Bad neighbors are one of renting’s greatest lotteries, and the man in this story clearly drew the short straw.

Out of nowhere, his lousy neighbor stacked large plywood boards along their shared fence, propped them up with cinder blocks, and completely blocked every window in his room from receiving any natural light.

But when the renter politely asked him to stop, he got cursed out and told to “just turn on a light.”

Since then, his life has been a marathon of calling code inspectors and the fire department — and things are looking increasingly bleak.

Keep reading for the full story.

Neighbor boarded up my windows

I have a neighbor who, out of nowhere, started leaning large pieces of plywood all along the chain link fence that separates our houses, right where my room’s windows look outside.

They are large boards propped up by cinder blocks, but they lean toward my roof and even touch it in some places.

This made a big impact on the tenant, so he approached his neighbor about it.

It fully encloses this area and blocks my windows from receiving any natural light.

It looks into a vague hillside part of his yard. I can’t see into his house or anything.

I politely asked him about it and let him know that it was completely blocking my windows.

But this neighbor didn’t seem to care one bit.

He proceeded to curse me out and call me names, saying, “Just turn on the light.”

He’s very aggressive and threatening.

So the tenant decided he needed to escalate the issue.

I had a code inspector come by, and apparently the fire department is going to take a look, but it seems like somehow nothing can be done about this.

I live in Los Angeles, CA, and I rent.

He’s starting to wonder if his situation is truly hopeless.

Am I cooked? Is it time to just move?

My place is so nice and such a good deal otherwise. Maybe this is why.

I appreciate any advice or input.

This neighbor has been a nuisance in other ways too.

I should also note that he has a dog that he just leaves outside barking all day and night.

The dog is dirty, and he never takes her for walks or anything. Very nice puppy, I feel bad for her.

He also clearly has serious mental health issues. I believe he is a veteran, and he is always talking or yelling to himself and grunting in pain.

It’s usually harmless, but it’s been directed toward me more recently.

Sounds like this tenant has a neighbor problem — and a big one, at that.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple whose new neighbors’ construction noise is ruining the whole neighborhood vibe.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user agrees this is a huge safety issue.

The next call should be to the fire department.

Surely there’s someone who would take the plywood.

Animal control should also be on the call list.

What makes this story genuinely frustrating is that the man at the center of it has done nothing to deserve any of it.

Being cursed out for a polite question is bad enough, but doing it while standing next to a wall of plywood that’s actively blocking your sunlight is a whole other level of audacity.

It’s troubling to realize even escalating the issue through the proper channels isn’t doing anything to remedy his nightmarish conditions.

There’s only one option ahead for this renter: keep pushing on.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about someone who asked their neighbor to move their fence off their property, then learned the neighbor was trying to claim their land as theirs instead.