VENTING: Brooklyn Co-Op | Neighbor Harassment

joanna1182

Good Evening Fellow Nesters!  

I have been racking my brain over my issue for the past 1.5 years regarding my downstairs neighbor who has been harassing me since I moved in.  Since the day we moved into our co-op, this pathetic low life has been banging on the ceilings and incessantly texting my husband complaining about the noise.  My parents, sister and nephew come to visit me every 6 months, and beside normal living noises and my nephew playing between the hours of 8AM and 8:30PM, there is no other noises and he is banging on the ceiling (my floors) and texting my husband.  He has gone as far as to texting my husband complaining about the hours in which I choose to do laundry in the lobby area.  Apparently, he hears me walking around the bedroom putting the clothes away and that bothers him?  I mean, I'm not slamming dressers or anything like that, but the floors are old and they creak a bit, which is out of my control.  Even when we get up to use the bathroom they creak.  

Last November 2014, my parents, sister and nephew came to visit.  My nephew is 2 years old and he can walk now.  He walks around during the day and plays with is toys, and this guy is banging on the ceiling (my floors), coming up to my unit and complaining.  The first night my parents arrived, he came upstairs and complained about the noise level and that he understood my husband had Achilles tendon surgery and was on crutches, but that he should be more considerate and not use his crutches because they make too much noise!!!  Then he came upstairs the same night a second time complaining about the noise and, at this point, my husband was furious and told him to leave.  He proceeded to call my husband (who is African American) a monkey and other derogatory names, and repeatedly told him to step outside and act like a man.  My husband refused and he said, "you're lucky you are on crutches."  My husband responded that HE was lucky he is on crutches, so my neighbor told him he would use his hands only, and no legs, that my husband should just step outside and be a man.  I reported this behavior to the Board and the co-op attorneys wrote him a big bad letter and things have died down a bit.  However, he continued to come upstairs and ask my parents when they were leaving, he sent text messages during the day to "quiet the kid", he came upstairs and told me if the kid is going to be running around the house all day that I should take him to the park.  Mind you, this is winter in NYC, it was like 10 degrees outside.  He referred to my parents as "illegal residents" because we are Chinese.  

Now months after this incident, he periodically bangs on the ceilings (my floors) when he hears the slightest bit of noise.  I report his behavior each time and make note of it in a Google doc and send it to the building manager.  I received a letter yesterday from the co-op attorney saying this prick and his wife allege that my husband and our guests threatened him back in February 2014 if they continued to report noise issues with us!  This is completely false!  Like, really -- if we threatened you back in February 2014, why are you reporting this in March 2015?!  Are you kidding me?!  Additionally, I had guests over a two months back and he was banging at their feet while they were eating dinner, and he feels threatened by the people that were here.  It is your behavior that is creating hostility in all of this.  I asked him while he was up here at one point, if I had children, would he be up in my unit every day complaining about noise?  He couldn't even answer me.  

In any case, I discover that this guy and his wife aren't even shareholders of the building I live in.  It is his mother who is the shareholder, and after doing some research.  The proprietary lease specifically states that we can have guests in our unit up to 30 days and these guests can include children, grandchildren, sisters and brothers and domestic partners.  However, they may not stay here for more than 30 days unless otherwise agreed upon by the Board.  That being said, isn't this guy a subtenant of his mother's - the actual shareholder?  I understand why HE is allowed to live in the unit but why is his wife allowed to live in the unit, she is not the child of the shareholder and I know his mother did not transfer ownership to him.  That being said, since I am a shareholder, I'm technically a owner of the building, and I am his landlord, how is it that the Board is allowing this piece of trash to harass ME?  Removing a subtenant should not be difficult, so why are they dragging their feet and sending these ridiculous letters to me?  

From my own research, my neighbors have informed me that this guy has had issues with EVERY tenant that has ever lived in my unit.  Shouldn't his history of this kind of behavior be grounds to terminate his tenancy.  There should be no lawsuit brought against anyone because they are not evicting the shareholder, the are evicting her tenant. 

Can someone PLEASE help!