Complaining neighbor

[Jon Singleton]

Neighborly Love
Ok, the situation I am having is a bit different from the norm. I recently had my tenant move out while still under the lease agreement, so I understand that the first thing I must do is to go to small claims court. This is where it gets a little weird, the tenant moved out because of complaints from the neighbor, who also happens to be a new tenant. So I recently moved back in to renovate then on to the next project. However, in the past 4 weeks this woman has called the police at least 8 times complaining on everything from loud noise at 4AM in the morning to someone pulling fowers ot of her flower bed. people in my house are pulling flowers out of her flower bed. She claims that my former tenants are still staying there. This has become a serious issue of harassment, but the more important thing is that I do not want this to become a continuous problem for my next tenants. After speaking with her landlord and recording the events that have taken place I have run out of ideas. What nexted??
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[Michael Rossi]

Jon,

This type of issue is relatively common. I've had it happen many times. It sounds to me like the neighbor is mentally ill. She may very well be paranoid and believes that everyone is out to get her. In many instances, there is no way to reason with such a person and I certainly would not do anything "outside the box" to retaliate against this person.

I had one of my own tenants that was severely paranoid. She thought that red and green gas was coming through the walls to get her and called the building department and health department to complain. She was also convinced that people were looking in her window at her, even though her blinds were shut and called the police. This was in an apartment building with other good tenants.

I think that there are two keys to dealing with this problem:

1) Education - meaning that you need to educate your new tenant, the police, the neighbor's landlord, etc in what's going on. If you explain to any prospective tenants that the woman next door is mentally ill, then they'll be prepared to deal with the situation. Many people are "do-gooders" and may actually welcome the challenge of helping the woman. Educating the police and keeping copies of all police reports will help establish that the woman is ill and pretty soon the police will realize that a call from the woman doesn't have anything to do with your tenant or your house, but rather the mentally ill tenant.

2. If the situation becomes umbearable, then I would have your attorney send the landlord of the ill tenant a letter threatening a lawsuit (because he's damaging your business). If the landlord is a mom-and-pop landlord, that may scare him into taking care of the situation.

Good Luck,

Mike