later).

I can already tell that this person is going to be trouble.

The jerk neighbor, let’s call her Monica, was the daughter of the owner.

She’s also a has-been politician who was a former mayor of a small city in the state who lost re-election almost 10 years ago.

But she mentions this ALL THE TIME, in emails, in casual conversation, “my former time as mayor”, “I’m very connected in the state as you know”, and on and on.

Fixing up a home before selling it can help to bring in as much money as possible.

Another neighbor, let’s call her Rachel, decided to sell her unit. As part of this process she made improvements on it and had contractors frequently.

We have a back hallway that is required for contractors to access units, and a painter had left some minor things on the first floor as he was working.

Why wouldn’t she just ask the contractors to clean up after themselves?

Jerk Monica apparently did have some connections because without asking my neighbor or talking to the contractor she managed to get a city inspector to come right over who immediately fined the contractor for “impeding access” in the hallway despite it being a small number of supplies.

The contractor was so mad he said he would never do another job in this building – very annoying as trusted contractors are hard to find.

Monica did this because she likes to flex and is a jerk.

This worked out really well for both of them.

Well, I spoke to Rachel before listing and I offered to buy it from her direct. We agreed on a price and avoided real estate agent fees, plus she just wanted a simple transaction as she already had a new house.

I acquire the unit and start renting it out.

Then another neighbor, Phoebe, wants to sell. The real estate agent emails all the owners in the building and tells us about the open house.

Well it turns out Monica wasn’t contacted (because she’s not an owner) and because of this takes it upon herself to report the real estate agent to the state board for discrimination because Monica is black.

This is the type of thing that could ruin someone’s career.

Cue the real estate agent calling me in a panic, asking me to vouch for her in a disciplinary review (which I oblige).

Absolutely insane behavior.

The unit sells over asking. Everything is great as it’s boosting the value of our units and the building.

I would be thrilled if an HOA stopped functioning, but I can see why the new condo owner wants everything done above board.

However the buyer is insisting that the condo board signs off that all HOA fees are paid with a form that’s submitted to the registry of deeds, which requires a valid condo board.

Since Rachel moved out, there is no condo board.

We have been derelict in our duties – we haven’t had an association meeting in years not a single valid trustee since Rachel moved away.

I guess these two are effectively the HOA board.

I read the condo docs with a magnifying glass over and over.

It turns out with my two units, my wife and myself can each represent 1 unit and have 52% of the voting power because our two units have 52% of the total square footage (ours are each 3br while the rest are two 2br and two 1br).

We have just slightly the max footage of the building and the majority “beneficial interest” which effectively gives us full say over the building.

You just know that Monica is going to try to flex any power she has.

As the sale process is happening, Monica’s mother passes away from cancer, which she had been fighting for years. Monica now becomes an owner as she inherits the unit.

In order to be elected to the condo board you need the majority of beneficial interest and at least 3 units to vote for you.

We have 52% of the beneficial interest but only 2 units. Therefore 1 more unit has to agree.

Well, this is working out perfectly.

I get the owner who’s selling and moving away to agree to vote for myself and my wife, and I vote for them in return. That gives quorum.

We sign off on the condo fees, and then the seller resigns from the board promptly. Now only my wife and I are trustees.

According to strict reading of the condo docs, my wife and I now have de facto control of the board, and never have to have another election, because with beneficial interest 52% we never have to approve anyone else, and even if everyone else votes, they can only get a maximum of 48%.

In this situation the remaining trustees can be the trustees indefinitely if there can not be quorum achieved.

Hey, Monica is going to be leaving. How sad.

Monica throughout everything has been protesting aggressively, accusing us of discrimination (despite my wife and I being Vietnamese), and sending legal threats.

My lawyer has been countering everything and there is no issue.

Monica has now decided to sell and move away.

It turns out she inherited $15000 in unpaid condo dues that no one bothered to collect (because we had no board and were disorganized) that she will have to pay in order to get approval to sell.

Why would anyone make things easy for Monica when she has made things so difficult for them?

Furthermore all of her contractors doing work on the inherited unit have had to park far away because my wife and I have been VERY STRICT about hallways and driveway parking of vehicles impeding access which is absolutely no allowed.

We even got a van towed who was doing work on her unit because it “impeded access”.

The tow truck works for the condo association rather than the city so we could approve is as the trustees.

This is why you should never cause problems with your neighbors if you can help it.

If Monica hadn’t been such a total jerk we would have been totally reasonable about everything.

But once she started bringing lawyers and inspectors and playing the discrimination angle everything became war for us.

And she lost.

Sometimes people burn bridges, and they have to live with the consequences. Monica did exactly that, though she likely doesn’t even realize it. Oh well, she is out of these people’s lives now, which is a good thing for everyone.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a teen girl who went above and beyond for a friend, only to be berated about not spending enough money on a gift.

Read on to see what the commenters on Reddit had to say about it.

I’m sure her parents owed the money, and it had to come out of the estate, which was hers.

I don’t think this couple will let their HOA power go to their head.

This commenter recommends getting some type of liability insurance.

If she ever became governor I have a feeling a lot of people would suffer.

This commenter really loved the story, and it is easy to see why.

She burned bridges with her neighbors, but they got the last laugh. This is a perfect example of why you should always do what you can to stay on the good side of everyone you know.