Apartment dwellers who notice that another tenant in their apartment building is violating house rules or conducting illegal activity may feel inclined to report it to their landlord or the police. After all, they don't want their home to become a haven for criminal activity.
But when is it appropriate to report a neighbor? Things aren't always what they appear to be, and rushing to accuse a neighbor of improper behavior or illegal acts can backfire, especially if your observations turn out to be flawed.
Consider a recent example out of St. Petersburg, Florida. In a post yesterday on the Daily Loaf blog, an apartment dweller complained that simply because she's a single woman with an active social life plus a red Christmas light still by her door, a neighbor inaccurately deduced that she's a prostitute and promptly reported her to the landlord.
Given that things aren't always what they seem, how do you decide whether to report a neighbor's actions? Is the very idea of reporting a neighbor something to avoid because it means being too nosy?
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Comments
I feel if it’s something that bothers you, it should be reported, you live there too! Many times it seems like the neighbors think they are the only ones living in the building. We have a guy next to us that has his dvd player tapped into his stereo speakers, and right against our bedroom wall. For whatever reason…falling asleep etc…..he leaves the dvd playing and of course at the end of the movie it will go back to the selections where the same 20 second blurp of music will play over and over and over (loudly!) at 2am. One time it played for over 12 hours. I finally called the landlord and asked to have him checked out. Who’s to say he didn’t have a medical emergency. He didn’t,…must have been sleeping off a hangover, but it’s rude to keep us up at all hours having to listen to that!
We have a nice quiet bldg. into which moved what we call “the frat house” – a bunch of noisy students. We did finally call the cops after we heard a loud altercation/fight – the fact that it was in another language made it even sore suitable for the cops to sort out as neutral parties – who could vouch for local noise standards! However, long ago as a single woman I was also cited by a crazy neighbor who thought I as having orgies when I was just playing cards with my boyfriend & my brother!
IMO, talk to your neighbour first, BEFORE you contact the landlord/property manager. This way, things can be resolved in a private matter if possible.