How to enforce condo rules (unleashed dogs/not scooping the poop)

Can you get a tape recorder in your living room so that you can present her noise to the court before then?

Yes , walking.. cabinets.. and vacuuming are daily living noises, but the one who is DOING them has no idea how loud it is downstairs. When she adds to that noise deliberately she is only putting nails in her own coffin frankly..

My fingers are crossed for Wednesday, Linkat!

Regardless of that, she might be moving herself soon, if she indeed is filing
for a divorce. They have to sell the condo and split their assets as I doubt
that he has enough money to pay her out so she can remain in the condo.

You run a slippery slope by doing that - if you end up recording any voices as a result, then you are in trouble for invading some one's privacy. Legally you can video tape and take pictures of people without them knowing it, but if you audio tape anyone without them knowing it - it is illegal.

Also, I think loudness would be difficult to tell - I mean I could increase the volume on the banging. We had actually discussed something like this with our lawyer.

I can't imagine that they would be able to without taking a loss. When they purchased prices were higher. We have lived here for 13 years so we have the advantage of pricing toward the lower part of the market.

right now the idiot just came in - how do I know - sounds like she is jumping around. I just ignore it. Soon the dishes will be done and I will need to put them away I am sure she will claim this is because she is walking around - husband is at practice with the girls for softball.

Playoffs of next - they are both in second place so they home field advantage for the playoff game.

OK I cannot believe how brazen she is. I just went out to walk my dog. I was at the pet area and saw another neighbor with her dog. Both leashed. The dogs played a bit and then I walked him away to pee and poop. I turned and she appeared with her dog and then right within just a couple of yards, unleashed him. She looked at me and smiled.

What the f? Does not appear to be in fear at all - the dog began running around unleashed and did not seem a bit petrified.

What do you make of that?

Oh and I just was emptying my dishwasher - when I was putting the pans in the cabinets, the shelf fell and boy what alot of noise - I honestly didn't mean it - but the little plastics thingys that hold up the shelf must have shifted and the whole thing came crashing down. I wonder if she plans to bring this up - doesn't matter husband is the one she is claiming causing the harassment and he is at practice.

A woman who lives in her own world. I wouldn't put much past her, including messing up your potential condo sale by some activity. I think it is time for a serious attorney at least as a consult. I know you have an attorney, not sure how appropriate for this foofuraw.

We are trying to set up a meeting with him tomorrow morning - he emailed us and he is available then - at that point we should have any documentation so he can go over it with us.

Now I don't know if I am being paronoid, but I've started having a little bit of fear for my kids. We asked them last night how often she talks to them. They, being kids, is hard to get clear answers from them. But they did say she will say Hi to them whenever she sees them. One time, when they didn't respond and kept walking (as we had instructed them to), she then tried to get them to talk by asking them - do you like my silly shoes?

What the f--? If she is so fearful of my husband, why would she try to talk with his children? Do you think she would be capable of doing anything to harm them? Why would she want to talk with them?

My youngest says - oh she is always nice to me...it worries me.

ok, so lets be sneaky for a bit.

what if you just HAPPEN to be video tapping your kids... I dunno.. singing . And it just HAPPENS to contain noise from upstairs that just HAPPENS to also be apparent on the video.

ya know
sneaky and stuff...

hmm.. written log? with time and date?

Yes - I did make note of these items, time, date, etc.

I do like your sneaky way of thinking, however, I am going to try not to play games and just be to the point with my emails of support.

i know.
Im really only 1/2 serious.

she is obviously off her rocker, and just looking to offend and annoy you. That will show itself with little effort I bet.

Ok - so my husband went to the police station and got there reports. On 6/12 a call taker at 6:40 said resident was banging on ceiling. That is all the report said, but her harrassment claim said she drove to the police station. On that day we had a basketball tournament - last one we would have been home at the earliest 2pm. Then we had a showing at 3:30 so we would not have been home for at least an hour after that. If she drove to the police station, I'd assume it could have been after we came back from being away for the showing.

But we would have all been home. And no one has banged on the ceiling in all of 2011 for sure.

On 7/22 (which doesn't make sense to me as the police were over on 7/23) - she called and said a male is banging on the ceiling. One there are 3 other people living in the condo and the 3 are all females - how would she know it was a male banging. It makes no mention of us not answering a door or a policeman trying to contact us.

In regard to the second item at 7/22 - the time noted was 5:07pm. My husband looked through his blackberry and noticed around that time he received an email from our realtor about the showing we were holding that weekend. He remembered he had brought our kids to the batting cages that evening as they had some tough games coming up.

He arrived home about 5pm with the kids. I looked through my emails to see what I had - BINGO. I had sent an email at 5:15 to the management company that said their dog continues to be unleashed - he is in front of our unit without a leash at approximately 5pm this evening.

So I remember my husband calling me about it - he had gone to our bedroom where the computer is to view the realtor's request - as it has an attachment that cannot be viewed from a blackberry and had called me from there - how could he be in the area to bang on the ceiling if he was in our bedroom on the computer and phone to me.

So we met with the lawyer - he said what we have is good; he just said to organize it - the emails and take 3 copies - one for us; one for the judge and one for the nutcase. He also suggested taking pictures of the outside so the judge could visualize how close our doors are/where the dog was laying by our door, etc.

The lawyer in reading her affadivant said that she does seem irrational; and that depending on what she says we can point out she is not acting rationally. He also told us if we have time to go to the probate court house and get anything on either one of them since that is where they would file for divorce. He said if there are certain dates on it that correspond with when she called police/went to the police department etc where she claimed my husband was making her sick that if she had claims against her husband around that time that would also support there was other stuff going on in her life.

He also mentioned himself that her behavour and her dogs behavior do not indicate they are petrified or in fear for their life.

He told me I should call the dog officer on her. (not hubby, but me). He said he would under the circumstances.

The one negative he said is the judge could decide to agree to a restraining order just to keep her from calling the police over every little thing and so she does not continue to bring this stuff into court. He said seeing we are trying to sell our place and move out and trying to avoid contact with her - since we are already doing those things, it wouldn't hurt us and would shut her up.

The lawyer also suggested if this happens that my husband file a harrassment on her for filing this types of claims.

Your lawyer gave you good advice, Linkat! I like the idea of taking pictures
of the outside and surroundings so the judge can visualize your living quarters.
I don't see how the outcome cannot be in your favor, so I would not worry
about anything. It's just a terrible nuisance to you and costly as well, however, once she loses the case, I doubt that she will continue with her
shenanigans.

I certainly hope so.

The lawyer was pointing out that our case is so mild compared to what the judge has to deal with normally....herion addicts, and violent types of harrassments. Seeing ours isn't serious thus the worry to keep her from wasting the judge's time in the future.

My fingers are crossed for you today, Linkat. Let us know what happened with the lunatic !

Ok so I am back. I spent, along with my husband, a good amount of time organizing our thoughts, pictures, emails, etc. We did not get home until around 8:30 due to sports and VBS. So after feeding the kids and stuff, we were up late pulling things together. I was tired, but had trouble sleeping over this crap.

So we get to the courthouse - the crazy lady is there and so is her soon to be ex. They had no one else. After sitting through several of these types of cases, I started to gain confidence. There were a few apartment/condo harrassment disputes and in each one the judge asked, were you threatened in any way. Some tried to fake it, but the judge wasn't biting.

So we get up. She tells her point. Banging on ceiling so loud that her China plates shake crap like that. Then when she mentions this harrassment effects her and her dog. The judge goes, dog? I can even see the clerk smirking. Her ex never spoke just sat there. She even threw in there they were getting divorced so she is scared to be by herself.

Judge turns to my husband (and prior to us going up - I told him just give big highlights as I don't think we need to give any proof). So my husband explained that overall we try to avoid this person. He moved his home office in our bedroom under another unit just to avoid being underneath. Never in 2011 has he or anyone else in our household banged on the ceiling. In April we had construction throughout the month including while we were away on vacation for a week as we are selling our place to get out of there.

Then he briefly went over what happened on the particular other days. I just chimed in on the dog incident as I wrote the letters and witnessed the incident. She said in her initial statement that the management company said this was a personal thing on her (regarding the letters on the dog) and I simply pointed out how it wasn't true as I have an email her where I talked about other unleashed dogs. We didn't get into much detail as it didn't appear we would need to.

She got all huffy afterwards and said, I can't believe they are saying this under oath (was not one lie we said) - my dog is the most behaved dog as any in the association, and then started go on and on about crap. The judge tried to stop her and she talked over him. He got mad, and said, maybe you try to run your personal life like this - but do not interrupt me and behave appropriately in court.

He said you have to prove 3 incidents of threats, there is not one. Denied.

I don't think he believed a word she said.
I said thank you to the judge with a big old smile.

Whew!

Sounds like it went really well.

Congrats!