Imagine living next to a neighbor who likes to blame you for his problems. For example, if he claimed that you have a water leak on your property that’s causing a crack on his property, what would you do if you knew you didn’t actually have a leak? If he refused to believe you, how would you get him to back off?

In this story, we hear from a homeowner who is dealing what this exact issue, and he’s not sure what to do. He wants the neighbor to leave him alone, but the neighbor has a reputation in the neighborhood for being problematic.

Keep reading for the whole story.

Neighbor From Hell Refuses to Show Professional Report, Keeps Demanding Money and Getting Aggressive. What Do I Do?

I need some advice on a nightmare neighbor situation I’ve been dealing with in Malta. It’s gotten to the point where I’m constantly anxious and just want him out of my life.

A few days ago, our neighbor, let’s call him John, started claiming there was a water leak from our maisonette causing a crack in his garage wall. He keeps demanding that we pay for repairs.

The thing is, we had a plumber check our place, by means of a water detector, confirming that there were no leaks.

This isn’t the first time he has blamed them for something that wasn’t their fault.

This is a recurring problem with him.

In the past, there was a water leak into our property (not to his garage), and he immediately blamed us.

It turned out the leak was coming from his side, and he ended up having to fix it himself after days of delaying this issue.

OP went with the neighbor to see the problem.

Recently, he cornered me and insisted I come look at his garage.

I went, and what I saw was completely different from what he was claiming.

The wall was a bit damp but not really wet. The crack he was pointing at looked like old damage, and a nearby pipe wasn’t even connected to our property. The stains on the wall were clearly from a past issue, not a current one.

I have photos to prove this.

Yikes! This is getting out of hand!

I told him that since the issue wasn’t coming from our side, and since he was the one making the claim, he should have a professional architect contact us with a formal report.

This is where he got aggressive.

He became confrontational and accused us of not wanting to cooperate. He then said he would need to pay more money for his perit to contact us, which I know is a lie. He also threatened to do the repairs himself “out of his own volition” and said we should pay for the membrane.

He’s known for this kind of behavior, to the point where everyone in the neighbourhood never wants to deal with him in anyway.

The drama isn’t over.

He has not confronted me about this situation again, but I think that he will talk to us again, and there is no reasoning with him. He will continue to insist that this is something that we have to take care of.

The whole situation is extremely stressful.

I feel like he’s harassing us, and I’m worried about what he’ll do next.

OP wants advice.

My questions for you are:

How do I deal with someone who is so consistently irrational and aggressive?

Is my strategy of only communicating in writing and insisting on a professional report the right one?

Given his history, is there anything more I can do to protect myself and my property?

Any advice, especially from anyone with a similar experience or knowledge of Maltese law, would be a huge help.

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That neighbor definitely sounds annoying! Let’s see what advice Reddit has to offer.

Here are a couple suggestions.

Another person offers some advice on what to say to the neighbor.

Here’s another vote for letting insurance handle it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about neighbors who were sick of their hedge getting demolished, so they put a surprise inside.

But this person would report the neighbor’s behavior.

I like the idea of telling the neighbor to make an insurance claim. Let the insurance company be the one to tell him he’s wrong. That’ll be easier and more effective.

Talk about an awful neighbor!