crazy (literally) neighbors
My neighbors are crazy and fight constantly and I really worry that the teenage son may kill the father or the mother or vice versa. Also, they make my life hell. What can I do? We are both owners in a co-op
My neighbors are crazy and fight constantly and I really worry that the teenage son may kill the father or the mother or vice versa. Also, they make my life hell.
What can I do? We are both owners in a co-op
send a registered letter about your problem to the board.
if still no help then get an atty.
I agree that it would be an unusual coop board that would do anything. I would ask yours, but if they didn’t want to do anything (which they probably won’t, from my experiences with coops) I wouldn’t make a nuisance of myself with the coop by continuing to make complaints to them and threatening to sue them. It won’t change their minds. And why should they act? It would be a long and expenseive process for the coop to evict them anyway, and the board members, like you, likely would be afraid to confront them.
If they won’t help you, your best option is to move. And having it on record that there is a problem (and it will be on record in the meeting minutes if discussed at a board meeting, which minutes will be given to prospective purchasers of your apartment) will make it very hard for you to sell and move. So think about that before you even make a complaint, as it is very likely your coop won’t act effectively anyway.
Actually, Pullman was evicted from his coop for making complaints about building servcices he wanted them to add, for annoying them, and for threatening to sue them, and maybe for suing them – I forget. The Pullman case created a new interpretation of the law – and it isn’t a good precedent when you think about it – any coop an evict anyone now if they don’t like your behavior and you irritate them – the court didn’t decide that Pullman was irritating enough to evict – it ruled that the coop had the right to make the decision all on it’s own. It will be interesting to see if this law stands if coops start evicting people for behavior less irritating than Pullman’s. In your shoes, you want the coop to have the power; but as we’ve all seen coop boards that abuse their power, I’m not sure you want them to have the right to evict you (say, for being annoying by making many complaints and threatening to sue them) – as it stands after Pullman, they have that right.
And, though you didn’t say if the “fighting” was physical or just yelling – do call the police if you fear someone is about to be harmed – that’s just being a good person acting to protect someone in peril – but it won’t necessarily help you to make a point of calling to report yelling just for the purposes of making a noise complaint. It isn’t likely that you (or the police, or the coop) are actually going to be able to change the offending person’s behavior.
In your shoes, I’d move. And I’d think about finding a house. (Though you could have the same problem in an attached rowhouse, with similar limited options, as well.)
There was a similar court case with a coop building and they evicted
a man whose last name is Pullman. He was the owner of his apartment. It was a noise issue and the coop won and got him out quickly and effeciently.
The building was a small one in manhattan.
You will find the story on the internet.
Look it up.
If you think it’s about to get violent, call the cops, even if it doesn’t help change the behavior of the individuals involved, it will help the co-op board deal with the situation, giving them some ammunition to deal with the problem.
911 responders know better than to give out the information of the caller, the cops who respond won’t know who you are unless you specifically state your name and apartment (911 operators have caller ID, but they don’t give that info to the responding officers specifically because of cases like yours).
Police Officers have to make out a report of domestic violence everytime they respond to a location, so the reports will ultimately build up and other agencies will become involved. Precincts have a domestic violence officer now who reviews each one that comes in and looks for patterns and make appropriate referrals.
Also try to enlist the support of neighbors. A unified front always helps and it makes it look like less of a “he said, she said” situation.
Mostly just agreeing with others.
I would talk to the president of the board every single time there is an incident, and I would call 911 and get a record number of each call, and follow up on each call with a detective.
I would also preface every single call with your need to ***keep yourself safe*** by remaining anonymous. If you can’t get the board president to deal with this in a way that keeps you safe, just focus on the police–it’s not worth the risk.
I would also remember that the most compassionate thing you can do in this situation is to consistently refuse to do nothing (as long as you keep yourself safe).
At the risk of sounding too gooey, his loss of control is your problem. Not just because you have to hear it, but because we are all in this together. In the big picture, you’re helping the aggressor by holding him accountable for what he’s doing.
If they have a child as you state call Child Services. They will respond.
Chiming in one last time to support 6:07 and 6:15’s advice, as well.
Again, truly best of luck.
We had a similar situation in our previous co-op. Our neighbors would scream, yell, say horrible things to each other and their daughter. I didn’t think violence was going to break out, but we were ready to call 911 if it did.
I’d first approach the board president, then the managing agent, then, if you don’t feel like anything’s being done, call the police. Unfortunately you’re going to have to stick your neck out a little bit, but in the long run if you can get them to be civil or move out, you’re being a good neighbor to everyone else in the building.
I wouldn’t confront them directly in any case. I assume that others know about their fights, so they can’t finger you for reporting them.
The advice to talk to them directly is ridiculously bad advice.
Heed your instincts about these people. It is very common for aggressive people with no anger management skills to start harrassing and bullying a neighbor who complains about them.
However for you to really remedy the situation permanently you will need to talk to somebody and not just anonymously. Go to the precinct and ask to talk to a detective (not some lower level person who merely fills out reports) about the whole situation. You will be able to contact that detective directly in the future whenever the fighting happens and maybe a more lasting solution can come out of that.