If you live in an apartment, you have to expect that you’re going to see and hear your neighbors. Heck, you might even smell your neighbors. I don’t necessarily mean that they stink, but you might be able to tell what they’re cooking for dinner, for example.

In this story, a man moves into an apartment, and a dad who lives downstairs greets him and tries to be friendly. But as time goes on, the dad gets upset at his new neighbor about a lot of things that he’s doing, like the slightest noise at night and even trying to dictate what he can and cannot cook.

It’s pretty crazy!

Now, the man is wondering if he messed up by complaining about this dad to the landlord.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA throwing my neighbor’s “list” in the trash and going to the landlord over this?

I M27 recently moved in an apartment complex and “Paul” is my downstairs neighbor. He’s a cop and a single-dad living alone but has joined custody of his 2 kids who spend few days a week with him.

He welcomed me and brought me donuts when I moved in.

We began talking and he said he hoped I’m nothing like those irresponsible dumb— who lived here before me. He went on a full rant about them causing issues for his kids like interrupting their sleep, making noises and proudly said he so far had 2 tenants evicted from this apartment. He asked me to have some consideration for his kids when/if I’m doing things that might interrupt their sleep or disturb the peace.

I promised I won’t cause I’ve been there myself.

Paul’s kids don’t seem very considerate of the neighbors.

Turns out his kids are very noisy themselves.

They’d run up and down the metal stairs in and play in the parking lot unattended.

They get a dog out on the balcony 24 /7 and he’d bark for hours at everything that moves.

I sucked it up but Paul started knocking on my door every other hour to complain about a number of things I do in the apartment. From walking on my own floor to flushing the toilet at 2 am or using kitchen tools causing his kids to wake up.

It’s so silly but I tried to be as considerate as I could.

Paul had a list of complaints.

After a week of complaints, he showed up in the morning to talk about how tired he was of having to constantly remind me of what should be done. And handed me a list of things to “consider”

Not cooking/frying certain dishes like fish and vegetables cause somehow the smell gets into his apartment and makes the kids nauseous. I mentioned keeping the windows closed but he refused.

Same with certain perfumes I use. This one bothers him personally.

The list continues…

Remove my Parakeet pet completely from the apartment not just the balcony even though his kids dog’s causing issues.

Remove plants that have a strong smell from the balcony.

Limit using kitchen tools or flushing the toilet too much at odd hours so his kids’ sleep won’t get interrupted on certain days.

He refused to humor Paul.

I asked is he serious..

He said his kids mental well-being matters so he was dead serious.

I gave the list back and said sorry this is ridiculous.

He insisted that I try it out for a week and went on about how negative and inconsiderate I was being.

I got mad and tossed the list in the trashcan then said I’d be talking to my landlord over this.

He feels bad about what he did.

I talked to my landlord and Paul returned in the evening and argued with me about how rude I was being towards him and his kids and said I had zero sympathy for not just refusing to be “considerate” of his children’s routine but also going to the landlord who said he wanted him to move out once the lease is complete.

He said he and the landlord already don’t get along but now I caused him and his children to be moving out next month although he loves this area and lived here for over a year. Said I could’ve followed simple steps and saved him trouble but made it worse.

I feel awful because Paul is generally a good guy who brings me food and calls me brother sometimes.

I don’t think he did anything wrong. The only other way he possibly could’ve handled it would be to give Paul a list of things he wants him and his kids to change. Maybe then Paul could’ve understood how they both have to agree to live with some annoying things their neighbors do. But I doubt Paul would’ve understood. Eviction is probably really the only way to handle it.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person calls Paul manipulative.

Another person thinks Paul was being ridiculous.

This person calls Paul’s behavior obnoxious.

Here’s a warning.

That neighbor definitely sounds like trouble. He expects his neighbors to comply with his unreasonable demands, but his own kids are being super loud and obnoxious. He definitely doesn’t seem to understand that being considerate works both ways.