please help me...what would you do?

Question

Please read the whole thing - I really need help.?
Okay, so heres the situation:
I just moved into an apartment complex where a friend of mine stayed before and said it was really nice. (Im 7 months pregnant, by the way) And the actual apartment IS really nice. I LOVE the apartment. New appliances, counters, lots of space for the new baby, its just perfect. BUT there is a small breezway that seperates three other apartments from ours.
And our new neighbors seem to have a ritual of hanging out there. They bring out their tables and chairs and smoke weed, and drink, gamble, fight and do whatever in this small breezeway right in front of our door. I have to step over people when I come home or when I leave, there is always so much noise, and when they FINALLY go inside they leave trash and cigarette butts and beer cans EVERYWHERE. NOW. here is where i need help with the solution. IF i go and report the problem to the office, im afraid that it will be obvious who reported and I dont want them to retaliate. Dont wanna move...

Answer 1

Apartment living is such a nightmare - believe me I can relate. You really have to just outlast the situation and hope they move first so you can enjoy the good parts of living there. Reporting them just makes you an enemy - not good! Hang in there! Good luck!

Answer 2

Every once in a while, I think it is acceptable to tell a lie. I know this is going to cause an uproar, but hear me out. Jeffery Dahmer lived in an apartment complex and I think it would be completely acceptable to say "Why no, Jeffery, I haven't noticed a lot of guys going into your apartment but not coming back out. And I certainly never called the police about it!"
That being said, I'd couch my concern in a little social lubricant.

If you feel comfortable talking to them, just tell them how this is making your life difficult - how you are concern this behavior will affect your child. Be nice and ask them help you out with this. Use your mom voice - I'm not angry, I just need you to help me out with this.

If your not comfortable talking to them, or this doesn't work, go to the land lord or the cops (Landlords are sometimes notorious for doing nothing in these situations. After you report it - go to them and tell them you heard an anynomous neighbor talking about calling the cops at the pool. You don't know who it is, you've never seen them before and frankly, you weren't paying attention - it was some idle chatter at the time. Tell them your sorry they got in trouble. These guys sound like they might be some rough trade. Truthfully, you don't know them from Adam. They could be a bunch of sweethearts who adopt you as their baby sister and protect you. Or, they could be freaks. I'm just saying a approach the situation vey carefully.

Answer 3

They cant do anything to retaliate, and if they do make sur eyou have proof you reported them first so you can show who did what. It's crap what trhese people are doing, we used to have a similiar problem with our oold neighbors but report them first to you landlord, then to the police (if the landlord does nothing) maybe in the opposite order (you landlord would have more reason to kick them out) If you call the police while they are smoking weed they will get evicted, Im sure in your lease it says somthing about illegal activitie son the premesis ending in eviction. There is nothing they can do to hurt you or your apartment in anyway without pointing the finger at themselves, so Im sure they wont be that stupid. Hopefully you find a solution that works, and congratulations on your pregnancy and finding the perfect place for you and your lil one (sept for the pests)

Answer 4

Well you do have a bad dilemma. I think you have to report them to your manager. But......proceed with caution. I had a similar though not nearly so bad problem. I lived in a complex with 3 neighbors. My upstairs neighbor had loud parties & smoke weed. We complained three times about them & they were kicked out. We even called the police on them once. Fortunately, our apartment had a back door. So, we always went out the back and never saw our neighbors. Our complex had a "3 complaints you're out policy." We also complained about another neighbor's trash & noise. This complaint did not go over so well. I wrote a fairly rude letter to our apartment manager about our neighbors. I didn't implicate any specific neighbor, but I did ask the manager to fix the problem. You know how she fixed the problem? She posted my letter on all of my neighbors doors!! I could not believe it. I immediately became the "neighborhood b**tch." It was horribly embarrassing. However, that's all that happened. I never saw my neighbors or was confronted by them and it did fix the problem. However, I did have to avoid my neighbors. My point is complaining worked for me even though it had very unpleasant/embarrassing consequences. If your objective is to get the problem fixed, then you have to speak to your manager. Document everything you say / do. I think you should make an appointment to speak to your complex manager. Explain all the above to him/her and ask them to handle this confidentially. It sounds like your neighbor is violating community policies anyway and your complex will likely just post a notice on their door notifying them that they are violating community policies and it needs to stop or they will be evicted. It is reasonable that your neighbor will assume that either you complained or a manager walked the property and observed their bad behavior. I would be friendly to your neighbors in the hopes that they don't assume it was you. I guess my point is..it sounds awful. How much worse could it get by complaining about them? The other thing is......it depends on where you live, how professional your apartment complex management is, and if this is "typical behavior" in your complex that is just ignored. Also, I'm guessing your other neighbors are equally annoyed by the bad behavior. Depending on who your other neighbors are, you could "test the water" and see if they are also annoyed. If your other two neighbors are also annoyed, then you can use the "strength in numbers" approach. If more than one tenant complains, managers are much more likely to take steps to fix a problem. Good luck to you. It sounds horrible to me.

Answer 5

Nothing will improve until you report this to your landlord/leasing office. You can request that the landlord state that the complaint came from "several tenants," and it's not completely a lie - there is at least you and your baby-to-be. :o) Explain that you fear retaliation.

Complain specifically about the noise and about the trash, and give specific dates and times.

If your landlord does nothing, either go to a tenant's rights association or lawyer, or if you have asked them to quiet down and they don't, call the police on them.

You HAVE told them that this irritates you and takes advantage of the common area, right? Otherwise they may not know that you are being bothered. Give them at least that courtesy - ONCE.

Answer 6

The only way around this is to pull the tenant aside and explain your situation they may be kids and not realize that it inconveniences you that much. And it may seem confrontational to you but it really isn't it is all how you go about saying it if you were to be like don't hang out here anymore!!!! you might get a bad reaction but maybe one day when you see him you can pull him aside for a minute and be like excuse me I am pregnant now and it is hard for me...... the smoke...etc i would really appreciate it if you could.......whatever you would like them to do. what will probably happen is it will quite down for a week or 2 and then they will appear again but not as loud or often

Answer 7

well the only thing you can do is complain to the authorities as well as the landlord. there is no other solution to this problem.
u can also ask your landlord to get you a different apt. away from them on the same property. the landlord will only have to make minor changes in your lease and that way you get to stay in the same building away from noisy neighbors.

Answer 8

ask the owner/ person incharge of the apartments and see if he could moive you to a similar apartment away from these people. it may be a bit hard on you but it is probably best.

also try to negociate with the neighbours and see if they can stop. if they won't then you have to report them for your baby and your own good.

i hope this helps.

Answer 9

I personally would find another place to live while there's still time before labour. Cause you came in to their turf, and it will NEVER be convenient for either party within the long run. I'm pretty sure there'll be at least another spot comfortable and secure enough for you and the future little one.

Answer 10

Anonymously call and report it to the police- either as a public disturbance or because they are illegally smoking weed- either way the police should respond by coming out. or anonymously call the office, but if you are afraid of retaliation I'd call the polica and explain to them