Apartment dweller gets terrible neighbor evicted, putting an effective end to his business: 'Pure bliss watching him pack up his car and leave for the last time'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Oct 10, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

City living is a different beast than other kinds of living; the high-density population leads to close proximity to other people at pretty much all times. Also, offering the unique opportunity to live in an apartment directly above a business like you're in some sort of 90s sitcom.

While living in a sitcom sounds nice, the fact remains that in this type of living situation, even in your own bed, you're only really a few feet away from another person, either next to, above, or below you—separated by an often paper-thin wall. For those among us who hate being perceived, this is a verifiable nightmare… and there's no getting past it. You pretty much have to just get used to the fact that it's impossible that you won't make noises in your own home that other people can hear, and similarly get used to the noisy parts of other people's lives too.

Of course, as with anything in this life, people take things way too far on either side of the spectrum—some making too big of a deal about a little noise or simply making way too much of it at inconsiderate and inconvenient times. 

This neighbor, renting the business space below this family's apartment, somehow managed to do both, freaking out about the noise that their toddler made while also making way too much noise himself at odd hours. After the neighbor continuously violated the terms of his lease, the husband and father of the family had had enough and sent evidence of the neighbor's behavior to their landlord, getting him evicted and putting an effective end to his business.

 

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  • 01
    "I got my hostile neighbor's business to close 417 down..."
    via Aaron Sousa
  • 02
    I got my hostile neighbours business to close down. This is a long story that spans over 4 years so bear with me. In 2020 me (31m) and my family (30f wife and 6m son) moved in to a flat after a rough patch where we had to live with family. The flat was located above a business. Our thinking was that it would be perfect for us as we are
    via Man-down90
  • 03
    busy and out the flat during the day while the business is open and when we're home in the evening we'll have no neighbours. We could not have been more wrong. The business had only one person working there and that was the owner of the business, let's call him Mark (60m).
    via Man-down90
  • 04
    Covid hit as soon as we moved in and the business was closed for months. Once it reopened we realised how much noise we could hear coming from below us but we weren't bothered by it. Clearly Mark could also hear us but he did not handle this as well as us and rather than come and talk to us he decided to bang on the ceiling and shout profanities.
    via Man-down90
  • 05
    This went on for a while until one day Mark shouted something along the lines of "shut the up!" which was directed at my then 3 year old boy. That's when I was done with this behaviour and I went and had a word with Mark and asked if there was an issue we could resolve. Mark replied "No there's no issue.
    via Man-down90
  • 06
    Everything's fine. You must have heard me shouting at a difficult customer." Like that's any better. After this Mark stopped banging on the ceiling and shouting but the petty retaliations changed to him slamming doors or turning his music up to max volume for about 5 seconds and then turning it back down again. We didn't care about this even though it was still irritating.
    via Man-down90
  • 07
    So on top of the noisy protests Mark would also sleep in his business over night and treat it like a bachelor pad of sorts. This was illegal as he did not own the property. At first we thought he was doing this because covid did a number on his business and we thought it's what he needed to do to stay afloat. Mark lived on an island next to the city we live in and had to travel over via ferry.
    via Man-down90
  • 08
    The ferry prices had gone up dramatically after covid so travelling back and forth everyday was financially impossible for him. Being nice people we turned a blind eye to this illegal activity of Mark's and let him do his thing. Another thing Mark did that really irritated us was smoke cigarettes inside his business. Another illegal activity. The smell would come up to our home and make everything stink. There were times where we would have all our windows wide open in January trying to air the
    via Man-down90
  • 09
    A year or two passes and the mild harassment from Mark continues. Now I'm not a confrontational Iman and I've never been violent towards anyone my entire life but this constant harassment was making all of us hate being in our home. We couldn't afford to move and we loved the space we had. The only thing ruining it was Mark. So one night I wait for Mark to close up for the day and I can
    via Man-down90
  • 10
    hear him getting settled for the night out the back of his business and I go knock his door. It's 9pm at this point. Absolutely no need for him to be there at this time but as he is illegally living in the business, sure enough, he answers the door. I asked Mark if he could do me a favour and possibly smoke outside the property so that the fumes weren't coming up in to our home. Mark was not happy about
    via Man-down90
  • 11
    this and went off at me. He insulted me and my family and threatened to get us kicked out of our home by reporting us to the landlord. Mark slammed the door in my face and that was that. A few nights later Mark invited some friends round after hours to have a little party. This was not uncommon and usually they would go on until the early hours of the morning. Well this time he must have told his pals about what I said and they all sat
    via Man-down90
  • 12
    chain smoking inside the business. We had never smelled anything like it. It was horrendous. Even opening every window and turning fans on was not getting rid of this. Clearly this was a retaliation to me asking if he could just smoke outside or, ya know, obey the law.
    via Man-down90
  • 13
    After this I was done being civil. I had been collecting evidence of Marks illegal activities for years at this point and I had also recorded both conversations I had with him at his door. I put it all together and sent it to the lettings agents, the landlord and the local council. Within a week he had been contacted by the council about his behaviour. The following week he had to go in to
    via Man-down90
  • 14
    the lettings agents and have a meeting with them and the landlord. Mark was told that if he stayed in his business over night again he would be asked to leave the property. Mark became very hostile towards us after this and even began harassing me and my family in the street. Two months later we hear the news that Mark is closing down his business as he can't afford to keep it running. Another two months pass and Mark is gone.
    via Man-down90
  • 15
    Pure bliss watching him pack up his car and leave for the last time. I still see Mark around my home every now and then. He likes to sit in his car outside my front door so there may well be an update on this petty revenge. Hopefully with more petty revenge
    via Man-down90
  • 16
    Wanderluster621 • 3h ago I still see Mark around my home every now and then. He likes to sit in his car outside my front door Maybe it's time for cameras?
    via Man-down90
  • 17
    drmoze 3h ago I'd consider getting a restraining order. He has no reason to be around the property anymore.
    via Man-down90
  • 18
    • TerminologyLac... 2h ago. He likes to sit in his car outside my front door Personally, I'd be a bit freaked out by this. Then again, I live in a place where you should assume that everyone owns a gun. Maybe this kind of behavior is less worrisome in other places.
    via Man-down90
  • 19
    Still, he could start a fire or something. He sounds like the type to want revenge and willing to escalate.
    via Man-down90
  • 20
    Devils_Advocat... • 1h ago I had an extended family including a toddler above us and no carpets and let me tell you, you got off easy with him just yelling.
    via Man-down90
  • 21
    Shinobimouse • 25m ago I've been dealing with a terrible roommate that's supposed to be leaving at the end of this month and this guy is exactly like Mark! I can't believe there's another just like him out there Hopefully he'll leave y'all alone now
    via Man-down90

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hoa neighbors neighborhood homeowner neighborhood-drama bad neighbors neighborhood-stories terrible neighbors renting Bad Neighbor evicted neighbor
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