I’ve never really had problems with my neighbors in any of my apartments I’ve lived in, but there have been some that have really bothered me, and I’m sure I really bothered some of them.

When I lived in the dorms in college, I only really had one neighbor who was frustrating to live near. She lived in a single and I lived in a double with a roommate. There were five of us that shared a bathroom, which made it even more challenging. She didn’t blast her music or have loud parties, but she did order stinky food and do other things that were annoying. I didn’t really do anything to fix the problems we had with her; instead we learned to live next to her without too many issues.

The only other neighbor issues I’ve had have come from my two apartments in Austin. In the first apartment, I had an upstairs neighbor that either had a pet elephant or liked to jump around her apartment. I never said anything to her or asked her to be quiet; instead I learned to deal with the sound.

In my current apartment, my only issue was my downstairs neighbor who worked for the apartment complex. My dogs were barking and she reported them to the complex, which resulted in me getting a noise violation. It was frustrating because her dogs once barked all night.

Clearly, I’m not good at dealing with “problem” neighbors. A lot of it comes down to what I’m willing to deal with and how long/far I’d let the problems continue. I imagine if it was bad enough, I’d have the strength to speak up, but these instances haven’t been that bad in the grand scheme of things. Plus, if I confront neighbors, I still have to live next to them and it might just make things worse.

How do you deal with problem neighbors? Have you ever confronted someone?