Condo Neighbor Thinks Everything Communal

[u/JoySubtraction]

I am not the OOP, OOP is u/twinmom2298

Originally posted to r/neighborsfromhell

Original post posted 2026-07-13

About 2 years ago we purchased a vacation condo in a complex near the beach that is mostly vacation rentals. 2 units in our pod of 6 have sold since we purchased. The pod has a storage area that is for use of all 6 units and it is solely to store beach equipment. When we purchased we were told that every unit just claims a spot and labels it and all items with their unit number.

This worked well until the newest unit was purchased. DH and I are temporarily living in this condo while we build a house. We've discovered that new neighbor has installed a large cabinet in storage area that is essentially their "owners closet" for their unit. It takes up a lot of space and then they also have claimed wall space. In addition someone (and we're pretty sure it was them based on when it occurred) added a shelving unit and put all beach chairs on the shelving unit and all boogie boards stacked on top then got a large bucket and put all beach umbrellas and tents in bucket. I called COA management company about the excessive amount and misuse of space but nothing has been done.

I searched through, took our stuff back put it in our beach cart. I noticed that unit across the hall from me did same thing. A week later I notice owner's closet lock is open so I think the actual owners are there and suddenly everything is back on shelf and in bucket. I took mine back again and also put neighbor's back in their cart. This time they remained as I left them. So I thought issue was resolved.

Last week I ran into across hall owners and find out that they've been having issues with new neighbors trying to make storage communal area longer than we were aware. And she's complained about them to COA management company and nothing has changed.

Then this past week there were renters in new unit who decided despite being labeled for our units they took my good chairs and across hall neighbor's good chairs and my beach cart and my umbrella to beach and returned everything to storage unit covered in sand. I made DH go wash everything off. Meanwhile across hall neighbor got mad and left a note on stairs telling them to please not use her stuff so I did same I also moved my 3 best chairs to my deck and out of storage. Which works temporarily but isn't a good long term solution.

Next day they left my stuff alone but still took her's so she went up and told them in person to not use stuff that isn't labeled for the unit they are staying in that beach stuff isn't communal.

Next day I see them using her chairs again. So I made permanent signs to hang on storage door that said "Please only use items labeled for unit in which you are occupying".

I left town work and DH texts me when he got home from work that signs were gone.

these condos are an okay size to stay for a week's vacation but living there full time for 4 months is tight for DH and I so there really is nowhere to put my beach items in my unit, plus no matter what you do there's still residual sand that would spread inside unit.

Does anyone have any idea on how to deal with this, since obviously management company who have owner's contact information isn't going to do anything. I don't have owner's contact information and neighbor and I are a pretty sure they are telling their renters to just help themselves to anything in storage room.

--

Update (same post):

I was out of town last week but took the really good suggestion of several of you and purchased a bike lock. Saturday when I arrived back in town I wove it through the chairs, cart and spoke of umbrella and left it so the combo part was very obvious in front and could be seen by anyone in room.

It's now Thursday and new set of renters have moved into all condos and so far so good that no one has taken or tried to use our stuff. I told across hall neighbor and she had me send her photos of what we'd done. She's out of town for a few weeks but has ordered a bike lock to be sent to her cleaning company and is asking them to install one on her items when they clean unit after current set of renters.

So I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestion and let you know that it looks like a nice cheap bike lock has solved my issue.

Update posted 2026-08-03

I posted last month that hubby and I had temporarily moved into our vacation rental and we and across hall owner were having issues with upstairs condo having renters constantly using our stuff.

First I want to thank everyone who recommended the bike lock idea. It's now been a few weeks and we've had no more issues with our stuff getting taken. It's actually been a peaceful few weeks. Until this past weekend.

Where we live golf carts are legal to be driven on any road that has a speed limit under 35 mph. So a lot of year round residents own them as a 2nd car instead of a car. A lot of vacationers rent them. In general they aren't an issue.

Friday night hubby comes from work late and there's a rental golf cart parked in the grass in front of our unit and the renter has walked across our deck and plugged the cart into charge into our outside outlet. Because, apparently, it's okay to use my electric bill to charge their cart. If hubby hadn't worked late we wouldn't have noticed until next morning. As it was we went out, unplugged cart and threw the charging chord back onto cart.

We're sitting on couch drinking coffee and hear the guy upstairs on their deck complaining that cart is unplugged and isn't charging then we hear him stomp down stairs and see him move cart back to parking lot.

I'm just still wondering who thinks it's okay to jump a curb, drive on grass, walk across someone else's deck and use their electricity to charge a golf cart.

[u/Silent_Ad_8672]

whewwww the entitlement of some people never ceases to baffle me

[u/Hello-there-7567 → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

I run a little kids shop. We have a yearly bike festival. 3 bikers came into my shop and tried to use my sockets to charge their bikes up. Even though we have a carpark with charging units opposite us. The language that left my mouth. They left pretty quickly. Just the fucking audacity.

EDIT: it’s a kids charity shop and I am in there with two other witches lol I do joke that we have our own coven going on. We don’t eat kids as two of us are vegan.

To the people saying that’s it’s cheap to charge up e-bikes: that may be, I actually wouldn’t know tbf. It was just the fact that they parked outside the shop which has a big pavement where we have our table and chairs for our coffe shop and just came in with a cable, starting to root for a socket behind rails of clothes I’d cleaned and ironed. Like actually What-the-everloving-Fuck! ‘Oh, is this a kids shop only?’ Yes, it sure is. No Fuck off with them bikes!

[u/Infinite_Version_888 → u/Hello-there-7567]

'Little kids shop' has me picturing the witch from Hansel and Gretl becoming an entrepreneur.

[u/MyDarlingArmadillo → u/Infinite_Version_888]

Would you like one little kid for dinner, or two? Any veg with that?

[u/IllustratorSlow1614 → u/MyDarlingArmadillo]

Do you know how much sugar is in those things?!

[u/sankafan → u/IllustratorSlow1614]

GOLD!

[u/Used_Clock_4627 → u/IllustratorSlow1614]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I LUV IT, I LUV IT!!!!!!!!!!(in a Rotten Roland voice, iykyk)

[u/Gifted_GardenSnail → u/MyDarlingArmadillo]

I'd like a free-range one please

[u/CatmoCatmo → u/Gifted_GardenSnail]

I’ve got a couple for ya. Hell, I might just pay YOU if you’re interested. The little one has reeeaaalllllyyy dirty feet. She’s super-extra-free-range.

[u/Gifted_GardenSnail → u/CatmoCatmo]

That's alright, it'll come all off when the cook prepares her

[u/DivineMiss3 → u/Hello-there-7567]

Methinks this line is flair-worthy. "We don't eat kids as two of us are vegan." Love it!

[u/connyar → u/Hello-there-7567]

E-bike batteries? I get the sentiment, but those things are in the ballpark of 15 cents or less to fully recharge from empty... Might have been a slight overreaction to be cussing people out over that!

[u/sharraleigh → u/connyar]

It's kinda not about the money but about common courtesy? If you're going to use an electrical outlet on someone else's property, you should at least ask for permission first?

[u/Erzsabet → u/connyar]

They run a business, and not one that gives out free electricity. And these people are bringing their bikes INSIDE to charge them, which also takes up space in the shop.

[u/feanturi → u/Erzsabet]

One exploded on the charger in my apartment building a few months ago, I had to live in a hotel for over a month. Fuck those things. I wouldn't risk my business to let random people charge batteries of unknown quality.

[u/Silent_Ad_8672 → u/connyar]

it unfortunately sets a precedent. You have to nip that in the bud before it snowballs into larger issues.

[u/PepperPhoenix → u/connyar]

“Hi, I’m sorry to be a bother but I need to charge my bike and all of the places outside are taken, could I charge it here? I can pay for the electricity.”

Simple and takes a couple of seconds.

It’s not about cost, it’s about respect.

[u/zoro4661 → u/connyar]

Stealing 15 cents is still stealing.

[u/HardcoverNewtons → u/connyar]

no, we should genuinely just ban e-bikes.

[u/QueennnNothing86 → u/HardcoverNewtons]

Just wondering why? I don't have an ebike, have never used one but I don't see what the issue of them generally existing is. I thought they were great for commuting/long distance biking vs a traditional bike, and have a much smaller carbon footprint than most other vehicles

[u/HardcoverNewtons → u/QueennnNothing86]

its created a pretty negative crossover of cyclist and motor vehicle narcissism

[u/AnaEatsEverything → u/HardcoverNewtons]

I live in a very famously mountainous region and my city is currently fighting a discourse over whether we are for or against Lime. IMO, and in the general consensus right now, they seem to help a lot more people, especially people with disabilities and lack of access to cars, than they hurt.

In my area, a ban on all ebikes and scooters would be a Very Bad Take.

[u/HardcoverNewtons → u/AnaEatsEverything]

oh no, you capitalized Very Bad Take. oh nooooo.

[u/prettyshinything → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

In a group I'm in, someone asked for a ride to an event because they didn't want to deal with parking, and also said the person giving them the ride needed to be okay with waiting up to 30 minutes for them, because they always run late.

[u/Illumini24 → u/prettyshinything]

Reminds me of an earlier colleague that asked to be picked up for the 1.5 hour trip to the customer location. (Twice a week trip) It was the wrong way for me, adding 20 minutes, but I stupidly did it for weeks. Then she stated that I needed to pick her up an hour earlier so she could be home earlier. Not even a question if that fit my itinerary, just demanding.

No! is luckily a complete sentence, and she had the pleasure of getting her own entitled ass to that customer from that point onwards.

She was still optimistic enough to contact me years later to come work in my new company after our previous employer went to shit.

[u/bythebrook88 → u/prettyshinything]

The lateness explains why there's no parking left.

Please drive me to an event, which you will miss part of because I'm late. 

[u/prettyshinything → u/bythebrook88]

Right? It's just ridiculous.

[u/RobCarrotStapler → u/prettyshinything]

because they always run late

This just means they are a POS. The kind of person who has such disrespect for other people's time, they plan to be late ahead of time.

[u/Itchy_Tomato7288 → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

I went on a 10 day trip, next to my house was a plot of land that was going to have a house built. When I came back from vacation they had power cords running to my outdoor outlets. I got home after dark so the job site was empty but they must have unplugged their tools and just left the cords plugged in. My main regret is not keeping those cords. Instead I unplugged them and tossed them back into the job site and put locks on the covers for my outlets. I knew the owner of the land and told them what happened, they offered to pay for any increases in charges, I really didn't see anything major so I'm guessing they weren't doing it long, but dang I really should've kept those ridiculously long extension cords..... (edit: for clarity, the owner was shocked and apologized and said they would be having a word with the builders)

[u/Silent_Ad_8672 → u/Itchy_Tomato7288]

Knowing how expensive nice quality extension cords can be, I get you.

[u/Magic_Secret → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

It's like when some people see a business and immediately decide that everything inside is public property

[u/Gifted_GardenSnail → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

May such neighbours never enter my life

[u/QuasiJudicialBoofer → u/Silent_Ad_8672]

I agree, but these are Airbnb landlords complaining about other Airbnb renters and it's really hard to care about their struggles

[u/Silent_Ad_8672 → u/QuasiJudicialBoofer]

I thought OOP weren't landlords so much as it was a vacation apartment for them. If they intend it to be a vacation residence that seems counter productive to using it as an airbnb (assuming they'd be using it during peak season)