Called The Police On My Neighbor Who Keeps Taking My Packages Saying "He's Helping" r/Relationships

[00:00:01] Hey Waffle Gang, I do hope you are well. My name is Mark and today we're checking out some more Reddit stories. And if you do love a Reddit story, why not consider a like, subscribe, maybe that notification bell too. And let's crack on with today's first story. Much love guys.

[00:00:18] Now today's first story comes from AlwaysAngryFox from the BoomersBeingFooled subreddit and says, had to call the police on my boomer neighbor.

[00:00:28] I've been lurking here for a while and decided to share my story since it escalated last week.

[00:00:33] I'm a single female living in an apartment complex. It's me and my dog.

[00:00:38] My neighbor across the hall is an old grumpy creeper boomer I've never liked since the day he moved in.

[00:00:44] He keeps junk outside his door, doesn't control his guests, throws food and trash into the common areas and once even tried swinging at my dog with his cane.

[00:00:53] He's always made me feel extremely uncomfortable around him since day one. I've complained and complained to management but they do nothing about him.

[00:01:01] He plays dumb when confronted then goes back to whatever it was. About a year ago he started taking my packages.

[00:01:09] I would come home to no package and have to wait for him to appear to get my stuff. Constantly I told him to leave my packages alone.

[00:01:16] He always says, I'm trying to help you out. Now I've never had a package stolen in this building. Never.

[00:01:23] I've had them delivered to wrong addresses but never stolen. This went back and forth for a full year. He would even take them when I was home.

[00:01:31] I literally opened my door one day to collect my package only to see him nearly vaulting out of his apartment to get it.

[00:01:37] He saw me and just said, oh you're home. Then went back inside. I had enough and bought a camera.

[00:01:45] The camera seemed to deter him as he doesn't like it. Last week I was expecting a book to be delivered.

[00:01:52] Mailman drops it off, waves to the camera and leaves. Uma opens his door. He stares at my package for several minutes before trying to take it into his apartment.

[00:02:00] I get on the intercom and yell at him to put my stuff down. He drops it. No more than 10 minutes later he comes back out and takes the package again.

[00:02:09] I had enough. I got off work early, came home and called the police. The officer who came out watched the video I recorded and went to talk to my neighbor.

[00:02:18] Same excuse as always. I'm trying to be helpful.

[00:02:22] I never asked him to start taking my packages. The officer gave him a warning saying if he took anything else from my door,

[00:02:28] I could press charges against him and he would be arrested.

[00:02:32] Uma is pissed. My camera also records audio and I could hear him complaining to his niece that I didn't need to call the cops and again, he's looking out for me.

[00:02:40] I'd feel safer with a tiger actively stalking me in the woods.

[00:02:44] That's my story. I wanted to share it. I got my book and had the best evening reading.

[00:02:50] Apocalypse Joe says to this when file a complaint with USPS2.

[00:02:53] What he's doing is a federal crime and they don't take that shit lightly.

[00:02:59] Strike Impiana says unfortunately I think you're going to have to involve the police again.

[00:03:04] But you've already won. The boomer knows that there will be consequences.

[00:03:08] The police told him so directly.

[00:03:10] But being a boomer he won't be able to help himself.

[00:03:13] The boomer is so full of self-righteousness that he will literally have to help you again.

[00:03:19] Then you've got him.

[00:03:22] Another commenter says it sounds like he's trying to force an interaction with you or it's some kind of weird power play.

[00:03:28] You're doing the right thing. He can stop.

[00:03:31] Shark says to the OP so assuming he takes a package does he come over to try to give it to you?

[00:03:35] Is he trying to get an invite in?

[00:03:38] OP says when he wants to.

[00:03:40] Basically he takes the package then leaves.

[00:03:42] He goes off to do whatever it is he does and I have to wait for him to come home.

[00:03:45] Bang on his door and get my package.

[00:03:48] Sometimes he would try to invite me while he finds it.

[00:03:52] But I always decline.

[00:03:54] Awfully creepy it's sounding at the moment I've got to be honest.

[00:03:57] I would love to say it was just a neighbor being nice but come on it's not in this situation is it?

[00:04:02] But OP came in and said so I contacted my building's management company on Monday.

[00:04:08] Someone called me back today and I explained the situation all over again.

[00:04:12] She genuinely laughed at me over the phone.

[00:04:14] Oh honey he's just old he's helping you.

[00:04:17] I wish someone would take my packages for me.

[00:04:20] She even said he might view me like a granddaughter.

[00:04:23] I did take some glee informing her my grandparents on both sides are all dead and I don't need new ones.

[00:04:30] When I said the incident recorded she told me that they would send someone to talk to him.

[00:04:34] Nothing will be done as always.

[00:04:37] Good news is I think he's learned his lesson.

[00:04:39] I had two packages delivered early this morning and he hasn't touched them.

[00:04:43] He walked past and looked at them multiple times but hasn't touched them.

[00:04:47] Hopefully the police gave him the scare I could not.

[00:04:50] I've typed up a letter for the management company explaining that if another package is stolen

[00:04:55] I will not only press charges against my neighbor but the building as well for ignoring my complaints.

[00:05:00] Maybe that will get their attention.

[00:05:02] Thanks for all the support.

[00:05:04] That's so frustrating to have the people in charge of the building ignoring you and just going oh honey he's helping you.

[00:05:10] No if he was being helpful you know when you told him that you didn't want it anymore he would have stopped there and then not continued doing so and forcing to escalate things further.

[00:05:20] But what do you guys make of this situation?

[00:05:23] Have you ever had a neighbor that oversteps trying to insert themselves into your life?

[00:05:27] Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below and let's move on to another story.

[00:05:34] And you know what I'm like once I get a neighbor story.

[00:05:36] I need another one.

[00:05:37] I need another one.

[00:05:39] This one comes from Ginger Dominion who says neighbors shed in roaches on our property preventing us from building our house.

[00:05:46] How do I get this finally removed after battling him for a year?

[00:05:50] My dad owns a vacant but desirable property in New York.

[00:05:54] Neither of us currently reside there.

[00:05:56] He's passing the property along to me so I can build a house to live there.

[00:05:59] The property has been in my family since 1937.

[00:06:04] It took about 10k for him to get the title cleaned up with a lawyer.

[00:06:07] Last spring I had a survey done that showed the neighbor's shed in roaches on the property by about 7 feet.

[00:06:14] Setback is 12 feet so needs to move around 19 feet back.

[00:06:18] The neighbor even said to my surveyor that my dad should just sell him the land.

[00:06:23] With this enroachment my dad is unable to pass along a clean title to me.

[00:06:27] Without a clean title I'm not able to secure a home building loan.

[00:06:31] I was going to work with a neighbor to amicably remove the shed but he swiftly blocked my number and didn't answer his door when I was in town last August.

[00:06:40] I looked into the town codes and the penalty for the violation is $100 a week.

[00:06:44] He also does not have a permit for this shed.

[00:06:47] Which is necessary per the town's code of any structure over 120 square foot requiring a permit.

[00:06:54] Since I didn't live there I got the city involved.

[00:06:57] The building inspector told him to remove the shed from our property.

[00:07:01] The neighbor ignored and refused for about 5 months.

[00:07:04] Then the building inspector had the city attorney write him a letter in January giving him 60 days to respond.

[00:07:11] The inspector has not given us a copy of the letter.

[00:07:13] We've requested it multiple times now so I'm unsure of what all was said in the letter.

[00:07:18] I've also requested that the inspector enforces the penalties as well as an injunction to padlock his shed for further use.

[00:07:26] Those requests were ignored as well.

[00:07:28] We didn't head back for about 90 days from the neighbor after the attorney's letter but he agreed to move the shed.

[00:07:34] Woohoo right?

[00:07:35] He then said that we need to get the surveyors to pin where he should move his shed so he doesn't have to do it twice.

[00:07:42] We have three different surveys of the property and there are pins at each corner.

[00:07:47] I called our surveyor and it'd be $700 to mark where he should move the shed.

[00:07:52] I felt that I shouldn't be responsible for getting his shed into compliance.

[00:07:56] This is his violation but I've been patiently waiting and delaying an entire year.

[00:08:00] I don't care if he isn't within the full means of the 12 feet setback.

[00:08:04] He just needs it off my property to appease me at this point.

[00:08:08] Initially I was willing to get the surveyor out again and pay for it.

[00:08:11] But my concern is that if we do that he's still not going to move it in a timely manner and keep moving the goalposts for us.

[00:08:18] Neighbor even said it would take five months after we pin the property.

[00:08:22] I don't know why he thinks it will take five months to move the shed.

[00:08:26] I called around and got a quote from shed movers and one said they'd do it next week for $575.

[00:08:32] I've got a lawyer in my back pocket who will be my last ditch effort.

[00:08:36] It's expensive.

[00:08:37] A letter alone will be $1,500 and will take a long time.

[00:08:41] So I don't love that idea.

[00:08:43] He said we could do a revocable license for the bit of land.

[00:08:47] But I'm not giving the neighbor anything at this point.

[00:08:50] I want to put a driveway and definitely a fence there now too.

[00:08:53] So I'll need that land.

[00:08:55] At this point I can understand why my neighbor is being a jerk.

[00:08:58] He wants to get away with whatever he can.

[00:09:00] But I can't understand why the building inspector has let him get away with everything.

[00:09:05] Why no penalties?

[00:09:06] Why no injunctions?

[00:09:08] He was very unhappy when I called the town clerk and asked for more information because the inspector doesn't answer mine.

[00:09:14] He's been so ineffective on this and it's having real repercussions for us.

[00:09:18] We're renting in the HCOL area that we don't like and would love to have made progress this year to move ASAP.

[00:09:26] The neighbor should have racked up at least $4,400 in penalties so far.

[00:09:32] An additional 2k for the 5 months he wants to tack on.

[00:09:35] I feel like that would invoke actual pressure for him to move it, right?

[00:09:39] So what is my next step here to get this done ASAP?

[00:09:43] Is there someone above the inspector with the city that can help me with this?

[00:09:47] How can I get the town to actually enforce the movement of this shed and its penalties without being such wet noodles about it?

[00:09:54] Any ideas?

[00:09:55] And just to clear it up out to Google afterwards, HCOL stands for High Cost of Living Area.

[00:10:01] And I don't know all the laws and all this sort of stuff, but I was annoyed when he said that you should get the surveyors to pin where he should move his shed so he doesn't have to do it twice.

[00:10:10] You know, that's his responsibility.

[00:10:12] He should know where his land is so he can put his shed in the right position.

[00:10:16] But Bythog says the same thing and says it's his responsibility to have the shed moved within the compliance of the law, not yours.

[00:10:23] He can get the surveyor to mark things for you or move it so far away from the property line that he has no chance of being on yours.

[00:10:30] Ginger says thank you.

[00:10:32] I've stated this so many times to the building inspector and they keep putting the onus back on me to pin it.

[00:10:37] I'm so frustrated at this point, but I feel validated you said that.

[00:10:41] Zombie Jet Pilot says go outside of the inspector.

[00:10:44] Go talk to the council rep for your area and tell them how many months you've been waiting and that this guy isn't doing crap or suffering any consequences.

[00:10:53] They likely care a lot more and chase down the situation.

[00:10:57] Seriously, at what point wouldn't the town just say move it or we will and then we'll bill you for it?

[00:11:03] Opie says yeah, love the idea to talk to the council rep and I agree.

[00:11:07] I don't know how this hasn't just been done yet or at least penalized.

[00:11:11] This whole situation has made me feel like I'm crazy and being a whiny brat about it all.

[00:11:16] But this thread is making me feel much more validated.

[00:11:19] Hardly working replies that saying you're not a whiny brat for expecting your neighbor to keep his property off of your property.

[00:11:26] And I had an issue that wasn't getting resolved.

[00:11:28] I found contacting the mayor was most effective.

[00:11:31] My council rep didn't do shit, but I think that depends on the person.

[00:11:35] State senators and state reps can also be helpful.

[00:11:38] You have been patient enough.

[00:11:40] Keep going over everyone's head until it gets resolved and do not feel bad about doing it.

[00:11:45] Someone says it's on your family's property.

[00:11:47] I'll burn it down.

[00:11:50] Is that legal?

[00:11:52] Opie comes in with an update and says,

[00:11:54] So a few weeks back I went to Home Depot and we bought a sawzall.

[00:11:58] I don't know if that's how you pronounce it.

[00:12:01] We went to the neighbor's property in the middle of the night and...

[00:12:04] Nah, not really.

[00:12:06] For all you burn-it-downers and sawzall-itsayers,

[00:12:09] my attorney said by no means do anything like that.

[00:12:12] He said do not touch it in any way ever.

[00:12:15] How did Opie actually approach the lawyer to ask about this?

[00:12:20] Anyway, so thank you to everyone for the solid and rational advice of talking to attorneys and,

[00:12:25] as frustrating as it is, utilizing our government resources as recounted below.

[00:12:30] So I escalated this with the town and bothered them to no end.

[00:12:34] I got all the way up to the town supervisor.

[00:12:36] He was very frustrated on my behalf.

[00:12:39] I told him I've been dealing with this situation for a year,

[00:12:42] that the neighbor has been told to move the shed by the inspector and town attorney,

[00:12:46] and that I've already had three surveys of the land to prove the enroachment,

[00:12:49] and that the property is properly demarcated with pins.

[00:12:53] He asked why the building inspector was having yet another surveyor go out there,

[00:12:57] and he said he would just have someone measure where the shed needs to be moved using the survey.

[00:13:02] He says he will personally get involved in this,

[00:13:05] and will give neighbor one week to get his shed moved.

[00:13:08] I get a call back with him later that day with a junior building inspector

[00:13:12] taking direction from the senior inspector while he's out of town,

[00:13:16] on the line, and womp womp, he totally changes his tune.

[00:13:20] He said I have to get a surveyor to go out there to pin the property line again,

[00:13:24] but specifically next to the shed.

[00:13:26] They could never answer me why it was my responsibility to pin a specific spot on my property

[00:13:31] for a shed that shouldn't exist there in the first place,

[00:13:34] solely for the benefit of the neighbor figuring out how far back to move his shed

[00:13:39] to get it into compliance.

[00:13:41] I'm fuming now, and I also figured out that the senior inspector forgot

[00:13:45] that I had sent him the third survey showing the enroachment in the spring,

[00:13:49] which should have began the penalty violations.

[00:13:51] He also didn't provide that to the neighbor who needed it,

[00:13:54] and had been asking for it.

[00:13:56] He just thought I didn't provide the survey.

[00:13:59] Even the junior inspector was embarrassed and frustrated

[00:14:01] for his lack of help and thoroughness with my case.

[00:14:04] At this point, I'm still adamant that I don't want to get another surveyor out there.

[00:14:08] It would just take too long.

[00:14:11] I talked to a lawyer that would be less expensive than a surveyor,

[00:14:14] and pretty much said this was a slam-dunk win that would enforce a removal ASAP.

[00:14:19] We're still trying to tread lightly, though,

[00:14:21] so we don't piss off my future homes building inspector too much

[00:14:25] with the threats of using an attorney.

[00:14:27] But we desperately need results.

[00:14:29] My dad's an engineer, and comes up with an idea that we present to the junior inspector.

[00:14:36] We use the shed as the property line pin to mark the setback for the neighbor.

[00:14:40] The shed is shown on the survey, and we can see where the property line crosses through the shed.

[00:14:45] So we just need to measure and mark those places in real life.

[00:14:50] It's stupidly simple and similar to an idea I mentioned months ago about measuring the setback from the shed.

[00:14:55] But they approved it.

[00:14:57] I used the surveyed CAD files to set up the measurements for where to pin the property line and 6-foot setback lines.

[00:15:03] In my last post, the setbacks were at 12-foot, but changed at some point that month.

[00:15:08] Another piece of information that the building inspector forgot to mention to me.

[00:15:12] When my dad and husband went out to go mark the shed line, the shed using line of sight,

[00:15:17] they met up with a neighbor, and he was so unbelievably nice.

[00:15:22] Mind you, we've all been blocked, ignored, had our no trespassing signs taken down,

[00:15:27] and I've been told in the past that we should just sell him the property.

[00:15:32] Now he's making friends with my husband, giving him a tour of his house,

[00:15:36] talking scotch, sharing contractor info with him, etc.

[00:15:40] I'm baffled hearing this, and don't trust it, but welcome it for the moment.

[00:15:44] Then my husband tells me the neighbor's wife is rude to him,

[00:15:47] and pissed that we didn't get the additional survey.

[00:15:50] Didn't like that we're doing it this way, etc.

[00:15:52] The neighbor hushes her, and she goes off to pout the rest of the day.

[00:15:57] My theory is that maybe the wife is the one doing all the blocking and snagging this up.

[00:16:01] The neighbor apparently had a heart attack earlier this year,

[00:16:03] so I wonder if she took over his communications.

[00:16:06] When this first started last year,

[00:16:08] they mentioned that they tried to buy our property so their son could live on it.

[00:16:13] Apparently it's just her son, his stepson.

[00:16:16] I think she drove some of this conflict,

[00:16:18] and he may be giving it up or just changing his tune after his heart attack.

[00:16:22] Ever since then, he's been friendly towards us, which I'm relieved about.

[00:16:27] So, after the pinning of the property line and marking the six-foot setback,

[00:16:31] the building inspector approved our work.

[00:16:33] And then we gave the neighbor another month to get this scheduled with a mover,

[00:16:37] and finally moved.

[00:16:38] After about a month and a half, I didn't hear from the inspector,

[00:16:41] so we gave the town a call.

[00:16:43] It had been moved.

[00:16:45] We went forward with our final survey to confirm that our land is clear of enrogements.

[00:16:49] It's cleared, but neighbor only moved it 3.6 feet off the property line,

[00:16:54] short of the six-feet setback.

[00:16:57] What the actual fuck?

[00:16:59] I got a letter today from the building inspector saying he passed it and the case is officially closed.

[00:17:05] I absolutely do not care that it is only 3.6 feet back instead of 6 feet.

[00:17:11] I'm just glad he's off my land and can now move forward.

[00:17:14] But seriously, I don't know how this got approved,

[00:17:18] but I'm in awe of the incompetence of the inspector.

[00:17:20] I guess I'll just have to see what I can get away with too.

[00:17:24] Anyways, that's my shed saga.

[00:17:26] Thanks for reading.

[00:17:28] Someone says to Opie after this,

[00:17:30] when I'm curious, is the new place a smaller town?

[00:17:33] I wonder if you're hitting rich person from out of town trying to bully our neighbors,

[00:17:38] and so building inspector thought he was doing some favor to said neighbors,

[00:17:41] especially with the whole heart attack thing.

[00:17:44] Opie says it's a smaller town, but that's definitely not how the situation went down.

[00:17:48] We're not giving rich person vibes at all, because we're not.

[00:17:51] I haven't been a bully either.

[00:17:54] I've tried to work with everyone, but I've gotten stonewalled.

[00:17:57] The building inspector was initially gung-ho to get him off the property.

[00:18:01] It just devolved with sloppiness and laziness.

[00:18:04] I just found out about the heart attack recently,

[00:18:07] but I would have absolutely had compassion to give them time to figure it out.

[00:18:11] They've just taken advantage of the situation at every corner they could.

[00:18:15] Someone said your neighbor knows somebody that is high rank at the code enforcement department.

[00:18:19] I don't think it's incompetence.

[00:18:21] Something is shady about this whole thing.

[00:18:24] Observer says you need to challenge the approval.

[00:18:26] Go to a town meeting and complain.

[00:18:28] Let the board know their inspector approved something not aligned with the code.

[00:18:32] They need to do it by the code.

[00:18:34] I guarantee you aren't going to get to circumvent the codes.

[00:18:37] Opie says yeah.

[00:18:38] I was going to put it all into writing to document it,

[00:18:40] but I don't feel like inserting myself into it anymore.

[00:18:43] Do you see potential issues with that down the line?

[00:18:46] Observer replies saying yes.

[00:18:48] What happens when they want to build on or add another out structure?

[00:18:52] They've established the 3.5 setback.

[00:18:55] It's six foot for a reason.

[00:18:57] Also, the town or the neighbors will let you violate the setback.

[00:19:00] The rules are there for a reason and they need to be followed.

[00:19:03] Go to your next town council meeting and let them know.

[00:19:06] They won't be happy that their inspectors aren't following the codes.

[00:19:09] It exposes them to liability and future claims of discrimination.

[00:19:13] I'd say if my neighbor doesn't have to follow the setback codes, do I?

[00:19:17] They will get it correctly quickly.

[00:19:19] The council needs to instruct the inspector to take the blame for his mistake.

[00:19:24] What town and state is this?

[00:19:26] Opie says,

[00:19:27] Yeah, I kind of wondered how much I even need to follow the rules around there if no one seems to enforce them.

[00:19:33] Apparently my neighbor's neighbor on the other side has an enroaching shed on my neighbor's property.

[00:19:38] They let it go, but in their case it doesn't hold them up from building a house.

[00:19:42] So maybe it's just a lawless land.

[00:19:44] This is in upstate New York.

[00:19:46] I'd definitely be letting the town know,

[00:19:49] but I don't think another structure on my property will be an issue because I fully intend to get a big old fence.

[00:19:55] I was kind of with Opie after this, you know, after dealing with this for such a long time,

[00:19:59] the headaches that it's been causing, etc.

[00:20:01] That, you know, let's just move on for it.

[00:20:03] I can't be asked to deal with that three foot of land or whatever.

[00:20:07] But like that comment said,

[00:20:09] what happens if they do build another outhouse on the same line?

[00:20:13] You know, I guess it can cause all sorts of issues.

[00:20:16] So that commenter was right.

[00:20:17] Although it's a pain in the ass.

[00:20:19] But I wonder if Opie can sort of claim back on all the stuff that they've had to pay for

[00:20:23] and, you know, dealing with all these solicitors, etc. as well.

[00:20:27] It just sounds like a nightmare.

[00:20:29] And why didn't they just move it back the full six foot to begin with anyway?

[00:20:33] You know, they're moving the shed anyway.

[00:20:34] Why not just the full six foot?

[00:20:36] Was it just sort of like ignorance?

[00:20:39] Are they actually trying to get a rise out of Opie now?

[00:20:42] What's the issue here?

[00:20:43] It does feel like someone knows someone in like town hall or whatever it is where these people are.

[00:20:49] But what do you guys make of this situation?

[00:20:52] What would you do?

[00:20:54] Would you fight that additional three foot of space or 2.5 foot of space?

[00:20:58] Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.

[00:21:02] Now, just a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for getting involved in today's stories.

[00:21:06] Your love, your support, your time always means the absolute world to me.

[00:21:09] So thank you so, so much.

[00:21:10] And hopefully I'll see you in the next one.

[00:21:13] Take care and much love.