My boyfriend, Mike, and I moved into a two-floor, duplex-style apartment in a large rental community seven months ago. Before we moved in, the previous tenants, who were (like us) in their late twenties, told us that they loved living here, but the neighbors on the right side are (in their words) a cranky old couple. Based on what we saw while they were still in the apartment, they liked to party and make noise. Plus, they had two huge German Shephards (against management's rules) and I'm sure the poor pent-up animals made noise running up and down stairs. Either way, we're pretty quiet people and did not expect to run into any problems with the neighbors.
Our relationship with the woman next door was amicable at first. Mike works from home and noticed she was rather eccentric; she would do odd things like trimming bushes on our property because she didn't like the way management cuts them. Mike politely remarked to her that she should knock on the door and ask us first. She screamed at him, said she didn't think we were home (very strange defense), and then finally admitted she should have asked.
We remained friendly with her, and continued to chat with her when we saw her.
One day (after bragging to me that she and a friend sued KMart because they knocked a display over onto themselves then said they didn't actually knock it over), she mentioned to me that my alarm clock wakes her up every morning. I apologized for the inconvenience, but explained that I work in an operating room and must wake up at 6 a.m. Although our bedroom doesn't share a wall with her apartment, I even moved my clock to the other side of the room. A week later, she stood outside in her bathrobe screaming at me about how my alarm clock is ruining her health. I had to go to work and asked her if we could talk after I got home. She refused to speak to me, and we received a letter from management stating the we were "in violation of our lease due to noise complaints excessively late at night." I wrote a letter in our defense to management, explaining that the noise in question is an alarm clock that goes off for less than one minute every day. She was extremely confrontational and nasty when we asked to speak with her, but we calmed her down and she agreed to be more reasonable and talk to us rather than putting in formal complaints.
Since then, she has come outside to yell at us regularly for such ridiculous things as banging the toilet seat. In my own professional opinion, she seems to suffer from either a severe anxiety disorder or early senility or both. Either way, we have continued to try to appease her and deal with her irrational behavior. Yesterday when I was shoveling snow, a little bit hit her car fender and she began another abusive tirade. She threatens to call management and the police for such inane things.
My concern is that she will continue to file complaints about us and we will not be able to renew our lease this June. It is very difficult to directly contact our property manager, so my only recourse is sending a certified letter with a return receipt. Also, it's becoming very frustrating dealing with this woman's harassment, and I'm losing the patience that has allowed me to take the high road. I don't know what to do anymore!!! I'm really sorry this is so long-winded, but I'm at my wit's end. Can anyone suggest how I can both keep my lease and curtail this harassment?
Our relationship with the woman next door was amicable at first. Mike works from home and noticed she was rather eccentric; she would do odd things like trimming bushes on our property because she didn't like the way management cuts them. Mike politely remarked to her that she should knock on the door and ask us first. She screamed at him, said she didn't think we were home (very strange defense), and then finally admitted she should have asked.
We remained friendly with her, and continued to chat with her when we saw her.
One day (after bragging to me that she and a friend sued KMart because they knocked a display over onto themselves then said they didn't actually knock it over), she mentioned to me that my alarm clock wakes her up every morning. I apologized for the inconvenience, but explained that I work in an operating room and must wake up at 6 a.m. Although our bedroom doesn't share a wall with her apartment, I even moved my clock to the other side of the room. A week later, she stood outside in her bathrobe screaming at me about how my alarm clock is ruining her health. I had to go to work and asked her if we could talk after I got home. She refused to speak to me, and we received a letter from management stating the we were "in violation of our lease due to noise complaints excessively late at night." I wrote a letter in our defense to management, explaining that the noise in question is an alarm clock that goes off for less than one minute every day. She was extremely confrontational and nasty when we asked to speak with her, but we calmed her down and she agreed to be more reasonable and talk to us rather than putting in formal complaints.
Since then, she has come outside to yell at us regularly for such ridiculous things as banging the toilet seat. In my own professional opinion, she seems to suffer from either a severe anxiety disorder or early senility or both. Either way, we have continued to try to appease her and deal with her irrational behavior. Yesterday when I was shoveling snow, a little bit hit her car fender and she began another abusive tirade. She threatens to call management and the police for such inane things.
My concern is that she will continue to file complaints about us and we will not be able to renew our lease this June. It is very difficult to directly contact our property manager, so my only recourse is sending a certified letter with a return receipt. Also, it's becoming very frustrating dealing with this woman's harassment, and I'm losing the patience that has allowed me to take the high road. I don't know what to do anymore!!! I'm really sorry this is so long-winded, but I'm at my wit's end. Can anyone suggest how I can both keep my lease and curtail this harassment?
