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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Creepy Neighbour- Should I Act?

12 replies

freckleface12 · 22/08/2018 12:32

Hello- first ever post! I'll try not to go on but there's a lot of detail and I don't want to drip feed.

3/4 months ago we got a new downstairs neighbour. She appeared to be moving in alone, seemed friendly and nice enough.

Since she's been living here, a man has also been living here. He first introduced himself as her handyman. All he seems to do is sit outside and smoke, occasionally walking the dog.

He seemed to know a lot about my partner and I (presumably from the landlord- we have different landlords but I've met the other one as he used to live downstairs). I tried to make conversation with him when we first met and asked if he'd been in the area long. He told me not to ask personal questions and that he doesn't talk about himself. I found it abrupt but understand that some people are very private.

Since then things have got increasingly uncomfortable. He is always here- we assume he lives here now because he has been outside smoking at midnight, 6am, all hours. He makes comments to me and my partner. She is a healthcare professional and once when she was in uniform he said that he had a medical problem requiring attending but he couldn't show her in public. He's also asked us both if we're flexible (physically). It doesn't seem like much but he makes comments like this everyday.

We have started to dread coming home, at any time of day in case he is outside the front door. When we are alone at night we triple check our front door is locked. If I'm taking the bins out I look out the window first to make sure he's not out there.

Today I received an amazon package which had been opened and the invoice is not in there. I'm willing to accept there was no invoice, but my post has been opened. It was a self help book about relationships and from the front cover it's obviously about sex. I am terrified that he has opened the parcel and will make a comment about it. (The other alternative is that it was ripped being squeezed through the letter box, but it was moved to our letter basket so he would have handled it at some point.)

We wonder if he has been in prison, which is why he was so guarded about himself, or the female neighbour has taken him in as a sublet or something, but it's very hard to have sympathy when we feel so uncomfortable in our own home. I also feel more vulnerable as we are a same sex couple, although that may just be my own issues.

I suppose my question is- AIBU to be so disconcerted? Should we just get over it?

If we ANBU- what sort of action could we take? The female neighbour seems to need the help with dog walking and everything, and we don't really know her well enough. We don't want to cause trouble but equally I don't know how much longer we can go on like this.

Apologies for the length of this! Thanks for reading till the very end!

OP posts:
ApolloandDaphne · 22/08/2018 12:38

Next time he asks you a question just tell him that like him, you don't like being asked personal questions and from then don't get involved in chatting to him. Breeze past him with the confident air of a busy person.

The Amazon thing is a red herring. The packaging could have been damaged at any point in transit and they don't put invoices in the parcels now.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 22/08/2018 12:41

If he does make a comment about the book, then you can report him to the police as it is illegal to open post that is not addressed to you.

WeAreEternal · 22/08/2018 12:41

I would start keeping a diary of every comment and everything that happens.

Do you still have any contact with the landlord/your ex neighbour?
I would try to contact them to let them know that this man is making you feel uncomfortable and you find his behaviour unacceptable.

Buzzlightyearsbumchin · 22/08/2018 12:43

Aside from not talking about himself and making a few inappropriate comments the rest is in your head.

Don't engage in conversation with him. Shut him down when he makes comments again. If he continues then report to the landlord.

HolyMountain · 22/08/2018 12:45

Keep a record of things he's done to make you feel wary and nervous in your own home.

Does he make disparaging comments to you regarding being in a same sex couple or hint at it?

RoseWhiteTips · 22/08/2018 12:45

My advice would be to blank him. Do not engage with him. However, it is unpleasant to be in such a situation.

PeaceRaven · 22/08/2018 12:52

Post an easily opened package to your own address containing cable ties, watertight bags, and a ‘legal’ hunting knife.

😎

freckleface12 · 22/08/2018 12:56

Thank you so much for the great comments so far- keeping a record is a really good idea.

He hasn't made comments about being a same sex couple but I do wonder if one of us was male, would he be making these comments? Perhaps it's more that we are two females as opposed to being in a relationship iyswim.

As for blanking him, we do our best. When he is outside we have to squeeze past him. I don't look him in the eye anymore and I don't properly engage with his conversations, just lots of "hms" and "okay." I was very much hoping this be enough for him to back off but it's clearly not!

I think you are right about amazon being a red herring- but that's how anxious he is making us!

Thank you again for all the comments!

OP posts:
nooddsocksforme · 22/08/2018 13:03

Don’t give him the benefit of responding to him - be very curt.
I would wonder if this isn’t his “ actual” address but if he gets benefits to another address and that’s why he’s so cagey.

Oakmaiden · 22/08/2018 13:10

there is nothing to stop you writing a letter of "concern" to your/your neighbour's landlord. That way, at least if he isn't supposed not be there he will be asked to leave... And if he is allowed to be there they might ask him to stop blocking the doorway and harassing other residents or the block...

MarklesMerkin · 22/08/2018 13:19

Have you tried Googling his name to find anything out about him? I do it when I have new neighbours, the last one threw up some interesting things indeed and I was glad I'd done it. I know some people will think i's wrong to do so but I'd rather know if there was anything sinister about someones past sooner rather than later.

DarlingNikita · 22/08/2018 13:23

Don’t give him the benefit of responding to him - be very curt.
I would wonder if this isn’t his “ actual” address but if he gets benefits to another address and that’s why he’s so cagey.

I agree with all this. Not that the 'having two addresses' thing would be any of your business, but it might partially explain his cageyness.

But in terms of interacting with him, don't be afraid to cut him off/walk away while he's speaking etc. He's not being nice to you so you don't need to be nice to him.

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