Ok...I need to vent...
I live in the upper apartment of an old house with only 2 apartments. You go into the front door of the house and you can either go straight ahead into a little foyer leading to the lower apartment, or you can go up the stairs to our apartment. When we first moved in (in April), a month and her teenage son lived downstairs. They weren't terribly friendly (although, I'm pretty sure that is how we'd come off as well - we say hi if we see them, but pretty much mind our own business), but really didn't cause us any trouble (other than the occasional late night Rock Band sesson). However, they moved out and in August/September, a new person moved in. A woman in her 50s and her 12 year old granddaughter.
They are really no problem in terms of noise, etc. They were smoking in the apartment (non-smoking) and I could smell it, but it has stopped since I spoke to the landlord.
However, they always leave the front door open! It drives me nuts. They leave it open when they let their dog out (they tie it out on the front lawn...another issue...I don't like it, but there's not much I can do about that one...although we do have a perfectly good back/side yard). They leave the door open and the door to their foyer open so that the dog can come and scratch on their main apartment door when she wants in. They door is also regularly partially shut but unlatched because the 12 year old is too lazy to shut the door properly (it's not a regular door knob...a latch that you have to left, close, and release)...it's a pain in the butt, but once you get used to it, there's not much to it.
I've spoken to the landlord in the past and he's said he's spoken to them. However, the problem continues to persist. I've been letting it slide, mainly because usually I'm in a hurry to get somewhere or have my hands full of stuff. I've mentioned it to the girl, but I have no idea if that message ever made it to Grandma. However, today I came home, I'm on vacation, and the door was open. So, I knocked on the door and asked to speak to my neighbour. I asked if she could please make sure the door was shut. Her response is "No, not when the dog is out...we can't hear her if the door is shut and she just scratches on the outside door"...my response "That's not OK...you need to find another solution to that problem." So then she defers to a problem SHE has..."when you lock the outside door in the middle of the day, my granddaughter gets locked out because she doesn't have a key"...I thought my response of "then you need to get her a key" was fairly reasonable. However, after basically saying that I can stop locking the door in the middle of the day until they get her a key and requesting again that they keep the front door shut, I said thanks, turned around, and got the door SLAMMED behind me. Then, 2 minutes later I went to look for something in my car, and the dog had been let in, but the door was still wide open.
OK...I didn't think this was such an unreasonable request...or one that deserved such a rude response. It's cold...our apartment is freezing. Having the front door open does not help matters. Plus, it's like inviting people in. Yes, we have a deadbolt on our apartment door. However, my car was broken into a month or two back and I'm not all that trusting these days. It's also a risk to MY animals, since if they happened to get out our apartment door, there would be a wide open doorway to outside....one of the reasons I liked this apartment was the 2-door buffer zone to prevent escape. Plus..heck...call me crazy, but I just think a door should be shut.
In any case, after getting her response...I just called the landlord and asked him to deal with it. He completely agreed with me, but we'll see what becomes.
I didn't even mention the whole shutting the patio sensor light off, leaving garbage on the front porch, leaving the dog's leash (which basically consists of 4 ugly leashes tied together) sprawled out all over the front porch, and leaving the dog outside barking for 20 minutes (yeah...they can't hear her in their apartment...right) thing....subtle hints haven't been working...so I'm not sure how I'll approach that one...maybe I'll wait until after the holidays to tick them off more!
I don't think I expect too much of my neighbours to show the same sort of respect to the exterior of the house as I do...it's not the prettiest place to begin with (nice house, needs some TLC and $$$), but we can help my keeping the trash/junk away.
I live in the upper apartment of an old house with only 2 apartments. You go into the front door of the house and you can either go straight ahead into a little foyer leading to the lower apartment, or you can go up the stairs to our apartment. When we first moved in (in April), a month and her teenage son lived downstairs. They weren't terribly friendly (although, I'm pretty sure that is how we'd come off as well - we say hi if we see them, but pretty much mind our own business), but really didn't cause us any trouble (other than the occasional late night Rock Band sesson). However, they moved out and in August/September, a new person moved in. A woman in her 50s and her 12 year old granddaughter.
They are really no problem in terms of noise, etc. They were smoking in the apartment (non-smoking) and I could smell it, but it has stopped since I spoke to the landlord.
However, they always leave the front door open! It drives me nuts. They leave it open when they let their dog out (they tie it out on the front lawn...another issue...I don't like it, but there's not much I can do about that one...although we do have a perfectly good back/side yard). They leave the door open and the door to their foyer open so that the dog can come and scratch on their main apartment door when she wants in. They door is also regularly partially shut but unlatched because the 12 year old is too lazy to shut the door properly (it's not a regular door knob...a latch that you have to left, close, and release)...it's a pain in the butt, but once you get used to it, there's not much to it.
I've spoken to the landlord in the past and he's said he's spoken to them. However, the problem continues to persist. I've been letting it slide, mainly because usually I'm in a hurry to get somewhere or have my hands full of stuff. I've mentioned it to the girl, but I have no idea if that message ever made it to Grandma. However, today I came home, I'm on vacation, and the door was open. So, I knocked on the door and asked to speak to my neighbour. I asked if she could please make sure the door was shut. Her response is "No, not when the dog is out...we can't hear her if the door is shut and she just scratches on the outside door"...my response "That's not OK...you need to find another solution to that problem." So then she defers to a problem SHE has..."when you lock the outside door in the middle of the day, my granddaughter gets locked out because she doesn't have a key"...I thought my response of "then you need to get her a key" was fairly reasonable. However, after basically saying that I can stop locking the door in the middle of the day until they get her a key and requesting again that they keep the front door shut, I said thanks, turned around, and got the door SLAMMED behind me. Then, 2 minutes later I went to look for something in my car, and the dog had been let in, but the door was still wide open.
OK...I didn't think this was such an unreasonable request...or one that deserved such a rude response. It's cold...our apartment is freezing. Having the front door open does not help matters. Plus, it's like inviting people in. Yes, we have a deadbolt on our apartment door. However, my car was broken into a month or two back and I'm not all that trusting these days. It's also a risk to MY animals, since if they happened to get out our apartment door, there would be a wide open doorway to outside....one of the reasons I liked this apartment was the 2-door buffer zone to prevent escape. Plus..heck...call me crazy, but I just think a door should be shut.
In any case, after getting her response...I just called the landlord and asked him to deal with it. He completely agreed with me, but we'll see what becomes.
I didn't even mention the whole shutting the patio sensor light off, leaving garbage on the front porch, leaving the dog's leash (which basically consists of 4 ugly leashes tied together) sprawled out all over the front porch, and leaving the dog outside barking for 20 minutes (yeah...they can't hear her in their apartment...right) thing....subtle hints haven't been working...so I'm not sure how I'll approach that one...maybe I'll wait until after the holidays to tick them off more!
I don't think I expect too much of my neighbours to show the same sort of respect to the exterior of the house as I do...it's not the prettiest place to begin with (nice house, needs some TLC and $$$), but we can help my keeping the trash/junk away.
