THE STUPID NEIGHBOUR BLOG

Andrew writes:

I bought a nice condo back in 1999. The place had a nice mix of retirees, college students, starter families, etc. Moved in, had some nice upstairs neighbors, who were pretty quiet, had rugs throughout the entire facility, and side neighbors, mother & daughter, that I got along with quite well.

Two years ago, the lady above me sold her condo to a non-english speaking Russian. He doesn't understand a word of english, doesn't seem to be able to read english, and somehow has managed to obtain a decent car and hold down a job. The first issue with him is that he completely tore up all the rugs in his house, and then tossed them outside, in our dumpster, filling it up with his furniture. He claimed that it wasn't his despite the fact that the underside of the carpet had his condo # on it. He paid the fine, and moved on.

He decided that it was okay to run power tools between the hours of 7am-11pm, since that's what the official laws are, despite the fact that the condo association refuses to allow power tools to be used in the home save between 8am-8pm. He claimed he couldn't read the rules, so he didn't have to follow them. For the next fifteen weeks, he ripped up his floorboards, and did major construction, despite repeated requests to knock it off. Finally, he finished, and then refused to lay down new carpet to cover his floors. Apparently, he missed the part of the agreement stating all condos required carpet, so I hear his footsteps from one room to another.

He invited some of his friends over, who promptly parked in not only my numbered space, but every other visitor space near my condo, and I had to walk a good quarter mile in the pouring rain. Once again, doesn't speak English, so he doesn't understand when I try to talk to him.

The worst of it came when he took his dishwasher and kitchen cabinets and placed them 'temporarily' in front of my condo walkway, intending to move them. They weren't moved for two weeks, and anytime he got a letter or a fine, he'd pay it, and then ignore the rest. He still doesn't apparently understand English too well, or knows how to drive, since he apparently came home drunk last night, parked half-way through both his parking space and mine, and then left his car for two days. I've done just about everything I can do here with him, written letters of complaint, gotten him fined, but he still stays and continues to do whatever the hell he wants.

I'm running out of options.

Ca1v1n Replies: Personally it sounds like your condo board is completely useless. Your best bet would be to start with formal letters of complaint to the condo board. It won't be good enough to just complain in person or at meetings, you will need a registered letter sent to the board, the associations lawyers, and a copy to your lawyer if you have one. They won't be able to stop bad parking habits or stupidity in general but if they can definately force him to install carpets. Personally I'll bet he speaks perfect english, most immigrants do, they just have a habit of reverting to "no speaka da common" when they are caught violating rules and regulations.

Then there's the neighbors across the way. (Oh Great! There is more?)

Three years ago, the lady and her daughter moved out, and an East Indian family moved in. For a two bedroom condo, the maximum capacity is five total. The guy appears to have four wives, and six children who all lives with them. (East Indian culture is not known to be generally polygamous, the other women are likely sisters or cousins. Either way, condo rules are condo rules and 11 people in a 2 bedroom condo is just plain wrong)

When they first moved in, the first thing they did was stick their satellite dish out in front of the building (which was a violation) and hooked up the hose under my window to their permanent fountain. That got fixed thankfully. Besides violating the maximum capacity for people in one location, the family has decided that because the 'male' in the household doesn't like being bothered by trivial things such as children crying, that they are to be removed outside the condo, where they are spanked, left alone, or punished, directly outside my door.

I contacted Children Services and they states that they can't do anything, since he's quoting religious freedom anytime they show up. (Thats bullshit. The government flunky is either stupid, not good with conflict, or is trying to avoid paperwork. Crying children in the hallway has nothing to do with religious freedom).

So I get to listen to the daily activities of their lives while attempting to be private in my own. Three months ago, things got considerably worse. The guy decided that he didn't like the new placement of his satellite dish. So while there were painters, all dressed in white, walking around painting our condos, he decided that to do something about it. He dressed himself all up in white, politely asked to borrow a ladder, and proceeded to cut some bushes without asking and without permission.

I found out what was going on, walked outside, asked him what was up, and he said that he had the permission of the board to remove them. I called my BOD up and not only was he lying through his teeth, the landscapers and the BOD had a notice to 'never touch the bushes'.

I told him to get down and knock it off. Two days later, he put his satellite dish BACK in front of his condo. When you look at the direction/angle, you notice that the hedges/bushes I had carefully grown to block sunlight had been cut back in a L shape, and that the angle of satellite was pointed directly in the space. Apparently his plan was to cut back the bushes in order to improve his reception. Now I've got an ugly L on the top of the bushes (which took 3 years to grow), and I've got to prune them back down because someone decided he wasn't getting good satellite reception.

The satellite dish was out front for two weeks, until he was fined $100 by the BOD, and moved the dish around back where it had been.

It seems that if someone doesn't speak English, or quotes religion, they get treated differently than everybody else.