problem neighbour

[Elljane]

That's creepy and I would not like it. It takes a lot of video evidence & written emails to The Minister of Housing to get a problem tenant evicted. If it's Government Housing you can use the evidence to get him or yourselves transfered if you have to. Meanwhile see if you can get permission to put a security screen door on your apartment so you can have the door open without him walking in & your wife can lock the security door from the inside.  There are 2 forms you can lodge to your site agency

 One is a Notice to Remedy Breach, the other is a Dispute Resolution Form. These are available from the RTA (Residential Tenancy Authority). He will know though because Your housing agency will have to Lodge these forms on him. If he gets violent you can put a restraining order on him and use it to get him kicked out by the Minister of Housing or use it to get straight out of there and into emergency housing. Government Housing waiting lists are very long but you can get a Department of Housing home lots quicker by contacting them and asking for the least waiting time areas, you may only wait a few weeks for a very rural area. I know you don't want to move and should not have too, but if this situation gets too stressful you can apply for a Department of Housing Bond Loan through the Dept of Human Services who handle Government Housing. The bond loan pays your first 4 weeks rent which you pay back at a very low rate with no interest. Hope this helps. Good Luck

Edited October 15, 2017 by Elljane
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[Melbpom]

Have you thought about talking to your body corporate / strata manager? A good manager will know the owners/tenants and can sometimes intervene or contact family members.

There should be details of the strata manager on a plaque located close to the front of the property usually near the letter boxes.

[Guest]

Firstly I'm sorry you're going through this - you and your wife. It sounds horrible and something I would absolutely hate.

My first thoughts were perhaps onset of dementia also - as someone has mentioned. However, this may be the cause, it's not an excuse to allow this behaviour to continue (if this is the cause). If not, he's either incredibly lonely, nosy, a bit strange, lacking social skills, unaware or horrible. Perhaps all of above.

I would also start doing things in writing. Not to him. To authorities. Firstly write to the rental agency asking for their help (I know you've spoken to them, however, get this in writing). The agency has advised you can leave - ask (in writing) what would be any penalties for this. Have you discussed this with a manager? Get it all in writing. You have rights.

Write down all the occurrences (cut and paste from here if you like) with dates and times (if you can recall) and print off. Ask to speak to your local police, not with a view to making an official complaint but looking for assistance. Ask what you can do. Don't hold back - let them know how you feel and how your wife feels and exactly what is happening. Advise them the agency has not assisted in any way (I can almost bet they know about this guy but don't want to get involved - whether they should or should not is another matter). The police may refer, however, at the very least you can get guidance.

I would be moving out to be honest. It's not something I would put up with. He's not going to stop nor is he going to go away. This must be very stressful for yourself and your wife - try to act on this asap.

You and your wife are not in the wrong. This is not your doing, your fault or otherwise. You've been more than accepting and polite. Time to act.

Wish you the very best.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Guest

[Quoll]

My first thought, too, was that what you are experiencing is someone with dementia. All the signs are there unfortunately. Can you move? I think that might be the safest solution to your problems. If he does have dementia then no intervention or rationalisation is going to work because he likely lacks the capacity to comprehend what he is doing is inappropriate and he won’t remember that he has been asked/told to do things differently. If he doesn’t have dementia then his behaviour is sociopathic with loss of inhibitors which is equally concerning. 

[KPG]

this is our story
we moved in a month ago
there is a single old man living in the adjoining unit.
he does maintenance on the property which consists of five units. all are rented out through the same agency. he has a workshop underneath all the units in the basement.
he was initially very helpful wanting to help us with any DIY things around the place.
my wife is not working and I am. since I am away during the day he has taken to coming round to our flat on a regular basis.my wife tries to keep the contact brief, saying she is going somewhere or on the phone etc. however she cannot leave the door open when she is at home as he simply knocks and walks in, not waiting for her to go to the door. she has found this an intrusion as it is nice not to have to lock doors all the time. one time she found him in the kitchen. she had been preparing a curry and had popped into our living room and came back into the kitchen and there he was! she got a fright.
 initially his popping round was not a problem but recently he wont leave her alone and anytime he sees her at home he visits
Imust add that when i am there he does not do this as much, it is very often when my wife is at home.
I have to say that when he visits, he stands and stares at her each time. he carries a heavy walking stick. which looks more like a truncheon than a stick.
he is quite strong physically and recently his manner has become agressive.
one time he was waving his stick around and it nearly hit my wife. he said "oh I nearly hit you"  and laughed.
every weekend when we go out he demands to know where we are going or where we have been.
anytime my wife goes out alone he demands to know where she is going.
he has come round at night 8pm twice for no reason at all. it appears he is nosy and wants to see what we are doing. it has interrupted my office
work which i take home with me and our evening meal.
he has tried to find excuses to do DIY inside our flat but we have declined as we do not want him in there.
this past week has been a problem as he disturbed my wife on four occasions. in two days.
the first she was in the unit, the back door was open,and he came round. she said she was busy and after standing there and staring at her,he eventually left. a few hours later she was at the front of the house on our patio and he walked up onto the patio and near to her. he stood staring and holding his stick.
anyway when he walked onto patio she told him to please leave as she was busy and did not want to be disturbed. he would not leave and continued to stand there staring at her. after countless requests he would not leave. so she had to tell him to 'go away leave me alone'.  she was a bit distressed by this. after about five "go aways" he left.
that evening we then blocked off the entrance to our patio so he could not get onto it.
the following day my wife was on the patio doing some studies. he came round. he could not get onto our patio as it was blocked it off. he started to shout at her, calling out her name and shouting "let me on". he was waving his stick.
it was strange behaviour and so she went into the unit and locked herself in the house to get away from him. after about five  minutes he went underneath our unit where he has a workshop and started to hit our floor boards with something hard. possibly his walking stick.
my wife was doing some washing up in the sink and she heard loud banging sounds, he was hitting the pipes from the sink. underneath.
where ever she walked he hit underneath, she went to the water closet and he hit under there, he then started up a tool or machine which was very noisy and so my wife went out as it was very noisy. she had to do this carefully so he did not see her leaving. she felt stessed from this. 
we have contacted the agency three or four times. they say he is a sweet old man etc and despite my wife finding him strange and she does find his visits stressing, the agency say he is a lovely old man. they have said we can move out if we dont like it, but we like the property and moving is going to be time consuming and expensive.
the only problem is this man invading our privacies. why must we move, why cant they simply make the request for him to cease visiting up and stressing my wife and interfering in our privacies.

Can’t cops be involved?

[FeralBeryl]

Personally I would move. He sounds mentally unstable. And sounds like he is progressively getting worse. If you cannot move, then I suggest locking the doors so he cannot walk in unannounced. If he knocks on the door, then ignore him. Whole thing sounds a nightmare. Do keep a record of any incidents, because if you need to go to the police, you will need documented evidence.

[Itraf]

conclusion:

40 days before the end of our lease we were sent a notice to not renew our lease!

Our complaining to the rental agency backfired. We moved all our belongings safely to storage, we spent five weeks searching for a rental property. It seemed as though the agent had put a bad note to our name. Finally we camped for a week before finding a temporary rental for a few months at a great expense, finally to ease the situation we relocated to another city where we found somewhere to rent.

so the moral to the story as we have been told is "suck it up"! Do not complain to the rental agency as this can cause severe problems with future renting. Any problems, bear it and move quietly.

complaining made future renting extremely difficult.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Itraf
more to add

[Toots]

You have had a horrible experience with the rental agency and presumably the landlord too.  So unfair.

Hope you are happier where you are now.

 

[Itraf]

thank you our present rental is very good. The agent Is very nice. We keep it tidy clean quiet and make no complaints.