Editor:
A few months back I submitted letters outlining the ordeal I was going through in having to deal with my absolute nightmare of a neighbour. (Read them here and here.)
Well, since the Residential Tenancy Branch dispute was dismissed, things have gotten relatively worse.
Not only did my neighbour’s noise level increase, and did so on a much more frequent basis, but their behaviour escalated. Last week, I had to call the police on them due to their excessive noise, and just as I suspected my neighbour would, she lied and claimed she wasn’t making any noise whatsoever. But the police outsmarted her and stuck around – and when my neighbour thought she was in the clear, she started making noise and throwing a temper tantrum like a child.
Mind you, this is grown adult we’re talking about. The police could hear her all the way at the end of the hall, and went back and chewed her head off – and I recorded it all, which was sent to management.
Despite the months and months of audio I had previously recorded, and despite the fact that all of this evidence had been provided to them and the RTB, it was this particular interaction she had with police that was somehow enough for the lights to finally go on upstairs/for them to realize that maybe, just maybe, my neighbour is actually problematic.
I should also point out that after filing the RTB dispute, I received a notice from management advising me that my monthly parking fee was increasing from $25/month to $75/month, effective immediately.
A clear retaliatory move, in my opinion. This was brought up during the RTB hearing, in which management claimed that “all” tenants pay a parking fee and were subject to the same increase. But I have other friends who live in the building and some pay less than what I pay, while others don’t pay for parking at all.
Management has since changed their tune, though, and now says that “every lease is independent.” If that’s the case, then why did they tell the RTB that everyone was subject to a fee/the same increase? That would mean that not every lease is independent. They seem to change their story to twist their narrative.
But back to my neighbour. If you thought things stopped at them being loud, think again. The day after I called the police on them and she got called out by them for being noisy, she called the police on me and a family member and accused my family member of attempting to break into her suite.
The only problem is we weren’t home. We happened to be driving behind the police car on the way home, and saw my neighbour out on the street waiting for them. She saw our vehicle, and to say she looked shocked was an understatement.
It was actually pretty hilarious. And, of course, police were able to quickly determine that we weren’t home and that my neighbour had filed a false report. This, too, was brought to management’s attention, to which their response was, “Her allegations are disturbing and unmerited.”
They say they “take it seriously” and have spoken with her about it, but haven’t actually given me any kind of reassurance otherwise. In my opinion, they’ve done nothing but protect and encourage this tenant’s behaviour over the years.
Having endured close to 2 years of my neighbour’s behaviour, I asked management to reduce my monthly parking fee back to $25/month. They hadn’t given me a new separate parking agreement to sign anyway.
But they refused. Given the fact that I could ask for much more, I felt this was a more than reasonable request to make. But they weren’t willing to budge or accommodate me in any way and right their wrongs.
Moe Belinska, Burnaby
