And I thought only people in Ohio made fun of folks from WV... :-) I had a neighbor who'd been pretty nice to us for about 2 years. Then her 16 year old grandson moved in with her because his parents were at the end of their rope with him. Needless to say, Grandma couldn't handle him any better... We had problem after problem with him... She worked during the day and had no idea what when on when she was gone. Complicating things even more, the houses were very very close together. He and his buddies smoked their pot outside so the smoke blew INTO my open doors and windows if it was warm out. The music was so loud is shook and rattled the windows of MY house. He threw cigarette butts, pop cans and assorted trash over the small fence into my yard... I talked to Gramma about the problems and she agreed to put an end to it. It got a bit better for a while. After that I just called the cops. They only had to come twice. The music quit playing and the pot smoking must have gone elsewhere. The trash still got thrown in my yard though. Grandma never got upset with me too much until... I got tired of picking up cigarette butts from my yard when I wanted to mow. I'd been doing it for a year and was tired of it. So, I collected them all (there must have been 50) and put them in a nice pile by her door for the delinquent to dispose of. That ticked her off! She was so mad at me, so I tried to nicely explain that I'd left them there for her grandson to throw away but she just yelled and screamed at me... I finally said, "Whatever makes you feel better." She never spoke to me again. I felt bad about making her mad, but what did she expect?! One time the cops came and talked with her about him after I'd called the police. They told her he'd been smoking weed, skipping school, disturbing the peace and that next time they would arrest him and involve Children's Services. THAT didn't make her mad at me, but picking up cigarette butts did?!?!? Oh well... I never had to pick up another cigarette butt.

What a horror story! I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. First, there is one thing they may have legal grounds for, and that is restricting how much your boyfriend can be at the apartment. Check your lease. Many leases have a clause about visitors and how long they can stay. If your lease has such a clause, then you do have to limit the number of days per month your BF is there. Or you can have him added to the lease. However, unless there is language in the lease that specifically states that guests must be accompanied at all times, he should be able to stay in your apartment without you. So you really need to read your lease carefully. And google "Maryland landlord tenant law" to find out more about the laws where you live. In most states, state law trumps the lease. So even if there is a clause in the lease, if state law says otherwise, you don't have to follow that clause. So know the lease and know the laws, so you know what your rights are. Then start to document every single little thing that happens. Every interaction with the downstairs neighbors--every time they yell at you and what they say, every time they pound on their ceiling, everything that you can clearly trace to them (so not the disappearing laundry supplies, for example). And document every interaction you have with the office. Whenever they call with another neighbor complaint, make sure they tell you the exact day and time that the supposed noise occurred, so you can write this down. Also, if you can prove that the apartment was empty at that time, put the proof down. I'd go so far as to copy a time card from work, or have a toll receipt or a receipt for a cup of coffee, a copy of your work schedule. Anything that can prove the apartment was empty. Do you have a designated parking spot and can this be seen from your apartment? If so, get a small video camera and point it out the window. Then maybe you can capture the person writing on your car on camera. Call the local police on their non-emergency phone number and tell them that you have neighbors who are screaming obscenities at you as you enter and leave your apartment. You also suspect they are writing on your car and stealing your things from the common laundry room. You are afraid they might escalate from there. What should you do to protect yourself? Write down what they tell you. Take notes for two weeks. During those two weeks, obey the rules to the letter--boyfriend only over when you are there, tip toeing around, being as quiet as possible. Then request a meeting with the highest ranking management person you can find. Bring all your documentation and proof. Tell Management that you are tired of being harassed. And use that word--harassed. You have been contacted X times by the neighbors and Y times by management in 2 weeks and it has to stop. List everything you have done to reduce the noise coming from your apartment. Point out that it is above and beyond what the lease requires. You are not going to listen to the neighbors or management about noise issues again, unless there has been an actual violation of the lease. You will now be calling the police if the neighbors scream at you again. You are tired of being harassed like this. Since management hasn't been able to do anything, you are being forced to take the next step. You have consulted a lawyer about the continued harassment from both management and the neighbors. You do not wish to proceed to legal methods, but given the seriousness of their actions towards you, that is the next logical step. Point out that you are not in violation of any of the clauses in the lease. You are willing to add additional noise reduction to your apartment, if you are told of specific things that would definitely (not "might") help your neighbors. You are willing to be a good neighbor and a good tenant. But you are not willing to be harassed on a daily basis where you live. I think these people are taking advantage of the fact that you are a young single woman in her 20s. You have probably been very accommodating and polite, so they think they can walk all over you. I think it's time to stop re-acting to them and become more pro-active. As long as you aren't violating the lease, you should be standing up for yourself. Oh, and buy a chain door guard and use it whenever you are in your apartment. That will stop the management from entering while you are in there. Can't stop them from coming in when you aren't there, but at least they won't be able to surprise you when you are sleeping or showering.

I will second the suggestion of starting with the city. Not sure its worth hiring an atty, although I would not second the suggestion of black out curtains -- I don't think you should have to put up with this. If the city won't do anything (I think they might, depending on where you live I suppose), your county courthouse may have a law library (mine does) and you might find a book on neighboor disputes, how to bring a lawsuit, etc. Barring some more specific law, I would think you could sue for common-law nuisance; the fact that the light is not code compliant may be evidence that it is a nuisance. If you can file such a claim in small claims court (you might not), it shouldn't be too hard since that is more or less set up for non-attorneys. I write all this assuming that you have tried to approach your neighboor with no success. If there is any chance that some neighboor-to-neighboor diplomacy might work, definitely give it s try. Is there another neighboor onthe block you might act as an informal intermidiary? HPH -- good luck --

Prairielove: If you read my update to the situation this year, you will understand that I did take proactive action to keep this person from blowing his leaves into my yard by stacking logs about 3 feet high and 100 feet long along the one border of my property. And this person did still manage to blow his leaves into our yard. Even though he knew that we did not appreciate it. This neighbor is obviously unbalanced in that he has held a grudge about this fence for 7 years. I mean, how weird is that in the first place? I mean, it is our property, I can do whatever to it that I want under jurisdiction of the county I live in and no one else has anything to say about it. It is a nice looking fence. DH has done the "talking" in the past and it ends up that the neighbor ignores it. When we finally get fed up and confront him in a stern manner, it ends up with the person getting all "you are the bad guys" and ends in a shouting match. Or we get lying, or cocky replies. And this person continues to sneak around to access our property, to blow leaves into our yard, etc. You cannot have a "relationship" with a neighbor that is crazy. We just want this person to leave our property alone - totally - 100%. That is all... if I have to call in authorities to get that accomplished so be it. However, I really think that telling your animal to bark at someone on purpose is totally uncalled for. I mean, what is next, telling the dog to attack on command? I had no intention of calling the authorities back about the barking dog I just wanted to know if it is considered harassment which I think it is. So I am noting it in my log. Although to note, that the dog was out for about 4 hours yesterday afternoon and he likely barked for about 2 of those hours... he is a coonhound and that is what they do. And I am willing to accept some barking, all dogs bark, I own a dachsie I know, but to train the dog to bark on command at a specific person is just uncalled for. I am now looking at places to get cheap shrubbery until I can afford to put in a 6 foot fence. And I just bought some no trespassing signs. And I am going to get an ultrasonic bark control for when we are out in the yard to see if that works. Thanks all. I'll let you know how this situation unfolds!