Between the neighbors, the landlord and the building management personnel, apartment living can be fraught with problems.
But a woman on Reddit’s apartment experience went to a whole new level: After months of conflict with her neighbors, she awoke one day to find that building security had let her neighbor into her apartment without anyone’s permission.
She wasn’t sure about how to handle the situation, so she went to the AITA (Am I The A**hole) subReddit for perspective.
The Original Poster (OP), who goes by xxShellzyLeexx on the site, asked:
“AITA for going to my building’s management to talk to them about my downstairs neighbors?”
She explained:
“I (33F[emale]) moved into my current apartment in November of 2020, so less than a year ago. I live with two roommates. Both myself and one of my roommates work third shift and the other works from home during the day so most of the time there is only really one of us walking around at any given time.”
“As I’ve stated we’ve been there less than a year and the people in the apartment below us have come to complain we walk too loud 4 times, 3 times they left rather passive aggressive post it notes on our door and once one of them came up and knocked on the door to speak to us. The guy then went on a 10 minute rant about how they have a newborn baby and work from home and how we need to walk quieter or to wear slippers to help muffle the sound.”
“Personally I hate wearing anything on my feet if I don’t have to but to keep the peace we agreed we all would and apologized even though we really didn’t feel like we were doing anything wrong. But something happened two days ago that really drew the line in the sand for me.”
“My two roommates were out and I was home alone sleeping because I worked the night before when all of a sudden I hear two men speaking in my living room. My roommates are a male and a female so hearing two men kinda freaked me out. Then all of a sudden my bedroom door opens and there standing in my bedroom doorway is the front desk security guard and the downstairs neighbor.”
“Apparently according to the neighbor he had a wet spot forming on his bedroom ceiling which is directly below my bedroom and had gone to the front desk to say something. I guess they then called my landlord who texted me but because I was sleeping I had my phone on do not disturb. The security guard then tells the neighbor to come in and look around my bedroom to see if they can figure out if the wet spot is coming from there.”
“By this time I’m very confused and frankly pissed off that there are two strange men now standing in my bedroom and I have no idea what’s going on. The neighbor then proceeds to tell me about the wet spot in his ceiling that he’s convinced is coming from my apartment. I was like I don’t know what to tell you man I clearly was sleeping and wasn’t using any water for anything but go ahead and look.”
“Which he does and finds nothing. He was so rude about everything. After both men left I called my landlord and basically explained everything I just typed out. He told me not to worry.”
“But I’m super pissed security just let himself and someone else into not only my apartment but also my bedroom. I also feel like I’m being harassed by my downstairs neighbors. I want to go to the building’s management about this but both roomies say it’s not worth it. Would I be an a**hole if I complained?”
People on Reddit were then asked to judge who is in the wrong in this situation based on the following categories:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
Unsurprisingly, most people were on OP’s side.
“…This is very much illegal and I would not be comfortable living there unless there is some guarantee this will never happen again.”
“NTA. I would have called 911 the second I found out they were in my apartment and I would have yelled at them at the top of my lungs until they left.” —aLongNumbersOfString
“NTA!!!! If I heard voices in my flat I would be calling the police!!!!!” —Rare_Scar1810
“NTA. Get to management now. You have a right to quiet possession of your apartment. A text and a few minutes are not suitable notice. They came in and entered a room you’re sleeping in. Not ok.” —shingetterpopo
“NTA… At no point should they have let the neighbor into the apartment. OP should raise all the ruckus needed to let building people know this is inappropriate. That guard needs to know what their job is. Letting anyone with a good story into an apartment is just stupid.” —TruckOk7081
After reading her fellow Redditors’ responses, OP came back to add some more information.
“Small update:”
“Wow everyone thank you so much for all the great advice and for not thinking I’m crazy for wanting something done about this situation. I just got off the phone with someone from management. She seemed very sympathetic towards the situation and she apologized for something like this happening.”
“She also informed me that on that particular day they were testing the sprinkler system and wouldn’t you know that part of testing the sprinkler system is to flush water through the lines and it’s actually not at all uncommon for some of the water to leak out of the sprinklers. So would anyone like to guess what almost definitely caused the water spot?”
“Honestly I feel like that is something the security guard should have known. I have made an appointment for myself and my roommates to meet with the whole management team face to face later in the week to further discuss everything. If something like this ever happens again I absolutely will call the police and file a report. Also thank you so much for the silver award totally made my day!”
Here’s hoping OP can be spared any further apartment drama in the future.