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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

Some people just shouldn’t live around other human beings!

Maybe they’re too sensitive, maybe they’re too moody, or maybe they just go out of their way to complain too much about, well, everything.

Whatever the case, the woman who wrote today’s story is really going through it with the neighbor who lives downstairs from her…and it’s putting a real damper on her life.

Read on and check out what she had to say!

Downstairs neighbor has complained about us multiple times in our first 3 weeks, now threatening to call the police over “stomping.” Am I being harassed?

“My boyfriend and I moved into a third-floor apartment in a nice Denver apartment complex on September 27.

We’re not party people, we don’t blast music, and we’re genuinely trying to be considerate neighbors. We’ve barely been here three weeks, and this situation is already making us uncomfortable in our own home.

Let’s take a look at what’s going on here…

Here’s what has happened so far:

We moved in on a Sunday night, the following Monday, Management called us because our downstairs neighbor complained that we were “throwing boxes from the patio.”

We had left empty cardboard boxes on our patio, and the wind blew them around. We sincerely apologized, and even brought the neighbor a letter and cookies as a goodwill gesture. Management told the neighbors that we just moved in the night before and it was the wind.

That same week, on a Friday night, Management contacted us about another complaint concerning alleged noise that the neighbor had submitted footage from a camera facing the hallway and alleged that they could hear “stomping” between midnight and 6 a.m.

We questioned whether the recording actually established that the noise came from our apartment. We are the first apartment from the hallway so it could’ve been anyone walking.

Oh, come on…

Also we watched the footage they attached, stomping was a overstatement it was light shuffling (probably from me using the bathroom around 4 am) but not consistently throughout the night.

Management defended us again understanding and told the neighbor they were probably adjusting to having upstairs neighbors.

Another week later The neighbor texted me directly for the first time. (they got the number from our apology note with the cookies).

The message said:

“Hello,

This is your new neighbor. I wanted to reach out to tell you that the stomping and loud noises are becoming an issue with the peace within my home. If you decide to continue, I will be forced to alert the authorities.

Thank you and have a good day.”

For context, we aren’t intentionally making excessive noise, and we’re not aware of doing anything that would justify this level of escalation.

This is part of apartment living!

We understand that living in an apartment means hearing some normal household sounds, and we’re willing to be reasonable. But we also need to be able to walk around, cook, move things, and live normally in our own home without feeling like every sound could trigger another complaint.

We got our couch delivered that day during normal daytime hours. Now I’m over here marking timestamps of what I’m doing to justify myself.

And threatening to call law enforcement for what exactly? Walking?

What bothers me is the pattern. We tried to be friendly and resolve the first issue in good faith, but the complaints have continued, and now we’re receiving messages that feel accusatory and intimidating. I’ve lived upstairs from other people for years without having this kind of problem.

I also can’t help wondering whether we’re being singled out. My boyfriend and I are Indian and Mexican, respectively, and we appear to be among the only residents of color in what seems to be a predominantly white, affluent community.

I have no concrete proof that race has anything to do with this, and I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the situation has made me wonder whether we’re being treated differently.

To management’s credit, they’ve been fairly supportive so far. I’ve already documented the neighbor’s text with the front office, and I’m considering sending a formal written complaint asking management to intervene, direct all future complaints through the office, and establish boundaries around direct communication.

They sound like great neighbors!

We just moved 3 weeks ago, we don’t party, we don’t have kids or large pets. And we literally tiptoe around the house. We don’t wear shoes indoors, slippers and socks only, and we have 5 area rugs/runners.

My questions are:

At what point does repeated complaining and confrontational communication become harassment, versus an ordinary neighbor dispute?

Would you stop communicating with the neighbor entirely and let management handle everything?

Is it reasonable to ask management to verify where noise is coming from before attributing it to our apartment?

How would you handle this without letting the neighbor intimidate you into feeling uncomfortable in your own home?

If this continues, what documentation should I keep to protect myself?

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I want to be a good neighbor, but I also don’t want to be pushed around or made to feel unwelcome in the place I pay to live.

I’m looking for honest advice from people who have dealt with something similar.”

Here’s what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person offered some advice.

Another reader had a lot to say.

This individual shared their thoughts.

Another person spoke up.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.

And this Reddit user weighed in.

Yikes!

I have a feeling that there’s probably no good solution to this dilemma…

Unless someone moves out!

These neighbors are tough to deal with, no doubt about it…

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Author

Matthew Gilligan